Even though I was living in small town Pleasant Hill, Missouri, rather than New York, 9/11 was a scary day for me and my family. Before I knew it, I was told my dad was not allowed to leave the air force base he was stationed at, since they were a potential target for future attacks. The thought of my dad being stuck on base while our country was under attack, let alone not coming home alive, was paralyzing for a 7th grader. Nothing may have happened, but it remains a haunting thought to this day, and it caused me to become skeptical of anyone I met who might…well, you know…be a “terrorist.”

Fast forward a few years later, and the same fear that gripped us as a nation then still lurks in the corner (or sometimes forefront) of our minds now. This is why Trump gets so much support for his ideas: if it were Japanese or Australian soldiers who had flown planes into the Twin Towers, Trump’s rhetoric against Muslims and Middle Eastern men and women would be powerless. However, because of 9/11 and our supposed “war on terror,” it’s easier to view others as potential terrorists and our enemies simply because they are Middle Eastern in descent. It’s simply how we’ve been conditioned to think.