Local Muslim American leaders discuss their post-9/11 communities

The last decade hasn’t been an easy one for local Muslim Americans leaders. Since the al-Qaida attacks of 2001, communities have struggled to find the balance between staying quiet and taking action.

As a complement to her Out of the Shadows documentary, WHYY’s Maiken Scott spoke with local Muslim American community leaders about how they’ve handled themselves and other people’s treatment of them since the 9/11 attacks. Some have found support in their neighborhoods; others still have a hard time expressing their faith for fear of prejudice.

 

“The great thing about America is it works if everybody is active and participating as citizens, what’s not great is when people withdraw from society,” Marwan Kreidie, the executive director of the Philadelphia Arab American Development Corp, told Maiken. “I think you see people doing that and being quiet and not bringing up their points of view.”