Still Moments: A Story About Faded Dreams And Forbidden Pictures

by Zighen Aym

It is a disturbing and powerful personal story about ethnic profiling. Written by a suspected terrorist, this is a book about racial profiling in the USA, its politics, and its hypocrisy. The author, a North African freelance photographer, takes us inside the issue of ethnic profiling in the aftermath of 9/11. He writes about his encounter with the Illinois state police, the call from the FBI, and the traumatic interrogation that followed.
   Blending humor and anger, Zighen tells about his personal journey from North Africa to achieve his dreams and goals, only to be suspected of terrorist activities. He manages to tell a succinct story about ethnic profiling in the post 9/11 era and to speak out against it. He drags the reader into the politics, draws parallels between the Algerian police and politicians and their American counterparts, revealing the US Administration's deafening silence about human rights abuses in his native Algeria.
   Was there a case of American Paranoia on Route 66 in the aftermath of 9/11? Can an innocent citizen live without fear in America? These questions remain to be answered

67 pages, Paperback

First published June 30, 2005

About the author

I was born in the North African country of Algeria where I lived until 1976

On January 5, 1977, I came to the US to study mechanical engineering. I went back to Algeria in 1982 after my graduation and I worked in the Sahara desert. That is when I started to dab into photography and writing.