Section 1
On September 11, 2001 the United States was attacked by the terrorist group Al-Qaeda. The nineteen terrorists attacked the nation in four coordinated attacks. Four planes that were traveling from airports on the east coast and head for California were hi-jacked by the Al-Qaeda terrorists. The planes were then crashed into various US structures in a murder-suicide mission. The first two planes, which were Boeing 767’s; American Airline Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175 (History.com) were sent into the Twin Towers at the World Trade Center in New York City. The first plane hit the north tower at 8:45 am hitting the 80th floor of the 110 floor structure. The second plane hit the south tower at 9:03 am hitting the building near the 60th floor (History.com). The third plane, American Airlines Flight 77 was collided with the Pentagon, and the fourth plane, United Airlines Flight 93, which many speculate was on its way to Washington D.C. crashed in a field in Pennsylvania when the passengers, who were of the attacks in New York staged an insurrection against the terrorists onboard (History.com). The attacks claimed the lives of nearly three-thousand people, and left ten-thousand people injured. (History.com). The attacks also caused trillions in damages and lost revenue when much of the city was closed due to the attacks and the fear of more attacks being imminent (The Cost of September 11). The attacks on 9/11 did not only affect the United States government, and the people of New York City, but the whole nation. The attacks had an effect on the country’s national security forever changing the way we fly, surveillance laws and immigration. The attacks forever changed the way Americans viewed the world. This paper will look at how the 9/11 attacks affected other people.
Section 2
I remember being in my classroom on the morning of September 11th. I was in third grade and I do not remember much about that morning until the Principal made an announcement over the loudspeaker that New York city had been attacked. The Principal then called for all of the teachers to assemble their classrooms. My teacher then proceeded to turn on the news and explain to us what had occurred. I really did not understand what was going on, but I watched the other students and teachers start crying. This caused me to get emotional even though I still did not really know what had happened. My teacher then had some kind of ceremony in the classroom, but I honestly have no idea about what she did or why. I figure that it must have been important to her. We were then sent home early and when I got home everything went on as normal. I have no recollection of talking about what happened nor do I think that anything changed for me or my family. In the next few days’ despite not really being concerned with what had happened, since I was young and focused on doing kid’s stuff. I did however hear a lot about what happened from the news reports that were constantly playing. I heard that Al-Qaeda terrorists were the ones responsible and that they were Muslim. I wondered if all Muslims would do something like this, then I thought about the Muslim kids in my school and I did not think that they would so I was not worried. Then I wondered why is everyone on the news acting like all Muslims are responsible when it was only a few. This seemed very unfair to me. This is different from the experience of my classmate Jennifer Trim.
Section 3
For my first interview I spoke to one of my classmates, Jennifer Trim. Jennifer was living in Los Angeles county at the time of the attacks. After the attacks there was an increased sense of fear in the city due to its “proximity to downtown Los Angeles” (Trim). The 9/11 attacks had a profound impact on the people in her community and family. According to Jennifer, her family had “always been rather protective” (Trim). She told me how after the attacks on the Twin Towers, “her eight-year-old sister became extremely fearful and guarded” (Trim). This was bothersome to her because her sister’s behavior was quite different from the way that it was before the attacks. Still today her sister continues to be cautious when it comes to people that she does not know. She also does not like to go to public events because of the 9/11 attacks and other attacks of domestic terror, such as the Boston Marathon bombing, and the shooting in the theatre. Jennifer also told me about the transformation that occurred in regards to the stadium in their town. Prior to the attacks the attendees were permitted to bring drinks in when they went to events at the stadium. Since the attacks all outside drinks have been banned.
She told me how the mood in their community changed after the attacks. The people there becoming extremely suspicious of anyone who was different. The attacks also had a deep affected on their neighbors. They went from being parents who allowed their children a great deal of freedom to parents who had to know where their children were at all times. Another neighbor enlisted in the military because he wanted to fight for the country. She also has an older cousin that joined the military, but they did not have any relatives that were killed in the attack itself.
One of the biggest impacts that the 9/11 attacks had on her personally was that she began to perceive the world in a different light. One of the things that became clear to her was that the people in the community in which they lived “were bigoted and xenophobic” (Trim). This racism even extended into her own family. This is something that she had never noticed before, so perhaps it was perpetuated by the attacks. Then again the racism and bigotry may have always existed, but it took the attacks to make it obvious. Much of their bigotry, racism and xenophobia was directed towards anyone of Middle Eastern descent or anyone with brown skin that could not be easily identified as Latino or Asian. She has “never been able to understand why people would decide to hate and distrust millions of people when there were only nineteen people involved in the attack” (Trim). She finds it stupid to judge millions of people on the actions of a few, but nevertheless negative judgements on Middle Eastern people have become quite prevalent in the last fifteen years since the attacks.
In conclusion the September 11th attacks forever changed not only the nation and the way that our government is ran, with the rise of “Big Brother” which includes wiretapping and surveillance. The attacks also changed the way we see the world as individuals causing people to be suspicious and judgmental when it comes to people, religion and ideas that are different from their own.
References
History.com Staff. "9/11 Attacks." History.com. A&E Television Networks, 2010. Web. 25 Apr. 2016.
"The Cost of September 11." The Cost of September 11. Institute for the Analyze of Global Security, n.d. Web. 25 Apr. 2016.
Trim, Jennifer. Personal Interview. April, 2016
