I was 14 when the attacks happened. This “bonding” you’re talking about? It was white people uniting to collectively harass and demonize anybody middle eastern or muslim. I watched as Islamophobia sunk its tendrils into my parents, everybody in my neighborhood and everybody in my high school.
But that feeling of a shared bond among all Americans in the early weeks after the attack is something I’m so glad I got to experience. Because it’s the thing that I think we’re missing the most today.