The reaction to President Barack Obama's Announcement that Osama bin Laden was killed drew crowds of cheering people to the White House -- many who are called "millennials" -- a generation that has grown up in the shadow of 9/11.
A new report and survey compiled by students at American University's School of Communication examines the impact of the terror attack on people between the ages of 18 and 29.
“The majority of the millennials who took our survey said that they were affected but that they don’t live in fear of another attack,” said Rachel Boehm, a graduate student who worked as a reporter and photographer on the report.
“Growing up in the Shadow of 9/11” features voices of students from diverse backgrounds.
“On Sept. 11, I remember I was in my math class in fifth grade,” one said.
“I remember watching the news together with my parents and it was really confusing at first to see it was Muslims responsible and I was not used to seeing myself in the media before then,” a Muslim-American said.
“Every time I see it, I get chills,” said AU student Samantha Miller, an editor and reporter on the project. “It just reminds me of a lot of the things I felt growing up in the shadow of 9/11.”
The report was posted online just days before the killing of Osama bin Laden so we asked the reporters what they would add if they could write one more chapter.
“Does the Millennial generation really feel that this is the turning point, the end of a chapter?” Boehm said. “What do they think will come next?”
For the journalism students, it was a chance to examine their own feelings about 9/11 by surveying others. It is the defining moment for the millennial generation much like the assassination of President John F. Kennedy or Vietnam was for their parents.
