NEW YORK – For many American Muslims, 9/11 attacks came to change their lives forever. American Muslim comedian Dean Obeidallah is not an exception.

“Pre-9/11, I identified as a white guy,” he told Agence France Presse (AFP).

But after the terror attacks of that day, he said he “converted to become a minority.”

Armed only with his sense of humor, Obeidallah spent the past 15 years in fighting hatred and bias against Islam.

The talkative New Jersey native, a former lawyer, is the son of a Palestinian father and an Italian mother.

Though no one had ever guessed from his appearance that he was Arab or Muslim, he decided to spotlight his Muslim identity.

“When you’re demonized, it brings it out of you. You’re either going to hide in the shadows or you’re going to step up in the light and you’re going to fight for your community,” he said.

Ever since this announcement, he has used every possible platform to spread his message.

This included the stand-up routines that are his bread-and-butter as well as the 2013 documentary “The Muslims are Coming!” which he co-directed and his eponymous radio show on SiriusXM.

He also founded a New York festival for Muslim comedians, the Muslim Funny Fest.

“We’re not in the media much,” Obeidallah said.

“If you don’t know us, you’ve never met us and all you see is Daesh and Al Qaeda, of course you don’t think we’re funny. You think we’re scary, we’re going to come kill you.”

The emergence of ISIL and the recent tirades by Donald Trump, the Republican presidential candidate, have both added urgency to his fight against the stereotypes burdening Muslims.

Obeidallah says comments like those have fomented fear.

“Muslim Americans right now feel a sense of being alone, we’re under siege,” Obeidallah said.

“We feel like no one really cares about our community.”