These Muslim Windsor women want to see their generation break away from 'fear' caused by 9/11
'People have chosen, I think, to continue this parade of hate,' says Aman Ghawanmeh
In Grade 7, Aman Ghawanmeh said she was "confused" when another student called her a "terrorist."
"I would never have thought that I'd go to this other country and a kid would call me a terrorist ... but it happened and we just kind of live with it, we deal with it," she said.
"If you see a Muslim and the first thought you have is that they could be a terrorist, that's on you, it's not my responsibility as a Muslim to make you feel comfortable."
When the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks took place, Ghawanmeh was six-years-old and living in Jordan. Five years later, her family immigrated to Windsor, Ont., where she remembers first being called a "terrorist."
The moment was another reminder that the events of 9/11 would continue to shape her life as a Muslim woman.
On that day, two planes hit the World Trade Towers in New York City, in a series of deadly terror attacks that forever changed the world. The event led to Islamophobic attacks on the Muslim community.
"Even as a child, I remember realizing that this would have certain consequences on the Muslim populace around the world," Ghawanmeh said.
Ghawanmeh said her family had conversations around what this would mean for them when they travel.
"The conversations were, 'we're going to travel, my mom wears a hijab, we're going to be pulled aside and it is what it is,'" she said.
And for others in her community, she said it meant straying away from naming their kids something that was "very Muslim."
"Those were choices people had to make, in order to avoid further issues," she said.
"9/11 was something I think we didn't expect to have such an effect on us and all these years down it continues to, because people have chosen, I think, to continue this parade of hate."
Safe, supported by community
Ghawanmeh's friend, Raghad Hamami, shares similar experiences growing up in Canada, in a post-9/11 world. Hamami was six-years-old and living in Windsor when the attack took place.
"I remember ... the Muslim community being in a frenzy because of it," she said, adding that she recalls local Muslim organizations making "apologetic statements" about what happened.
In the years that followed, she said he recalls, "a couple of situations of the typical 'go back to your country' or if we're wearing the traditional abayas, which is a traditional long black cloak, it would be made fun of like as a Halloween costume."
Despite experiencing Islamophobia firsthand in Windsor, Ghawanmeh and Hamami said they feel safe and supported by other diverse groups in the city.
"We have a very big Muslim community here, so I'm very fortunate for that, very thankful for that," she said.
With the 20th anniversary of 9/11, Hamami said she doesn't want to see Muslims apologizing or being victimized for what took place.
Breaking away from the 'fear'
The duo have created a podcast, called Expired Musings. In some of the episodes, they talk about issues that impact them as Muslim women.
The platform is one that they hope will empower other young women like themselves and allow them to have the hard conversations.
"What we hope to do through the podcast and through everyday conversations with our fellow Muslims is to try and have them find their own identity," Ghawanmeh said.
"We are so shaped by our parents who have been traumatized because of 9/11 and everything that followed afterwards, they are in constant fear. I think the new generation, we are trying to break out of that fear."