“After suppressing whatever effect 9/11 had on me—an effect that seems inseparable from those of normal adolescence, because who knows why I did what I did when I was 16 (I can’t afford a therapist)—the U.S. execution of Osama bin Laden and the racism that followed made it impossible to suppress further. I wasn’t yet sure if there was any racial backlash, although when you’re brown you get a quick understanding of what events will lead to you feeling weirder, and what events will lead to you continuing to just feeling weird. I didn’t even need to know this happened to know that it happened.”