Last Tuesday, I did not want to think about the political aftermath of the World Trade Center bombings. It was too early. That vivid image of those two colossi collapsing into a heap of flames was etched too firmly in my mind. I could not think of anything except the victims who might be underneath the rubble and their families. My girlfriend lives in New York. Many of my friends work in the World Trade Center and lower Manhattan. As I frantically dialed 212 phone numbers, the rest of the world was a distant afterthought.

A day later, it was still too early to think about anything else. Then I heard about my cousin. He is 13 years old. He immigrated to Toronto three years ago from Bangladesh. Last Wednesday, as he walked down his school’s hallway, three older students grabbed him by the collar, threw him against his locker and proceeded to punch him. “Oh look, a Muslim boy! You gonna bomb us too?”

Like every American, I continue to feel both tremendous sadness and anger every time I think about the tragic events of Sept. 11. But hearing about the attack on my cousin has forced me to think about this national crisis in a different light. I have had little time to mourn the victims of last Tuesday’s tragedy because now I have to worry about the backlash against my family and friends who have dark skin or foreign-sounding names.

We must begin to consider what our collective rage against terrorism is doing to the moral fabric of this country. Our president has vowed revenge against the perpetrators of last Tuesday’s vicious crimes. He has promised that “we’ll smoke them out of their holes.” But who is “them”? Is it Osama bin Laden and his network of fanatics? Is it the Taliban? Does it include every innocent civilian living in Afghanistan, Sudan or wherever Osama bin Laden is hiding? Does “them” include every Arab or Muslim living in the United States?

The rhetoric of some of our leaders has been encouraging. In his first address to New Yorkers after the bombing, Mayor Rudolph Giuliani urged Americans not to single out anyone because of religion, race or ethnic origin and pledged around-the-clock security for neighborhood mosques.