9/11 and the long shadow of Islamophobia

9/11 and the long shadow of Islamophobia

September 9, 2026 · 22 min

About this episode

The episode discusses the long-term effects of Islamophobia following 9/11 and reveals new findings about the safety of air in lower Manhattan post-attacks.

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani called on current Mayor Zohran Mamdani not to attend an annual ceremony commemorating the terror attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. Giuliani also made false claims about Islam, Mamdani’s religion. Mamdani said he will attend the ceremony. Moustafa Bayoumi, professor at Brooklyn College, explains more. Then, in the months following the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attack in New York City, officials repeatedly reassured New Yorkers that the air in lower Manhattan was safe to breathe. But this week, 170,000 pages of documents made public by Mamdani show that wasn’t true. Ben Chevat, executive director at the nonprofit 9/11 Health Watch, breaks down the findings. And, in 1998, terror attacks hit two U.S. embassies and in 2000, the USS Cole was attacked. Princeton University historian Julian Zelizer says these events were warning signs ahead of 9/11 that the government missed. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences. NPR Privacy Policy

People in this episode

Guests: Moustafa Bayoumi, Ben Chevat, Julian Zelizer

Topics covered

Keywords

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: 9/11 Health Watch

Places: New York City, lower Manhattan

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