US marks 20th anniversary of 9/11

Former President George W. Bush spoke in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, at the Flight 93 Memorial, remembering how 20 years ago today "the world was loud with carnage and sirens."

Bush added: "There was horror at the scale of destruction and awe at the bravery and kindness that rose to meet it. There was shock at the audacity of evil and gratitude for the heroism and decency that opposed it. In the sacrifice of the first responders and the mutual aid of strangers, in the solidarity of grief and grace, the actions of an enemy revealed the spirit of a people. We were proud of our wounded nation."

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Many Muslims in the United States point to September 11, 2001, as the day their relationship with the country changed.

Islamophobia had always existed, but the terrorist attacks in New York, Pennsylvania and Virginia seemingly made it worse -- much worse.

Muslims of all stripes -- citizens, immigrants and refugees -- faced backlash. Many were ostracized and harassed, some physically assaulted and even killed. Charged rhetoric, successive wars and attacks further inflamed the situation.

Feeling condemned for crimes they didn't commit, some Muslims changed their names and clothing to conceal their identities, while others clung even tighter to their faith. A few became outspoken advocates for the community.

Every Muslim in America has a story to tell. Here is one of them.

Ruwa Romman

Ruwa Romman, 28, is a Palestinian American community organizer and policy analyst living in Duluth, Georgia.

When the terrorists attacked, she was 8 years old and had just recently immigrated to the US with her parents. But the dream she had of building a new life in America quickly turned into a nightmare.

Still, she recalls the long list of insults hurled at her as a child: "terrorist" and "sand n****r." Some even asked if she was related to Osama bin Laden, the al Qaeda mastermind behind the attacks.

Romman says she can't remember a single day in elementary school when the bullying stopped. High school wasn't much better -- with one teacher pulling her out of class to ask if her family belongs to a terrorist group.

Outside of school, a close friend's family banned her from their home because she was Muslim and "dangerous," she said. Airport travel required numerous bag checks -- sometimes three times during a single trip.

The bullying and harassment set Romman on a path to educate and advocate for her community, even at a young age.

In 2016, Romman joined the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation's largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, as their communications director. She's since become a community organizer, policy analyst and consultant working on related issues.

Romman says advocating for US Muslims and the issues they face is daunting, but sees hope in every small victory.

"We will continue to be politically engaged and unapologetically so." Romman said. "Muslims are no longer willing to carry that burden. None of us committed 9/11. Why should we carry that burden?"

Read more here.

In the aftermath of 9/11, New York City law enforcement officials developed a strategy designed to gain intelligence and develop technology to prevent any more attacks.

Twenty years and hundreds of millions of dollars later, those same strategies and technological advancements are used to solve crimes.

The NYPD has made significant technological changes since the destruction of the World Trade Center, adding more cameras, installing license plate readers at points of entry as well as in police cars, and giving their officers smart phones that have access to records and information, officials said. These advances, among others, were developed using federal funding.

Since 2017, the NYPD has spent over $300 million each year on intelligence and counterterrorism, according to the city's independent budget office. The tab for 2021 is also expected to be above $300 million, a spokesperson said.

And since 9/11, the NYPD has stopped 51 terror incidents that have either emanated from New York City or where the city was the target, according to John Miller, deputy commissioner for intelligence and counter-terrorism. And 25 of those incidents have happened within the last five years, according to Miller.

The department's anti-terror tools also are being used to solve more run-of-the-mill crimes.

Read more here.

The ringing of the Bells of Remembrance has begun in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, in honor of the victims of United Airlines Flight 93. 

Memorial officials read the names of the passengers and crew and rang bells for each person. 

Clark welcomed dignitaries in attendance at the start of the ceremony, which include: Vice President Kamala Harris and second gentleman Doug Emhoff; President George W. Bush and First Lady Laura Bush; and Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf. 

The opening prayer was led by Reverend Dr. Margaret Grun Kibben, chaplain of the United States House of Representatives, who said 20 years ago, "our nation's peace was shattered...our country fractured by the devastation." 

Clark asked that everyone in attendance "join us is wearing a face covering." 

"We have come together with the families as passengers and crew members to honor the 40 heroes of Flight 93, by observing this precaution we can best protect ourselves, and look out for each other," said Clark. 

The United States Marine band played the National Anthem at the start of the somber event. 

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Mark Milley honored the victims of Sept. 11, 2001, and the US service members who died in the Afghanistan War on the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.

"All of the values and principles embedded in our Constitution and made real in our daily lives were paid for with the blood of the fallen on this place at 9:37 on Sept. 11, 2001," Milley said, speaking at the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia. 

In his remarks, he implored Americans to never forget the victims and to stand up to hatred.

Milley said US service members have fought "tirelessly" against terrorism since the attacks, including the 13 who died during the Kabul airport attack on Aug. 26.

"Their talent and their efforts and their courage, their personal valor has carried this fight day and night. We did not fear what was in front of us, because we love what was behind us. 800,000 of us in uniform served in Afghanistan in the last 20 years. Tens of thousands more served elsewhere, in the collective fight against terrorism. And thousands more stand watch today, all around the world. 2,461 of us gave the last full measure of devotion, including 13 just two weeks ago," he said.

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The Shanksville, Pennsylvania, observance ceremony commemorating the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks is now underway. 

At 10:03 a.m. ET, the moment United Airlines Flight 93 crashed, the names of the 40 passengers and crew members who perished will be read aloud. 

Former President George W. Bush will deliver keynote remarks in a ceremony open to the families of those killed on United Flight 93 and invited guests. 

Anthoula Katsimatides, the former assistant vice president for family relations at the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation (LMDC), spoke about her "larger-than-life" brother John who worked on the 104th floor of Tower One on Sept. 11, 2001.

Katsimatides added: "The whole country seemed to put its arm around us. And that lent me just enough strength to get up the next day and the day after that, and the day after that, and I realized that all this kindness and giving reminded me of my brother. My larger-than-life, live-out-loud big brother, who loved to make people laugh, and he was always there, whenever something was needed."

Jeremy Booth was just coming in to his finance job at San Francisco’s iconic Transamerica Pyramid building when the Twin Towers were struck.

Watching coverage of the rescue efforts later, what he saw of the FDNY’s heroic response set him on a dramatically different path.

After years of training, he is now a captain with the Richmond Fire Department in California and says those scenes still impact how he does his work.

Listen to Booth's story, in his own words:

CNN asked readers to share how their lives have changed in the past 20 years. Listen to more of their stories here.

Twenty years after 9/11, the changes the attacks brought to American life still reverberate across political and demographic lines.

 A new CNN Poll conducted by SSRS finds that 57% of Americans say the attacks impacted the way they live their life today and 68% say the attacks had an impact on Americans' individual rights and freedoms.

While the share who say the attacks affected rights and freedoms has dropped in the last decade (an AP-NORC Poll conducted in 2011 found that 86% of Americans thought the attacks had affected individual rights and freedoms), the percentage who say 9/11 changed the way they live their lives today has held relatively steady over time.

Five years after the attacks, in 2006, an AP-Ipsos survey found a 50-50 split over whether 9/11 affected the way Americans live their lives. By 2011, 57% said their lives had been impacted by the attacks in an AP-NORC poll, and 63% felt that way two years later.

That a majority feels the attacks had some effect on the way Americans live their lives today holds across demographic and political divides, but there are some differences in the extent to which different groups feel their lives changed.

Older adults, who were 45 or older in 2001, are least likely to say the attacks had "a great deal" of impact on how they live their lives now (13% say so). Among those who were children, teenagers or not even born yet at the time of the attacks, 24% say 9/11 had a great deal of impact on their lives.

Overall, about 1 in 5 (20%) say September 11 had a great deal of impact on their life today, while 37% say it was just some impact.

The sense that the attacks affected individual rights and freedoms is also consistent across demographic divides, though Republicans (72%) are a bit more likely than Democrats (64%) to say that rights and freedoms were affected by the attacks.

Read more about the polls here.