“Just Don’t Act Muslim:” Reflections from a Queens-based Community Organizer

Within a few days of beginning her work as the executive director at South Asian Youth Action (SAYA!), Annetta Seecharran was forced to revise her agenda to provide crisis management. This shift was the result of the post–September 11 victimization faced by innumerable members of the South Asian community in New York City. In this paper, Seecharran documents the ways that SAYA!, which had initially functioned as a youth center, quickly expanded its agenda and programs to serve as a clearinghouse. Other changes included the addition of mental health counseling, legal services, and community education programs. SAYA!’s ability, even with its limited resources, to adapt to post–September 11 social landscape shows that the 2001 terrorist attacks, while tragic, also gave birth to new leadership and creativity in the South Asian community.