Culture: Who we are, how we live and what affects our lives

Entries in terrorism (3)

Tuesday
Nov012011

White Supremacists and Suicide Bombers

By Richard Montgomery

What do you call a White supremacist who walks into a crowd of Black college men and hands out fliers with hate speech? After speaking with the victims of this incident, they concluded that the White supremacist was essentially a suicide bomber. This person ran into a group of Black men armed with literature that would (based on White American stereotypes of Black men) invoke violence towards him, with the result being 10-15 Black men expelled from the university. Such a mass expulsion would amount to an otherwise victorious outcome for groups troubled by Black progress.

Click to read more ...

Thursday
Sep082011

After 9/11: Silence about what matters

By Charisse N. Montgomery

Undoubtedly, a sense of unity followed 9/11. Americans of all creeds and ethnicities were affected by the heinous act of terror that took place on our soil. Since that day, however, many Muslim Americans have been the victims of terror and hatred. When we, as Americans, took on an “us-against-them” attitude toward terrorism, we had difficulty distinguishing who “they” were. Were all Muslims our enemies? How could we separate the 9/11 terrorists from other Muslims? Do all Muslims believe we Americans are infidels? Will Muslims attack us again?

Click to read more ...

Thursday
Sep082011

September 11, 2001: The day we were all equal

By Angela Fitch

On the morning of 9/11/01, I was standing on an Amtrak platform in New Haven Connecticut heading towards D.C. The train was nearly empty, which was very unusual for a Tuesday morning. As the train approached Mount Vernon, there was a cloud of thick black smoke filling the northwestern sky. I quickly turned my CD player off, hit the FM button searching for 107.5, and listened to the DJ announce that a commuter plane had just hit the World Trade Center. This of course turned out not to be true. We started to pull into Penn Station and the conductor came over the loud speaker to announce that the train would continue on after a brief layover. When we pulled into the station, all the subway car doors were open and people were screaming and running. Within minutes, the train was filled to capacity and we were on our way out of New York. As we left the tunnel, I looked back and saw the second tower on fire and the imprint of the plane that had apparently exploded on the other side.

Click to read more ...