Yusuf Azeem Is Not a Hero

Yusuf doesn’t want to open his locker, afraid of receiving more notes. There’s a chart posted that lists the students and their lockers, so the other kids know the locker that belongs to Yusuf.

Ethan Grant plays for the middle school football team, the Frey Coyotes. He bumps into Yusuf with his backpack, and Yusuf says sorry, but then he retracts his apology, realizing it’s Ethan’s fault. Ethan wonders why Yusuf is carrying so much stuff and correctly guesses the location of Yusuf’s locker. Danial calls Ethan a “bully.”

The robotics club has four members at its first meeting—Danial, Yusuf, Tony Rivera, and Madison Ensley. She has four brothers, and she grew up preferring LEGOs over dolls. Mr. Parker defines robots, and Madison gives an example—the robots Amazon uses in its warehouses to optimize orders.

Rahman’s third journal entry is dated September 11, 2001. Rahman is in history class when the vice principal announces that airplanes crashed into the Twin Towers. The teacher, Mr. Jasper, turns on the big TV in the corner, and everyone watches the news. Jasper goes to the bathroom and cries, and neither Rahman nor Farrah grasp what has happened.

Yusuf and Danial talk about 9/11. Yusuf says 9/11 was “terrible,” and Danial claims everyone knows 9/11 was horrible—it’s like saying spinach is gross. Yusuf wonders why people become “all quiet” about 9/11. Danial has a neighbor whose son died in Iraq, and the neighbor doesn’t talk about him.

Danial doesn’t understand why they’re talking about 9/11—it happened 20 years ago. Yusuf repeats Rahman’s philosophy: History influences the present and future. Yusuf notices new graffiti on a nearby crumbling building that reads “NEVER FORGET,” and Ethan calls Yusuf and Danial “terrorists.”

Yusuf brings up Abba, who likes to talk about the “shooting” in his dollar store. Danial reminds Yusuf that there wasn’t a shooting, so maybe the robber didn’t have a gun in his pocket.

In Miss Terrance’s social studies class, the students discuss the meaning of “Never Forget,” and a boy with red hair says 9/11 happened because of “Arab terrorists” like Yusuf, but Yusuf isn’t Arab—his family is from South Asia. Miss Terrance asks how Yusuf could have been involved in the attacks, so the boy, reiterating what he heard on “the news,” blames Yusuf’s parents. To counter the misinformation, Miss Terrance asks her students to research 9/11 and present a report in two weeks.

In Danial’s homeroom, students chant, “Never forget.” Ethan and his friends, including the boy with red hair, tell Danial and Yusuf to leave Frey, but Cameron tells Ethan to leave them alone. Yusuf notices that people are treating 9/11 differently this year.

In the robotics club, Mr. Parker has the members create flowcharts to help program the robots. Danial thinks the flowcharts are beneath them: He and Yusuf have been programming since they were eight, and Yusuf once made a robot that brought them juice boxes. Before the meeting ends, Cameron appears—he’s joining the club.

For Jumma (Friday prayers), the congregants cram inside the trailer instead of overflowing outside, as Abba doesn’t want to give people reason to complain to the mayor. Danial’s father gives a sermon about Prophet Abraham. Adversaries pushed Abraham into a fire, but God cooled the fire to save him. Yusuf wonders how a fire can “cool down,” so Danial reminds Yusuf that much of the Quran is metaphorical—and the symbolic language should make people reflect.

Amma and Yusuf get burgers from Whataburger and supplies for Abba at Sam’s Club. Amma and Yusuf remember COVID-19 and when they couldn’t eat out. Yusuf convinces Amma to move Sunday school back to Sunday, conducting lessons after lunch when the children and women mostly sit around.

Yusuf thinks about Rahman’s journal and the notes in his locker. He doesn’t tell Amma about them, but he asks about her memories of 9/11, and she remembers crying and wondering if a plane would crash into a building close to them or their house. Amma tells Yusuf to “forget” 9/11 and changes the subject to the football game that night.

Danial and Yusuf don’t want to attend the football game, but their fathers feel it’s important to take part in the “town activities.” Amma quips that they’ve spent 20 years “proving” themselves. Sameena Aunty is at the game, wearing her hijab. Amma, who doesn’t wear a hijab, tells Sameena Aunty that the hijab can’t prevent adverse incidents.

The football game is only practice, but Ethan smashes into a seventh-grader like it’s a regular season game. Ethan’s father, Trevor Grant, cheers him on. Mr. Grant once cut off Danial’s mom on the highway and called her a “stupid foreigner.” Mr. Grant is also Jared’s uncle. Last year, Ethan’s parents divorced, so Ethan and his father moved to Frey from West Virginia to be near Mrs. Raymond, Mr. Grant’s mother.

Rahman’s fourth journal entry is dated September 12, 2001. Rahman wonders how the men who did the attacks could be Muslim when the Muslim religion centers on “peace and love.” Kids yell and push Sarah, and media reports focused on the arrival of terrorism on the home front. Rahman believes the US is his home.

Mrs. Raymond’s soil arrives, and Yusuf delivers it to her, with someone making fun of him along the way. Mrs. Raymond invites Yusuf in, and Yusuf hangs out with Jared, who’s painting as a form of therapy. Jared has never met his father, and his mother serves overseas. “The doctors” think making art can diminish his “nightmares.” His mother has been gone for seven weeks, so Jared is on his seventh painting. Jared also teaches Yusuf how to play solitaire.

Mrs. Raymond brings them cookies and tells Yusuf she needs two more bags of soil. She’s supplying the flowers for this year’s 9/11 parade. Typically, the 9/11 parade is a “small event,” but this year is the 20th anniversary, and Mr. Grant is in charge.

During the Saturday club meeting for the TRC, Mr. Parker passes out the information about the competition, and the six members brainstorm a team name. Cameron suggests Cam Bots, and Mr. Parker playfully suggests Team Parker. They decide to go with Yusuf’s idea, Freybots.

The competition is formidable. Last year’s champion team made a robot that collected plastic from the ocean. In 2019, the winning robot rescued kids from fires. The robots only function “theoretically” in simulations.

Yusuf and Danial argue about Mexican food and Danial’s halal diet while they wander around town. They stumble upon the 9/11 parade float, which replicates the Twin Towers. Mr. Grant confronts them, and he’s with a group of people on motorcycles. They’re members of the Patriot Sons, a group whose goal is to reclaim Frey and the US.

During the 9/11 parade, the Muslim families stand together, looking dour. There’s familiar signage—“NEVER FORGET” and “TWENTY YEARS”—and the people sing “The Star-Spangled Banner.” The mayor gives a speech about “true Americans” and “loyalty,” causing Amma to grumble. Dressed like a “cowboy,” Mr. Grant makes a speech about ridding the town and nation of “the enemy.”

At the Urooj Diner, a restaurant owned by a Lebanese Christian family since 1968, the Muslim community discusses the parade and Mr. Grant’s speech. Danial’s father calls Mr. Grant a “tool,” and a man reminds people that his grandfather was Frey’s first doctor. Danial’s mother believes Frey has too many “ignorant” people and wants to move to Austin or Houston. Danial’s dad announces that people are petitioning the Islamic Center, so they’re supposed to stop building the mosque.

Rahman’s fifth journal entry is dated September 18, 2001. President George W. Bush makes a speech supporting Muslims, but Rahman and his sisters continue to face anti-Muslim prejudice, with a kid at school claiming that the attackers were Rahman’s “people.” Through the 20th-century boxer and activist Muhammad Ali, Rahman finds hope.