September 11, 2010, marked the nine-year anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. President Barack Obama gave a speech commemorating the victims of the events and encouraging racial tolerance. In a press conference on September 10, the President said "I think that at a time when the country is anxious generally and going through a tough time, then fears can surface, suspicions, divisions can surface in a society. We have to make sure that we don't start turning on each other."http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/10/AR2010091007142.html

Prior to the anniversary, the religious and racial climate had been provoked by protests against a planned Islamic mosque near the site of Ground Zero and a Florida pastor's plan to burn the Koran on the date. The pastor, Terry Jones, later canceled the event after the United States government voiced concerns about the safety of American military forces abroad.http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/7996866/Americas-agony-September-11-anniversary-marked-by-anger-and-controversy.html

In his remarks at the Pentagon, President Obama tried to calm the tension by clarifying the US position toward Islam. "As Americans we are not and will never be at war with Islam. It was not a religion that attacked us that September day, it was Al Qaeda -- a sorry band of men which perverts religion."http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE68709M20100911

Nearly 3,000 people were killed on September 11, 2001, during attacks on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and on United Airlines Flight 93.http://www.cnn.com/2006/LAW/04/25/moussaoui.trial/ http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/05/16/pentagon.video/index.html

In 2008, both Barack Obama and Senator John McCain both visited ground zero on the seventh anniversary of the attacks. In a joint statement, the rival senators, who were both running in the 2008 presidential election at the time, said, "All of us came together on 9/11 - not as Democrats or Republicans - but as Americans."http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7602428.stm

On the sixth anniversary of the attacks, in 2007, Al Qaeda released a video eulogy for 9/11 hijacker Waleed al-Shehri. In a 47-minute-long-video, Osama Bin Laden praises al-Shehri for his role in the helping to crash American Airlines Flight 11 into the North Tower of the World Trade Center.http://edition.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/09/11/binladen.video/index.html http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/09/06/binladen.video/