The international response of the U.S. to Sept. 11 was to launch a global War on Terror, which included wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and various other military engagements around the world. The burden of actually fighting these conflicts disproportionately fell on Black Americans. The U.S. Census Bureau reports that 15.3 percent of the soldiers who have served since Sept. 11, 2001, have been Black, despite Black people only making up 13.6 percent of the overall population. But despite being overrepresented in the military ranks, Black people are still significantly less likely to be promoted to officer status, according to internal military studies.

While Black Americans have been given the task of carrying out the War on Terror, Black societies across Africa have been among those hit hardest as casualties of this conflict. With the invasion of Afghanistan displacing al-Qaeda and the rise and fall of ISIS in Iraq and Syria, Africa has become the region of the world where the strongest affiliates of these terrorist organizations reside.

Groups like Boko Haram in West Africa and Al-Shabaab in East Africa represent local affiliates of these larger terror networks and have been responsible for killing tens of thousands of people in countries like Nigeria and Somalia. In response, the U.S. and its allies have reacted by supporting military actions across Africa, including devastating drone strikes that have killed hundreds, if not thousands, of civilians alongside militants.

While the War on Terror raged abroad after 9/11, increased surveillance, suspicion and harassment of Muslims in the United States also developed immediately after the attacks. While all American Muslims were targets of discrimination, prejudice and even violence, Black people were as well as they make up 20% of the American Muslim community. This community has long fallen under suspicion and accusations of un-American activities, going back to the activism of figures such as Malcolm X and Muhammad Ali — the most famous American Muslims — among many others. The overlap of Islamophobia and the backlash to movements like Black Lives Matter has left Black Muslims feeling doubly targeted within this country.

As Blavity previously reported, one of the indirect but incredibly important side effects of Sept. 11 and the War on Terror was the militarization of American police. In the years since 9/11, police departments across the country were given surplus military equipment, recruited military veterans as officers and received training in counterterrorist tactics. The result of all these changes was the expansion of a model of policing that resembled urban warfare, with Black people being disproportionately targeted as the enemy.

While many factors contributed to the victory of Barack Obama over John McCain, the post-9/11 War on Terror hung over the 2008 election. By 2008, frustration over the wars in Afghanistan and especially Iraq had created significant opposition to outgoing President George W. Bush and the Republicans who had supported his war efforts, including Senator McCain.

Obama, by contrast, had established himself as an opponent of the invasion of Iraq. And even though he ended up continuing many of the previous War on Terror policies, he was seen as a peacemaker rather than a warmonger, which contributed to his popularity at home and abroad.

An entire generation of Black people is becoming adults who have only known a post-9/11 world. At home and abroad, the various impacts of 9/11 continue to shape our world and particularly impact Black people in the U.S. and around the world.