Muslims After 9/11: Children Cope With A Tragedy They Never Knew

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LEESBURG, VA. -- A few months ago, as Hidayah Jaka helped her mom load groceries into their minivan, a group of men pulled up in a car, shouted at the headscarf-wearing girl and her mother to "go back to your country," and sped away.

Hidayah, who was born 13 years ago in the Washington, D.C., suburbs, went quiet.

Some people are scared of Muslims, her mother reminded the girl, because of what 19 men did a decade ago on 9/11. Some people even hate them, she said.

"God doesn't even want us to lie. How would he ask us to kill someone?" Priscilla Martinez said to her eldest daughter, echoing a refrain familiar to her six children.

It wasn't the first time Hidayah had heard of Sept. 11, nor was it the first time the Jaka family, whose children are all too young to have any memory of that day, had discussed it. It was one of dozens of times the Muslim family has had to confront the day head-on.

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