Not all abuse was physical. There were verbal and written ways of making innocent people fear for their lives and feel like they were to blame for the mass murder on September 11, 2001.

"Months ago, I parked at a shopping mall... next to a white Ford. The owner had painted phrases on the window in broad strokes of yellow paint. 'If you want to see

Ala,

A-l-a

or Jahad,

J-a-h-a-d,

then mess with an American. This person couldn't even spell the words that he grew to hate. Why does an American paint a message like that on their car? To inform Saddam Hussein or Osama bin Laden that America will not stand in the face of terrorism? Or was it to provoke people like me, Arab Americans and Muslims...I wanted to find this motorist and tell him or her that I am more of an American than they were." (source)