Riaad Moosa Quotes

9/11. For the West the attack on New York's World Trade Centre conjured up a terrifying new enemy: Islamic fundamentalism. For Muslims it appeared to open the floodgates to a new wave of hatred and discrimination. Suddenly, it seemed, racists had license to attack them, police to harass them, politicians and journalists to revile their religion.

I don't think I have an unkind word for any.Except Muslims. I've been cross with them since 9/11 2001. I can't remember why but it was something bad.

All we talk about is 'Islamic terrorism.' If the two words are associated for long enough it's obviously going to have an effect on how people think about Muslims.

For the most part, the only contact that most Quebecers have with the world of Islam is through these images of violence, repeated over and over: wars, riots, bombs, the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Boston marathon... The reaction is obvious: We'll have none of that here!

At times one feels that what is being said in the West is that the fact that you are a Muslim predisposes you to this blind, stupid terrorism.

Seeing a man praying to Allah is enough for some people to assume he is a terrorist.

I figure if people don't want to make the distinction between a Muslim and a terrorist, then why should I make a distinction between good scared white people and racists?

I think for most Americans, knowledge of the Islamic world was pretty slight before 9/11, and then it was thrust upon us in one of America's darkest hours.

After the 9/11 incidents, Islam has become a big question mark among westerners, especially Americans. The mass media constantly raise the issue of relationship between Islam and terrorism.

There was so much fear after 9/11, and that fear caused people to make the wrong decisions.

I definitely subscribe to the idea that 9/11, to use an overused phrase, was a wake-up call. There was a year-long national teach-in on Islam - everyone read books and suddenly talked about Islam, and that was very productive. But there's no doubt that moment has passed.

Once 9/11 happened, people who looked like me and whose children looked like us and whose husbands looked of a community, really were made to feel quite the other, and I thought that was impossible in a city like New York but I myself was witness to that.

Since 9/11, every time there is an incident overseas attributed to Muslims or Arabs, we go on orange alert ourselves …. There are individuals here who are off the wall, who think that every woman who wears a hijab or every man named Muhammad is out to blow things up.

It is tragic that all Arabs—all Moslems—are stereotyped because of the actions of a few.

We have not learned the lessons of 9/11. This wrongful suspicion, racial hatred, and profiling is what I keep seeing.

Especially after the Twin Towers, we're so terrified of 'Arabic' people. And talk about stereotypical negative portrayals of people of certain groups, if you look at the portrayal of Arabic people in Hollywood films, it's just appalling. They've always been just the easiest of targets - along with native Africans and what have you.

To characterize all Muslims as terrorists is fear-mongering of the worst kind.

I began my work as director of the Arab American Association of New York in the wake of the horrific attacks of 9/11.

Even as considering African-Americans, immigrants and other groups who may be marginalized in different ways, American Muslims are still one of the most marginalized groups. Overt prejudice is probably more acceptable toward American Muslims than any other single group in the U.S. There is still a lot of policies in place that are incredibly effective that don't show any signs of eroding. So, I don't want to overstate the optimism but I think things are headed gradually in the right direction. Just because of the distance between us and 9/11.

When the planes crashed into the World Trade Centre on September 11, 2001, Bush immediately identified what he thought was the true cause. It was because the Muslims were jealous of the freedom of the American people. It was because the Muslims were poor. This exposes a lack of understanding of things on his part.

I remember I was in a San Francisco nightclub, and I started talking to some girl, and it was like, 'Hey, what's going on, what's your name?' You know, 'Where are you from?' I go, 'I'm from Iran.' And literally, she just looked at me and walked away.

Unfortunately, terror is now linked to immigration, and anyone with dark skin or a beard or a Muslim name is suspect. Russia, France, then the United Kingdom, and now even Germany have no qualms about going far beyond their borders to strike at the enemies of their countries.

I don't portray a terrorist. The American fans label me a terrorist. It doesn't matter what I claim to be: in their eyes, I am whatever they say I am despite the fact that I'm not committing any 'acts of terror.' I ask you, how am I portraying a terrorist? Because I look like a Muslim?

The common stereotype of the Middle Eastern, Muslim-born terrorist is not just lazy and inaccurate but easy fodder for the anti-immigrant, anti-Islam far right.

I was in high school after 9/11 happened. I didn't get bullied. I didn't get treated differently, but I definitely felt people looked at me differently.