Since September 2001, American Muslims have at times been subject to serious suspicion and sometimes anger.

Drost Kokoye - whose family came to America as Kurdish refugees escaping Saddam Hussein's Iraq - was just 10 years old at the time of the attacks on the World Trade Center. Her teenage years were in part defined by the events of that day.

Kokoye feels that although 9/11 may have unleashed a backlash against American Muslims, growing up with it also gave her an opportunity to engage in dialogue aimed at countering the negative stereotypes.

Al Jazeera's Gabriel Elizondo reports from Nashville, Tennessee.