Annual 9/11 Memorial on the Grounds of the World Trade Center: “We Will Never Forget, We Will Never Forgive”

By Nicholas Stix

That was a middle-aged white man, one of the relatives of those killed in the World Trade Center towers that day.

The white man next to him—the names are read in pairs—finished his names by saying the name of his loved one, and closing, “God bless you, and God bless THESE United States of America.”

Of dozens of readers, each of them was the only one to say what he did.

I’m going to mention the black woman I saw, who did her best to drag down the ceremony into a black hole now, out of order, so as not to give her the last word.

She was gigantic, about six feet tall, built like a linebacker, and in her forties. Her brother, who had died that day, and thus given her the stage, was against “hatred, discrimination. He valued education.”

“I stand in love, I stand in unity, and I stand in solidarity” that the world will improve.

In “love” with whom? In “unity” with whom? In “solidarity” with whom? When moist whites hear such phrases, they typically think, “Oh, isn’t that nice.” But it isn’t nice. The phrases mean “love,” “unity,” and “solidarity” with other racist blacks.

“There are many, many accomplishments in our family….”

That’s still her.

No God, no country; just her, her race, and her family.

On a much higher note, a young man, the son of Kevin Joseph Smith, read a poem dedicated to his father, whom he said was “Gone, but not forgotten.”

Numerous times a reader, usually a female, would calmly read several names, but coming to her loved one’s name and a special memory, would break down. Several men barely fought off tears.

There were many pairings this year of an adult who had known a loved one who’d perished in the attack, and a child—grandchild, niece—who would not be born for several years yet, but who had been raised on stories about the loved, lost. One man held his two-month old son, the grandchild of the father he had lost.

I believe our people realized the situation that day. It's very rare that you go to a fire and think that you may not come back from this one. We're pretty confident in our abilities to do things. At this scene, many of our people felt they might be killed there, but they did their job anyway because there were people in such desperate need.”

[“Report from the Chief of Department,” by Daniel Nigro, September 1, 2002, Fire Engineering.]

Unfortunately, that New York City Fire Department is gone, replaced by one whose firepersons “do not run into burning buildings.”