I can’t believe that today marks nineteen years that my Tom and I were standing in the driveway of our new house in Sarasota – we had moved there from New York only eight or so days prior. We had no TV, our little girls had just started elementary school. We were planning our day. Then we had a call from Tom’s old partner that a plane had hit the World Trade Center. We found out that President Bush was at an elementary school in Sarasota, and, once we found out our girls were safe, and that our loved ones who worked in downtown New York were ok, we headed to the Circuit City in town to watch TV to see what had happened.
The rest is history.
There are those who continue to conflate the idea of immigration reform and perceived border safety with the ability to prevent another terrorist attack on our country.
A couple of points here…These were not illegal immigrants or refugees from the terrors within their own countries who perpetrated the atrocities of 9/11. And most people don’t understand the mentality of true fanatics. They wait…they are patient…they are motivated and can find a way. Building a wall or keeping “bad people” out won’t prevent terrorism. Most of the terrorism that has been inflicted on our nation since 9/11 has been the work of home-grown white guys. Not a “bunch” of Mexicans or Muslims who are “invading” our nation in “hordes” to inflict damage on “real” Americans. And on September 11, they came in planes, not in vans, not in boats, not on foot with ladders to climb over walls that are being constructed for sheer perpetration of hatred, xenophobia or divisiveness.
So go ahead and build your walls, keep the displaced victims of natural disasters out…but watch how none of that affects future acts of terror. You are foolish to believe that rhetoric. You are drinking the Kool Aid of xenophobic, racist and islamaphobic nationalists, whose vitriol is encouraged and enabled by the man in the White House…a man who has, for the first time in history, built a wall around America’s House and who hid in a bunker, much like a swastika-loving dictator we were all taught was the enemy during the last century. A man who has no concept of service other than to himself and his ego. Remember there is a difference between patriotism and nationalism. Muslims are not the enemy, any more than Christians are because an evangelical white guy shot up a school.
I no longer recognize the United States. My country is divided with the foul stench of hatred. Families and friends are turning against one another with no ability to find common ground or decent conversation. The dictatorship is gaining ground. The stench is becoming fouler every day.
September 11, 2001 was a day that changed us all. And this country came together, united not just in fear but also in bravery, courage , compassion, aid, sadness, determination and the will to survive, with no consideration of race, gender, immigration status, religion or political affiliation – we were all just Americans.
We were all just humans in a time of crisis. Heroes rushed in from across the country to help – did anyone look at their immigration status when they carried the wounded out? Did anyone care if they were white or brown or yellow or gay or straight or tall or short or Christian or Jewish or Muslim? Were blood donations turned away for ANY of those reasons? I think not.
I long not for the tragedy, but for the decency of September 12, 2001 again. I pray that someday we can return to that state of decency.
