South Asian American Progressive Organizing in the Bay Area: A Reflection on the Post-9/11 Era
Authors: Sunaina Maira, Madihah Akhter, Sabiha Basrai
We dedicate this article to the memories of inspiring ASATA members, social justice scholars, and dear friends Anantha Sudhakar and Birjinder Anant. We will never forget what they gave to us.
Jan 18, 2003: ASATA members were part of the broader South Asians Against the War group at antiwar demonstrations. Photo courtesy of Trikone.
Introduction
September 11, 2021, marks the 20th anniversary of the day which many Americans, especially those from Muslim and minoritized communities, remember as a major turning point in US and global politics with ramifications that persist today. Many South Asian Americans experienced a mix of emotions in response to the 9/11 attacks, including shock, grief, confusion, fear, and disbelief. Oakland-based South Asian American activist Sabiha Basrai recalls, “In the wake of the attacks on September 11th in 2001, anyone perceived as Muslim had to quickly shift from shock and grief, to preparing ourselves for the onslought of racist violence, xenophobia, and state repression. As a 19-year-old watching the news unfold on my parents’ TV in Mountain View, CA, I thought about what happened to Japanese Americans during World War II and wondered how long it would be before the state put us in camps.” Ayesha Abbasi, another ASATA activist, comments: “I can clearly remember my parents repeating, ‘Please don’t let it be a Muslim, please don’t let it be a Muslim!’ while watching the news. I didn’t process at age five the type of impact this would have on my family, but as I got older those words stuck with me as I watched police outside our mosques and soldiers touching down in Muslim countries around the globe. It hurts knowing you’re feared, hated, and othered but most of all the hurt fueled my need to change the way we are treated and perceived.”
Like Basrai and Abbasi, many South Asian and Muslim Americans knew or came to realize that the outpouring of jingoistic nationalism, xenophobia, Islamophobia, state targeting, and racist violence would affect the bodily and mental safety of anyone perceived as a “security threat,” especially those identified as Muslim or Middle Eastern. The post-9/11 backlash was dramatically manifested in US domestic and foreign policies in addition to everyday harassment, violence, and discrimination sanctioned by state-sponsored Islamophobia, resulting in a prolonged “terror-panic” climate. For Afghans and Iraqis, this was the beginning of devastating US military invasions and occupations of their homelands.