[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 3]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 4495]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         HONORING AVERY BAYHAM

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. PETE OLSON

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, March 25, 2015

  Mr. OLSON. Mr. Speaker, I am privileged to interact with some of the 
brightest students in the 22nd Congressional District who serve on my 
Congressional Youth Advisory Council. I have gained much by listening 
to the high school students who are the future of this great nation. 
They provide important insight into the concerns of our younger 
constituents and hopefully get a better sense of the importance of 
being an active participant in the political process. Many of the 
students have written short essays on a variety of topics and I am 
pleased to share them with my House colleagues.
  Avery Bayham attends Dawson High School in Pearland, Texas. The essay 
topic is: select an important event that has occurred in the past 15 
years and explain how that event has changed our country.

       On September 11, 2001 four planes were hijacked by the 
     terrorist group al-Qaeda. Two of these planes struck the 
     World Trade Center in New York City, one of the planes hit 
     the Pentagon, and the other was crashed into a field in 
     Pennsylvania. Hundreds of lives were lost as this event 
     struck fear in the hearts of millions of Americans and 
     dramatically changed the status-quo of the United States. 
     Today, almost fifteen years later, we are still able to see 
     the results of this devastating event in our everyday 
     society.
       Among the most common effects of 9/11 is racism. I am a 
     sophomore in high school, and every day as I walk down the 
     vast halls of my very racially diverse school, I constantly 
     hear racial jokes and stereotypes. After 9/11, the Islamic 
     community in the United States was heavily discriminated 
     against and criticized. These so called ``jokes'' aimed at 
     certain members of our community are extremely disrespectful, 
     immature, and absolutely unacceptable. The Declaration of 
     Independence states that ``all men are created equal'' and no 
     man has the right to place himself higher due to race. I 
     personally believe that the racial dispute towards Muslims 
     after the event generated and propelled forward the racism 
     that we have in society today.
       Another gargantuan effect of 9/11 was that the security of 
     the United States dramatically increased. This was the first 
     event that seriously caught the attention of the entire 
     population of America since the Cuban Missile Crisis. The 
     security at airports was probably the most noticeable change 
     with ways to try to find bombs, background checks, and body 
     scans. The U.S. has been on the edge of its seat ever since 
     we sent our boys into Afghanistan to put a stop to al-Qaeda, 
     which was defeated with the death of Osama Bin Laden. Now, 
     there is a new group known as ISIS, who is currently 
     executing Christians in Europe while the rest of the world is 
     watching helplessly from the sidelines. This group needs to 
     be neutralized as soon as possible; although it isn't 
     directly attacking the U.S., they are constantly attacking 
     our society and relationships with others. This group was 
     created in response to the elimination of Osama Bin Laden, 
     the mastermind behind 
     9/11. I have seen friends abandon friends just because of 
     what members of their race have done to each other, and I 
     would hate to have that happen to myself.
       9/11 was an absolutely devastating event in America, an 
     event that is still attacking our society today. If 9/11 
     wouldn't have occurred, we would have significantly less 
     racial discrimination as well as security threats in the 
     United States. When did the U.S. begin to allow our enemies 
     to change us?

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