Son of 9/11 Victim Says 'Please Stop' Exploiting Tragedy to Spread Anti-Muslim Bigotry

Relatives of 9/11 victims urge an end to exploitation of the attacks to promote anti-Muslim bigotry

At the 25th anniversary commemorations of the September 11, 2001 attacks, relatives of victims urged that the tragedy not be weaponized to promote Islamophobia and political division. Michael Massaroli Jr., whose father Michael Massaroli was killed in the attacks that claimed nearly 3,000 lives, appealed directly for an end to hate speech and discrimination tied to the anniversary. The plea came amid renewed debate over the role of religion in public remembrance and a reported surge in complaints of anti-Muslim and anti-Arab discrimination.

"One parting thing I want to leave everyone with is that you do my dad's legacy and the legacy of all these victims no honor by using this tragedy to spread hate," Massaroli said at the National September 11 Memorial in Lower Manhattan. "I've had to grow up and spend the past 25 years seeing people use it to hate on our Muslim brothers and sisters, to hate on people who don't look like them. And that's wrong. And that does no honor to the victims here. And I want to use the little platform I have to ask for that to please stop."

Massaroli's remarks were echoed by members of September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows, including co-founder Colleen Kelly, who have long denounced post-9/11 violence and hatred. The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) national executive director Nihad Awad framed the issue in broader civil liberties terms, warning that the post-9/11 climate was exploited to erode rights and justify wars.

"The trauma we all felt after the attacks was exploited to erode civil liberties, justify torture, normalize illegal discrimination, empower hate groups, and launch forever wars across the Middle East that killed thousands of American soldiers and hundreds of thousands of men, women, and children in numerous countries," Awad said on Friday, urging a recommitment to "the spirit of unity that bonded all of us together 25 years ago."

The recent controversy surrounding New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani — the first Muslim elected to lead the city — illustrates the tensions Massaroli and others highlighted. Critics, including former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and other conservatives, publicly urged Mamdani to skip the city’s September 11 commemoration, invoking his faith and raising questions about his participation. Advocates described that criticism as part of a broader wave of Islamophobic vitriol.

CAIR reported a record 8,683 anti-Muslim and anti-Arab complaints in 2025, linking part of the increase to immigration enforcement and responses to pro-Palestinian protests. The complaints documented a range of alleged discriminatory actions, including immigration and travel restrictions, employment discrimination, and targeting of Muslim and Arab communities.

Organisers and family members framed their appeals as both moral and practical: honoring victims requires resisting efforts to turn grief into political weaponry that marginalizes communities. They called on public officials, the media, and civic leaders to reject narratives that conflate terror with an entire faith and to focus instead on remembrance and shared humanity.

• Key figures: Michael Massaroli Jr., Colleen Kelly, Nihad Awad, Zohran Mamdani, Rudy Giuliani
• Context: nearly 3,000 killed on 9/11; subsequent wars have resulted in nearly one million deaths globally
• Data point: CAIR recorded 8,683 anti-Muslim and anti-Arab complaints in 2025

Looking ahead, family members and civil rights advocates said the anniversary should prompt renewed commitments to protect civil liberties and combat discrimination. Their message was clear: remembrance must not be a cover for division, and honoring victims means standing against the exploitation of their deaths to justify hatred or further conflict.