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Minneapolis, MN 55402
Phone: (612) 341-3302
Fax: (612) 341-2971
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| | | | Post-9/11 Project | | The Post-9/11 Project is designed to investigate the aftermath of September 11th on area immigrant and refugee communities in Minnesota (along with people perceived to be immigrants and refugees) and members of religious minorities, with special attention to those communities located in and around Rochester, St. Cloud, and the Twin Cities. The Post-9/11 Project provides The Advocates for Human Rights an opportunity to assess how the post-9/11 national security environment has affected human rights locally.
The Advocates staff and volunteers conducted fact-finding interviews from January to April 2005 with area immigrant and refugee communities, providers of legal and social services to the affected communities, and public officials, such as law enforcement officers, who interact with these communities. These interviews provide a basis for assessing the real and perceived effects of post-9/11 federal and state legislation and public and private attitudes and conduct on Minnesota’s refugee and immigrant populations, including the resulting immigration consequences, economic opportunities, ability to access public services, including education, housing, and employment, and discrimination, including racial profiling and hate crimes. The findings will be assessed against national and international human rights standards of non-discrimination and the rights of non-citizens.
Report Tells Post-9/11 Stories of Immigrants, Refugees, and Religious Minorities
Minneapolis / St. Paul, MN (February 22, 2007) - A report detailing the impact of 9/11 on the lives of immigrants, refugees, and religious minorities in Minnesota was released today. “Voices from Silence: Personal Accounts of the Long-Term Impact of 9/11,” is authored by The Advocates for Human Rights. It documents personal stories of fear and discrimination in a post-9/11 environment and contextualizes them with an overview of laws and policies that have affected these communities.
“We heard repeated stories of persisting prejudice from clients and colleagues who did not feel safe in speaking out,” says Robin Phillips, executive director of The Advocates for Human Rights. “This report provides a forum for individuals to finally expose the stories they have been too afraid to tell.”
The report is intended to open dialogue about the shift in attitudes after 9/11 in order to reexamine our personal and collective responses in the wake of a national tragedy. A Muslim interviewee of the report said of the lasting impact of 9/11: “[Pre-9/11], you had to be tolerant. Now, after September 11, it opened the floodgates…It is okay to discriminate. That was the aftermath.”
Personal accounts are followed by an outline of state and federal laws that have affected immigrants, refugees, and religious minorities. Pointing to the effect that these laws and policies have had on the experiences of those interviewed, the report calls for the protection of human rights of all and for consideration of the silenced voices in future policy debates about national security, counterterrorism, civil liberties, and immigration.
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