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2755d ago / 1:50 PM UTC

The Ex-Politician: 'The Easy Route Is To Blame Faith'

In 2009, Rashida Tlaib became the first Muslim-American woman to serve in the Michigan Legislature and only the second in history to be elected to any state legislature in the country. In 2014, she unsuccessfully ran for state Senate and candidly expressed the skepticism and downright racism she felt during that bid. “I ran for state Senate and people at the doors would tell me, ‘I don’t like your name.’ That’s code for ‘I don’t like your ethnicity.’” Once she received hate mail with the message, “A good Muslim is a dead one.”

Islamophobia, Tlaib says, has gotten worse. Immediately after the 9/11 attacks, “I remember being in law school and there was a tremendous amount of fear, but there were a lot of people saying, ‘This is not about Islam.’ There was a message of unification,” she said. “Now after the Iraq War and post-Afghanistan and ISIS and all that is happening at the same time with someone like Donald Trump running for office, suspicion based on faith is so heightened right now. I feel like it’s gotten 10 times as worse. … The easy route is to blame faith, and I think that’s what a lot of Americans are doing.”

Tlaib (who plans on running for public office again one day) has two sons, age 5 and 11. Raising children as Muslims in America has been particularly challenging. She recounted her oldest son recently coming home from summer school. “The kids were saying that Trump is trying to take over the world and that he wants to get rid of Muslims. Mama, where are we going to go?” he asked. Tlaib told him, “We don’t have to go anywhere. This is our country.”

2758d ago / 11:26 PM UTC

9/11 Memorials and Services

Here's how the three sites of the attack — New York, Washington, D.C., and Shanksville, Pennsylvania — and others will remember the fallen. For memorials around the world, go here.

Sept. 11

"Tribute in Light" (New York)

The Municipal Art Society of New York presented this public art tribute for 10 years. Today, the twin beams of blue light emanating from Ground Zero are under the direction of the National September 11 Memorial & Museum. The 88 7,000-watt xenon light bulbs, arranged and positioned to recall the Twin Towers, will shine from dusk to dawn the next day. They're visible from a 60-mile radius, and reach 4 miles into the sky.

National Day of Service and Remembrance (Anywhere)

Visit 911day.org for opportunities in your community.

Sept. 12

"Rendering the Unthinkable" Exhibit (New York)

The 9/11 Memorial opens an exhibit of artistic reactions to the deadly attacks, collecting the work of 13 artists. For more information, go here.