So. . . today is another anniversary of the
September 11th, 2001 terrorist attacks against the United States. A day on
which we remember and honor the victims and the heroes of that day, and
*rightly so*.
It's a day on which we throw up hashtags like #NeverForget and we use
phrases like "on that day, we were united" or "our hearts beat
as one".
But we *have* to stop romanticizing that "unity". Because
that day doesn’t exist in a vacuum, suspended in time, away from everything.
That day changed every day that came after it. If we are truly going to honor
the victims and heroes of 9/11, we must do *honestly*, which requires that we
examine how we honored them and progressed as a nation after that day.
And we did a poor mother fucking job of honoring them. We continue to
do a poor job of honoring them even now, 17 years later.
How have we paid tribute to them?
America’s longest military action, spanning *three* (3) Presidential
administrations so far?
Thousands of dead soldiers and civilians?
Direct attacks on our civil rights in the name of security?
Ongoing denial of aid for the surviving heroes, who we largely ignore
except on the anniversary and when a politician needs to campaign?
A dramatic increase in public bigotry?
The normalization of jingoism in place of true patriotism?
If you ask me, that’s not honor.
Even Billy Graham asked us “not to implode and disintegrate emotionally
and spiritually as a people and a nation”, but we didn’t listen.
Within a week of the attack, we got to hear
“What we saw on Tuesday, as terrible as it is, could be minuscule if,
in fact, God continues to lift the curtain and allow the enemies of America to
give us probably what we deserve." – Jerry Falwell
"Jerry, that's my feeling. I think we've just seen the antechamber
to terror. We haven't even begun to see what they can do to the major
population." – Pat Robertson
"The abortionists have got to bear some burden for this because
God will not be mocked. And when we destroy 40 million little innocent babies,
we make God mad. I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and
the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make
that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People for the American Way, all of
them who have tried to secularise America, I point the finger in their face and
say, 'You helped this happen.' " – Jerry Falwell
That’s not honor. That’s *hate*.
In the first week and a half after the attack, there were around 600
documented incidents of attacks on Arab and Muslim people in the U.S. Nearly 600 in *10* days. A *Sikh* was
murdered because of hate and stupidity.
We claim to honor the victims. Yet we consistently fail to mention that
this wasn’t just an attack on America. Citizens from at least 78 nations were
killed in the attack. This was an attack on *everyone*. But we don’t really
talk about them.
On the anniversary, we remember the victims. We remember the heroes.
But we consistently fail to *honor* them.
The simple fact is, 9/11 *broke* us and as a result, we’ve failed the
dead and the living.
We should try to figure out how to fix it.
