This year, my reflections are also deeply influenced by the experiences of two dear friends, both activists and organizers in post 9\/11 America, both directly affected by discriminatory treatment on the streets of New York City over the past two months. You may have read about the experiences of Chaumtoli Huq, a labor and human rights lawyer, who was standing on a street in Times Square while her husband and two children used the restroom inside a Ruby Tuesday restaurant. Within the time it took her family to return, an NYPD cop told Chaumtoli to move because she was \u201cblocking the sidewalk\u201d and then physically restrained and eventually arrested her.\u00a0 She was held in a jail cell for nine hours before being arraigned on absurd charges of obstructing governmental administration, resisting arrest and disorderly conduct. You can read more about what happened to Chaumtoli Huq here<\/a>.<\/p>\n For Linda Sarsour, the director of the Arab American Association of New York, a walk through a Bay Ridge neighborhood turned dangerous when a man shouted racial and religious slurs at her and a colleague, and said that he would cut her head off to \u201csee how your people feel about it.\u201d \u00a0Read more about what happened to Linda here<\/a>.<\/p>\n Chaumtoli\u2019s and Linda\u2019s experiences make it clear that the climate in the country after 9\/11 has not changed as much as we all wish that it had. Thirteen years ago, when many of us started to address post 9\/11 issues, we described being in \u201ccrisis mode\u201d, especially given that we lacked strong community infrastructure, alliances with larger and more seasoned organizations, policy expertise, and media know-how. \u00a0Over the past 13 years, through the leadership of people like Linda, Chaumtoli and many others, we have developed grassroots and national networks around the country, permeated mainstream media, and generated community-based research and campaigns.<\/p>\n Yet, despite this progress and contrary to popular perception, crisis response remains a mainstay for many organizers, service providers and advocates working with South Asian, Muslim, Arab and Sikh communities even today due to a xenophobic climate, weak public policies, and ongoing harassment and discrimination. While there is a sense that the worst of the backlash ended in the years after 9\/11, many community members continue to face detention<\/a>, profiling and surveillance by state and federal law enforcement<\/a>, bullying at schools<\/a>, and hate violence<\/a>. Just this week, South Asian Americans Leading Together (SAALT) released a report<\/a> that underscores the heightened level of xenophobia and anti-Muslim sentiment in the realm of political discourse that fosters a climate for hate violence and profiling to occur more routinely. And when events occur on an international scale related to the \u201cWar on Terror\u201d, they invariably have ramifications in neighborhoods with Arab and Muslim populations here at home.<\/p>\n In light of what happened to Linda and Chaumtoli, we can take many lessons about what must still be done. We must continue to call for systemic change in law enforcement practices and join African American communities in this nationwide call to action, which has become even more urgent in the wake of the murders of Eric Garner and Michael Brown. We must advocate with the Department of Justice to open an investigation into the NYPD\u2019s policing practices that target Muslim communities, and to create a federal taskforce to monitor and prevent 9\/11 related hate violence. We must continue the work of pushing back against intolerance and racism through inter-faith and multi-racial organizing and solidarity. We must call upon stakeholders and policy-makers to take stands against xenophobia and bigotry in any context, whether on the streets or in the halls of Congress. And we must support organizing and base-building within our communities in order to galvanize power at state and national levels.<\/p>\n Usually, our calls to action end with these recommendations. But, the experiences that Linda and Chaumtoli have endured this summer bring up more for me on this 9\/11 anniversary, particularly around the emotional and mental impact on post 9\/11 communities and post 9\/11 \u201cresponders.\u201d During a briefing on Capitol Hill this week, Sameera Hafiz, one of the authors of SAALT\u2019s new report, poignantly spoke about the struggles that many community members face in post 9\/11 America:<\/p>\n What if your place of worship was growing and your religious community wanted to build a new house of worship and your neighbors went to court, a place you associate with seeking justice, to stop you from building your house of worship because they were afraid of you?\u00a0 What impact would that have?<\/i><\/p>\n What if you took your children to a fundraiser for a domestic violence shelter, and you had to walk through an organized protest of your religion?\u00a0 And the angry protestors were screaming names like \u201cterrorist\u201d at your children?\u00a0 What impact would that have on you?<\/i><\/p>\n What if a popular way to insult the President of our country was to \u201caccuse\u201d him of being the same religion as you?\u00a0 What impact would that have?<\/i><\/p>\n What if you arrived at your house of worship and had to hide because a man was shooting at members of your own community?\u00a0 What impact would that have?<\/i><\/p>\n In fact, we have barely started to scratch the surface of understanding the psychological toll on community members who live, work and go to school in a climate that is rife with scrutiny and suspicion. We have not yet grasped the impact on community members who worry that they might be subjected to violence at a place of worship, or who hear repeatedly that their faith is un-American, or who are concerned for the well-being of their children who might wear a turban or hijab.<\/p>\n And, we have also not begun the process of understanding the extent of the impact on \u201cresponders\u201d who work directly with communities affected by post 9\/11 backlash \u2013 activists, attorneys, organizers, documentarians \u2013 and who are often subject to scrutiny and violence themselves. For example, Chaumtoli and Linda, who have long used their voices and roles to amplify the experiences of others who may not have had the privilege, means or platform to speak up, are now in the position of doing the same for themselves. This process includes identifying the perpetrator, filing charges, initiating lawsuits, talking to media, and recounting their stories over and over \u2013 and of course, dealing with the trauma of the incidents they endured on their own lives, their identities, their families.<\/p>\n![\"Chaumtoli](\"https:\/\/www.racefiles.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/ChaumtoliHuqpicture.jpeg\")
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