The nation's tolerance was tested when more some 3,000 people died in New York, Washington, D.C., and Pennsylvania six years ago.

Mesa was no different, [Mesa Mayor Keno] Hawker reminded the Citadel residents, particularly after Balbir Singh Sodhi was shot dead outside his east Mesa gas station four days after the attack. Singh's convicted murder, Frank Roque, reportedly mistook Singh, a Sikh, for an Arab.

"He was gunned down for no other reason than he looked Middle Eastern," Hawker said.

But Hawker said he was heartened by the community's response to the murder, and the face of tolerance Mesa put forth after the nation's first hate-crime murder following the terrorist attacks.

"The City of Mesa embraced different cultures to learn more about the world," Hawker said. "And to learn more about the people out there." [Link]