I'm Brian Lehrer. This is my daily politics podcast from WNYC Studios. It's Friday, September 10th.

Here we are on September 10th, 2021, the day before the 20th anniversary of the September 11th attacks.

All this week on the show, as many of you know, and on the station, we've been talking about

things that 9-11 changed in this country and in the world. Today, one of the most profound

of those in terms of its day-to-day impact on people's lives and sense of safety and comfort in

every community in America. It's how 9-11 changed life for American Muslims. The census doesn't

ask people's religions, but a Pew Center population study in 2018 estimated there are around three and a half million Muslims

in the U.S. That's around 1% of the population. Three and a half million people, a lot of people

to be impacted by the feelings or thoughts or biases of others who are much more in the majority than they are.

After Al-Qaeda struck on 9-11 in the name of Islam as they saw it,

President Bush set out to invade Afghanistan to kill or capture Osama bin Laden

and other al-Qaeda leaders.

But in that context, President George W. Bush said this.

The face of terror is not the true faith of Islam.

That's not what Islam is all about.

Islam is peace.

These terrorists don't represent peace.

They represent evil in war.

When we think of Islam, we think of a faith that brings comfort to a billion people

around the world.

Billions of people find comfort and solace and peace. And that's made brothers and sisters out of every race,

out of every race. America counts millions of Muslims amongst our citizens. And Muslims make an incredibly valuable contribution to our country.

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