10 years on, the 9/11 aftermath has united men and women with similar stories and experiences of the harrowing events.
Ayesha Qazi and Sukhraj Beasla are both young women who have united to share their experiences of 9/11, both with each other and the world, as this Sunday will mark 10 years since the terrorist attacks on America.
September 11 2001 will forever be an important date in history as terrorists attacked America, resulting in the collapse of the Twin Towers in New York, and an attack on the Pentagon in Washington DC.
Ayesha is a Muslim woman and Sukhraj is a Sikh woman, and both started questioning their religions and themselves as people, as some people started to enforce stereotypes on both young women based on their ethnicity and religious backgrounds.
On September 11 2001, Ayesha Qazi remembers sitting in class at her elementary school in Chicago, when the planes hit the Twin Towers, and her teacher being unsure of what to do as she was “confused whether to show us ffith graders what was going on”.
On the same day in Chicago, Illinois Sukhraj Beasla was sleeping in her college dorm when her father called her in the middle of the night shouting: “New York is burning!”
Sukhraj grew up on a farm, where her parents kept her life “sheltered” and was unaware of the “dangers and complexities of life”.
As a Sikh woman living a “sheltered” life, Sukhraj was not aware of society’s attitudes towards religious women until the aftermath of 9/11 showed her how society can often judge people based on their gender, clothing, race, ethnicity and religion.
“I had to sit there and explain myself to people who should just understand that you shouldn’t just hate everyone, you shouldn’t just judge,” said Sukhraj.
Sukhraj felt that she needed to search her own roots and question who she was as judgment kept falling on her as a Sikh woman.
Ayesha described her life before 9/11 as “perfectly normal”, as opposed to the “sheltered life” Sukhraj experienced.
The events of 9/11 affected Ayesha’s whole life, as even her own neighbourhood started “watching” her and her family. During a trip to her local store with her mother, they were stooped by security and had their bags checked.
“Being picked out to have our bags checked, why? I grew up here, why was I being checked at such an early age?” asked Ayesha.
After 9/11 many people believed she was associated with terrorist groups, and she had to defend herself in order to break the stereotype. Now when people question her religion, it is due to curiosity rather than the judgement she experienced 10 years ago.
“People question what my religion is now from curiosity but back then [2001] it was more “Oh, so you’re a Muslim,” said Ayesha.
Ayesha believes that America is founded on religious freedom and believes that people should be allowed to believe what they want to believe, and not be questioned or judged on their own opinions.
In their discussion with each other, Sukhraj expressed how she wished that people could have “reached out” to Ayesha, during her college days, describing the judgment she faced as “painful”.
“This 10 years, instead of feeling hatred in your heart, wherever you happen to be, just talk to the person next to you. Let’s slowly stop the hatred and start spreading a message of peace,” said Ayesha.
10 years on since the disaster, both girls have moved on with their lives, but still remember their ordeals.
Ayesha graduated from the University of Illinois Chicago, and is now studying to become an oncologist. Sukhraj graduated from the University of Redland with a brand and retail marketing degree and is now a writer for a social media site.
By Bethan Hâf Marsh
[Image courtesy of Wikimedia commons]
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