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Date: 9/15/2020
Where were you and what were you doing when the terror attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, occurred?
It’s something we probably all think about every year. It’s only natural.
At 8:46 a.m. when the first plane hit the World Trade Center’s North Tower, I was in an 8 a.m. biology class at Holyoke Community College. We were not notified that anything had happened. After my class, the only one of the day for me, I got in my car and headed home. A CD had been playing in my car when I went to school that morning, so I didn’t hear any radio reports on my way home until I decided to change CDs. It was then that the radio switched on and I heard heard the news that not one, but two planes had hit the World Trade Center. Just as I got home, word of the Pentagon attack was hitting the television, then I watched – standing, because I couldn;t bring myself to sit down – in horror as the South Tower came down, then the North Tower.
At one point, I heard screaming. It took me a few seconds to realize it was I who was screaming at the television. Then I collapsed on to a heap on the floor and cried.
Those of us older than a certain age have a vivid recollection of the events of that day. Not only how it happened, but how we felt in those very moments is etched in our brains.
Of course, some of those not much younger than myself do not, and not by any fault of their own. They’re simply too young. I even wonder how much some members of the Reminder Publishing editorial staff remember.
As we approach two decades since the attacks, the simple fact of the matter is more and more of the population – my daughter included – is going to rely on our accounts of that day and the the days that followed. The task of accurately and responsibly recording and recounting important moments in our history, therefore, is one of utmost importance.
As the anniversary of 9/11 approached this year with the country facing a great deal of unrest including battles against racial injustice and a contentious election season, internet memes touting the “blessing” that was Sept. 12 popped up on my feed with great regularity.
If you’ve missed these, the basic premise is the events of Sept. 11, 2001, united us and we were all “just Americans” who didn’t see each other’s differences. Of course, many of these memes hedge with obvious statement that the poster wouldn’t want another tragedy like the terror attacks.
It’s a weird sentiment to me.
To be frank, the assertion isn’t truthful in the first place. To be sure, there were tremendous displays of patriotism in the time following Sept. 11. First responders from all over the country flocked to Ground Zero to help with recovery efforts. Volunteers mobilized. Blood donations poured in. When President George W. Bush threw out the first pitch at Game 3 of the World Series in New York, it was viewed as a galvanizing event.
But in truth, those days that followed 9/11 weren’t a time of togetherness; it was a time of shock, fear, uncertainty, sadness and anger. Families of those who worked at the World Trade Center or of first responders who charged in begged for word on their relatives, holding photos in the hopes that someone had seen them get out. Images of exploding buildings, rubble, people covered in blood and dust or – most heartbreaking – jumping or falling to their deaths, were ever-present in the media with newspaper headlines reading “America’s Darkest Day,” “Act of War,” “War on America,” “It’s War,” “Acts of Mass Murder” and “Bastards!” and 24-hour television news coverage.
The skies were silent with planes grounded and when flights finally resumed, a low-flying plane prompted eyes to the sky.
Shortly after the attacks, I returned to that same biology class and the professor gave us the opportunity to talk about what had happened. It was anything but a unifying experience. Reactions ranged from some saying the U.S. “had it coming” to others proposing “killing all the [insert racial epithet for those of Arab decent].”
I just wanted life to feel safe and normal and I, for one, never want to ever feel that way again.
The danger of whitewashing our history in this fashion has long-lasting impacts. One of the worst and most despicible to me, however, is how one of the worst events in our nation’s history is now being used as an attempt to shame people from having real conversation in this country.
Memes like the ones glorifying Sept. 12 are appealing with their “we’re all Americans” sentiment. But along with that message comes the message that differences were ignored and the problem with that part of the message is that it is essentially telling people that our differences should continue to be ignored. It’s basically a finger wag and a stern “Shame on you if you point out the inequities that exist in our society. Why can’t you just act like an American and be quiet?”
It’s using the people who died and the families that were forever altered that day as a political tool to create a dangerous call for compliance masked as patriotism.
It’s an attempt to silence dissenting voices using the ghosts of innocent victims as a backdrop.
It’s shameful and an insult to their memories.