Remembering those killed in the 9/11 backlash
By Ray Hanania
On Saturday, Americans will remember the 2,996 people killed in the Al-Qaeda terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. They will mourn them, recall their lives, and remember the events of that horrific day. But few will spend any time remembering the dozens of Americans who were killed in the weeks and months after 9/11 in backlash violence that targeted people who “looked” Middle Eastern or were Muslim.
The tragic tales of these victims have never been fully told or acknowledged by the American people. In many cases, the police and judicial system seemed reluctant to connect their murders to 9/11, despite the fact that the federal government later acknowledged a sharp rise in anti-Arab and anti-Muslim discrimination and violence.
Anger and racism prevents many Americans from accepting the fact that the murders were tied to 9/11, because the victims were Muslim or “Middle Eastern-looking” Pakistanis, Sikhs or Hindus. They have never been included in the commemorations for that tragic event. But every single one of the backlash victims should be recognized when Americans pause to remember the terrorist attacks on Saturday.
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Ray Hanania is an award winning political and humor columnist who analyzes American and Middle East politics, and life in general. He is an author of several books.
Hanania covered Chicago Politics and Chicago City Hall from 1976 through 1992 at the Daily Southtown and the Chicago Sun-Times. He began writing in 1975 publishing The Middle Eastern Voice newspaper in Chicago (1975-1977). He later published “The National Arab American Times” newspaper (2004-2007).
Hanania writes weekly columns on Middle East and American Arab issues as Special US Correspondent for the Arab News ArabNews.com, at TheArabDailyNews.com, and at SuburbanChicagoland.com. He has published weekly columns in the Jerusalem Post newspaper, YNetNews.com, Newsday, the Orlando Sentinel, Houston Chronical, and Arlington Heights Daily Herald.
Hanania is the recipient of four (4) Chicago Headline Club “Peter Lisagor Awards” for Column writing. In November 2006, he was named “Best Ethnic American Columnist” by the New American Media. In 2009, Hanania received the prestigious Sigma Delta Chi Award for Writing from the Society of Professional Journalists. He is the recipient of the MT Mehdi Courage in Journalism Award. He was honored for his writing skills with two (2) Chicago Stick-o-Type awards from the Chicago Newspaper Guild. In 1990, Hanania was nominated by the Chicago Sun-Times editors for a Pulitzer Prize for his four-part series on the Palestinian Intifada.
His writings have also been honored by two national Awards from ADC for his writing, and from the National Arab American Journalists Association.
Hanania is the US Special Correspondent for the Arab News Newspaper, covering Middle East and Arab American issues. He writes for the Southwest News newspaper group writing on mainstream American issues.
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