Learn how Americans of South Asian, Arab, Muslim, and Middle Eastern descent were scapegoated for 9/11. On September 11, 2001 (9/11), al-Qaeda, an Islamic terrorist group, headed by Osama Bin Laden from Saudi Arabia, launched an attack on the United States by flying hijacked airplanes into designated targets, such as the World Trade Center in New York City. Afterward, acts of racial profiling, hate crimes, and discrimination were committed against Americans of South Asian, Arab, Muslim, and Middle Eastern descent with some questioning if they were terrorists or “un-American,” challenging their loyalty to the United States.