In the shadow of the towers: 25 years of post-9/11 America

Twenty-five years ago today, our country was forever changed when four commercial airliners flew into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a field in Pennsylvania, killing 2,983 people . And according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention , an estimated additional 400,000 people were exposed to toxic contaminants, risk of physical injury, and physically and emotionally stressful conditions in the months that followed.

Beyond the immediate violence of September 11, however, tremors of the attacks were soon felt in specific communities around the country. In schools, workplaces, houses of worship, convenience stores, taxi cabs and subway cars, Muslim, Arab, Sikh, South Asian and Hindu individuals across the U.S. found themselves forced to defend their right to exist in public life.

In Arizona, Balbir Singh Sodhi was fatally shot on Sept. 15, 2001. His murderer claimed to be seeking retribution for the attacks. That same day, Waqar Hasan was shot and killed in Texas by a white supremacist, who went on to kill Vasudev Patel and injure Rais Bhuiyan. In the days, weeks and months that followed, these communities continued to mourn the events of 9/11 — including, for some, the loss of members of their own families and communities in the attacks — while also weathering hate-motivated violence.

Simultaneously, a sweeping policy regime cracked down on some Americans’ civil liberties more than others. The hurriedly passed Patriot Act drastically expanded the federal government’s surveillance powers. In New York City, police surveilled neighborhoods occupied by certain “ancestries of interest.” In Virginia, “ Operation Green Quest ” conducted televised raids on Muslim charitable and educational institutions and the homes of their employees. And the changes didn’t stop at the water’s edge, as Congress authorized a “Global War on Terror” that has led to hundreds of thousands of civilian deaths abroad.

Now, 25 years later, Congress has the opportunity to begin to rectify some of the harms of the post-9/11 era.

The first simple step is to pass House Resolution 741 , which recognizes that in the aftermath of 9/11, too many Americans were targeted by the U.S. government on account of their faith, race, national origin or immigration status. It also suggests various forms of relief to support affected communities.

To answer the continued challenge of targeted hate against Muslim, Arab, Sikh, South Asian and Hindu communities and others, Congress can pass the bipartisan Improving Reporting to Prevent Hate Act . This bill would help to ensure that the FBI has access to more accurate hate-crime data by strengthening reporting standards, requiring credible data collection, and tying certain federal funding to improved reporting and community awareness efforts.

Congress can also curb executive authority to issue discriminatory travel bans with the NO BAN Act ; since 2017, these bans have separated thousands of U.S. citizens from their families , delayed lifesaving medical treatment for children and the elderly , and caused individuals with valid asylum claims to face threats of deportation to dangerous conditions in the very countries they fled.

Notably, Congress has already moved in the right direction on some of these issues. In June, legislators neglected to reauthorize Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. Since 2008, this measure had allowed the government to “incidentally” conduct warrantless phone surveillance within the U.S. Letting this program lapse was a small step toward reducing the surveillance that plagued so many communities in the post-9/11 era.

Finally, addressing the harms of the Global War on Terror is a vastly complex question, but it can begin with repealing the 2001 Authorization for the Use of Military Force .

This authorization, the broadest in U.S. history, together with the 2002 authorization of the disastrous invasion of Iraq, has been used by administrations from both parties for 25 years to justify military action in more than 20 different countries. The Cost of War Project estimates that more than 432,000 civilians were killed in post-9/11 war violence in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen and Pakistan alone between 2001 and 2023, with up to 3.8 million additional “indirect” deaths due to infrastructure destruction. Though insufficient to stop so-called forever wars on their own, the repeal or or sunsetting of these authorizations is an essential step toward reforming how our nation conducts itself around the world in the name of fighting terrorism.

As we remember those whose lives were taken on September 11 and in the far-reaching aftermath, we are also faced with an opportunity to reflect and reimagine. Our policy choices about the importance of human life and civil liberties exemplify who we are as a nation. The foundations for a better future have already been laid — and policymakers can start building it now.

Mannirmal Kaur is senior federal policy manager for the Sikh Coalition , the nation’s largest Sikh civil rights organization in the post-9/11 era .