Twitter on 9/11 is a special place, where brands weave remembrance sentiments into product plugs, conservatives try to out-posture everyone about how upset they were, and leftists quote-tweet it all with reminders of the bloody legacy of American interventionism.
But this year, we have a new genre of 9/11 posts on the timeline. People who want to let Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) and Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) know that today is 9/11, and on 9/11, 9/11 happened.
Omar and Tlaib are both U.S. citizens and members of Congress who both were in the country when 9/11 happened. They probably already know. No one is tagging George W. Bush with pictures of the twin towers to see if he remembers.
Omar and Tlaib are the first two Muslims elected to Congress. And this is their first 9/11 in office, which has been littered with anti-Muslim tweets.
Hey, @RashidaTlaib @IlhanMN pic.twitter.com/ETT6pP9AVz
— Robert J. O’Neill (@mchooyah) September 11, 2019
Like from Robert O’Neill, the Navy SEAL who killed Osama bin Laden, tagging the two in a picture of the Twin Towers.
Am I the only dude wondering what @RashidaTlaib will say today? Her family was dancing 18 years ago.
— Robert J. O’Neill (@mchooyah) September 11, 2019
And a former member of the armed services harassing a congressperson is just the tip of the hate the two are getting today.
A glance through Omar and Tlaib’s messages shows Americans are ready to be just as Islamaphobic today as they were on Sept 12.
https://twitter.com/cazinga1/status/1171777532171042817
@IlhanMN hey today is the day some people did some stuff #911remembered
— Metal Jim (the real one) (@metaljimrocks) September 11, 2019
https://twitter.com/JackPosobiec/status/1171761811340832768
https://twitter.com/1970sBallCoach/status/1171762550633050112
@RashidaTlaib @IlhanMN pic.twitter.com/j3xNGmtWdU
— Calexan Republican (@TammyCo18192360) September 11, 2019
A great deal of the hate stems from Omar’s quote this summer when discussing the U.S. response to 9/11 and how the nation reacted with blanket anti-Muslim fervor and not anger toward the specific antagonists.
“CAIR was founded after 9/11,” she said, referring to the Council on American Islamic Relations. “Because they recognized that some people did something and that all of us were starting to lose access to our civil liberties.”
https://twitter.com/TriBeCaDad/status/1171764861841395713
And by directing vitriol toward her and Tlaib today, instead of the perpetrators of the attacks, conservatives on Twitter are proving Omar’s point.
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