Americans remembered September 11 with tearful tributes and pleas to “never forget” on Sunday, 21 years after the deadliest terrorist attack on American soil.
Bonita Mentis set out to read the names of the victims at the ground zero ceremony wearing a necklace with a photo of her slain sister, Shevonne Mentis, a 25-year-old Guyanese immigrant who worked for a financial firm.
“It’s been 21 years, but it’s not 21 for us. It seems like yesterday,” Mentis said. “The wounds are still fresh.”
“No matter how many years have passed, no one can understand what happened that very day,” he added.
Relatives and dignitaries of the victims also gathered at the other two attack sites, the Pentagon and a field in Pennsylvania.
More than two decades later, 9/11 remains a flashpoint for the hijacked airplane attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people, reshaped national security policy and spurred a “war on terror” by USA worldwide. Sunday’s celebrations, which follow a major anniversary last year, come just over a month after a US drone strike killed a key al Qaeda figure who helped plan the attacks of September 11, Ayman al-Zawahiri.
Members of the New York Fire Department raise an American flag at the 9/11 Memorial in New York City on September 11, 2022, on the 21st anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and Shanksville, Pennsylvania. YUKI IWAMURA/AFP via Getty Images
Pierre Roldan, who lost his cousin Carlos Lillo, a paramedic, said “we had some form of justice” when a US raid killed Osama bin Laden in 2011.
“Now that Al-Zawahiri is gone, at least we continue to do justice,” Roldan said.
The 9/11 attacks also sparked, for a time, a sense of national pride and unity for many, while subjecting American Muslims to years of suspicion and bigotry and generating debate about balance between security and civil liberties. In ways as subtle as they are simple, the aftermath of 9/11 extends through American politics and public life to this day.
But like some relatives of other victims, Jay Saloman fears that Americans’ awareness of 9/11 is fading.
“That day was a terrorist attack against our country. And theoretically, everybody should remember that and, you know, take precautions and be vigilant,” said Saloman, who lost his brother.
Like a growing number of those reading names at ground zero, firefighter Jimmy Riches’ eponymous nephew was not yet born when his relative died. But the boy went up to the podium to honor him.
“You’re always in my heart. And I know you’re watching over me,” he said after reading some of the victims’ names.
More than 70 of Sekou Siby’s co-workers died at Windows on the World, the restaurant located in the mall’s north tower. Siby had been scheduled to work that morning until another cook asked her to switch shifts.
The Ivorian immigrant struggled to comprehend this horror in a country where he had come to seek a better life. And it was hard for him to form friendships as close as those he had had at Windows on the World. It was too painful, he had learned, to snap at people when “you have no control over what happens to them next.”
“Every 9/11 is a reminder of what I lost that I can never get back,” Siby said before the anniversary. He is now president and CEO of ROC United, an advocacy group for restaurant workers that evolved from a post-9/11 relief center.
On Sunday, President Biden laid a wreath at the Pentagon and delivered remarks honoring those who died in the attacks, saying the time that has passed “is a lifetime and there is no time.”
“Terror came upon us that bright blue morning. The air filled with smoke and then came the sirens and the stories, stories of those we lost, stories of incredible heroism from that terrible day. The story Americana changed that day,” he said. . “But what we will not change, what we cannot change, what we will never change, is the character of this nation that the terrorists thought they could hurt.”
The president expressed gratitude to the civilians and service members who responded quickly to the attack on the Pentagon and to the Americans who joined the armed forces after 9/11, declaring, “we owe it to you “.
“Through all that has changed over the past 21 years, the enduring determination of the American people to defend us from those who seek us harm and to bring to justice those responsible for attacks against our people has never wavered “, he said.
Biden also spoke about the importance of American democracy, saying that the American people have an obligation to defend and protect it. The president has sounded the alarm about what he believes are assaults on democracy by some within the Republican Party who refuse to recognize the results of the 2020 presidential election.
“American democracy depends on the habits of the heart, on ‘we the people,'” he said. “It’s not enough to stand up for democracy once a year, or once in a while. It’s something we have to do every day. So this is a day not just to remember, but a day of renewal and resolve for each and every one. American and our devotion to this country, to the principles it embodies, to our democracy.”
First lady Jill Biden was also scheduled to speak in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, where one of the hijacked planes went down after passengers and crew tried to storm the cockpit as the hijackers headed for Washington. Al Qaeda conspirators had taken control of the planes to use them as missiles full of passengers.
Vice President Kamala Harris and her husband Doug Emhoff joined the celebration at the National September 11 Memorial in New York, but by tradition, no political figures spoke. The observance instead focuses on relatives of the victims reading aloud the names of the dead.
Nikita Shah went there wearing a T-shirt bearing the de facto inscription of the annual commemoration — “never forget” — and the name of his slain father, Jayesh Shah.
The family later moved to Houston, but often returns to New York for the anniversary to be “around people who experienced the same kind of pain and the same feelings after 9/11,” she said. said Shah. He was 10 years old when his father was killed.
Readers often add personal comments that form an amalgam of American feelings about 9/11: grief, anger, toughness, appreciation for first responders and the military, appeals to patriotism, hopes for peace, the occasional political jab and a poignant explanation of graduations. , weddings, births and everyday life that the victims have missed.
Some relatives also lament that a nation that was, to some extent, united after the attacks has been divided. So much so that federal law enforcement and intelligence agencies, which were reshaped to focus on international terrorism after 9/11, now see the threat of violent extremism domestic just as urgent.
“It took one tragedy to bring us together. It shouldn’t take another tragedy to bring us back together,” said Andrew Colabella, whose cousin, John DiGiovanni, was killed in the 1993 World Trade Center attack. which foreshadowed September 11.
Beyond the attack sites, other communities across the country marked the day with candlelight vigils, interfaith services and other commemorations. Some Americans joined volunteer projects on a federally recognized day such as Patriot’s Day and the National Day of Service and Remembrance.