For Pakistani Americans, al-Qaeda’s 9/11 attacks and resulting intensification of the US security state has had a lasting impact. The consequences also include the rise of Islamophobia against Muslims in the US. The community experienced the fracturing of a South Asian American panethnic identity, the silencing of American Muslim voices, and the erosion of community trust. Conversely, the events of 9/11 also led to the galvanizing of new Civil Rights movements, mobilization by advocacy groups, and a deepening of solidarity. These paradoxical developments post-9/11 continue to wreak havoc and tension at the same time that community members find comfort in newly formed watch and advocacy groups.

This module explores the impacts of the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001. This includes how the intensification of the US security state and rise in Islamophobia affected Pakistani Americans, and how they coped with such difficulties.