A decade after 9/11, we’re slowly finding out more about the government’s counterterrorism efforts, and their effects. Here’s some recommended reading:
- A report from the Los Angeles Times explores spending around special projects
- The Huffington Post details the CIA’s collaboration with the NYPD on intelligence and profiling
- The AP provides specifics on how profiling was carried out in the New York Area
- Zadie Smith reflects on race, class and acceptance post 9/11 for the New Yorker
We’re often told that these measures are the reason why America hasn’t seen another Al-Qaeda influenced terrorist attack. But what about the effect they have on American communities?
I recently attended a 9/11 panel event hosted by the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF), where community members challenged the rhetoric of counterterrorism. The language and measures being propagated in the name of counterterrorism breed fear and mistrust. Communities are being alienated from, rather than integrated into, the American experience.
We should be worried about this trend. If loyalties are called into question based on anything from skin color to travel history, can anyone really be safe?
Shohini is a Field Fellow for SAALT’s campaign – An America for All of Us– to mark the 10-year anniversary of September 11th. To contact Shohini please email shohini@saalt.org.
