9 years after 9/11

By Kwanwoo Jun

MANHATTAN, New York - Thomas Glen, a Wall Street consultant, was at home when two hijacked airplanes rammed into the Twin Towers near his office nine years ago. Although he was late to work, he was safe, miles away from the most horrific terrorist attack in the U.S.

But his luck did not stop him from getting involved. Glen, 47, living in Brooklyn, jumped into action, quickly forming a group of volunteers to aid in the relief effort like many other New Yorkers.

“We would talk to each other. Even to strangers, we then said ‘Hey, what are you doing?’ ‘What are you thinking?’“ Glen said, gazing at the tightly fenced-off Ground Zero pit.

"Seeing New York come together -- that's probably the thing that sticks out most in my mind. How everyone in New York was everyone's friend.”

Things have become so different now, as people in New York mark the ninth anniversary of the terrorist attack in a more divided way than before.

Tension has risen in New York amid controversy over the planned construction of a new Islamic mosque and cultural center near where the World Trade Center had stood before a group of Muslim terrorists turned its two looming towers into ashes.

A threat – though suspended – by Florida pastor Terry Jones to burn the Islamic holy books in protest of the proposed Islamic cultural center and mosque just added to the strain.

Protesters and supporters from different groups have taken to the streets to express their views, and NYPD officers have strived to keep them apart to prevent possible violence between them.

Heavy police presence and security checks around Lower Manhattan on Saturday explained the elevated level of tension in this multinational city of nearly 8 million people.

During the three-hour memorial ceremony, 2,752 names of victims of 9/11 were being read out loud one by one.

Bereaved families – some still in the enormous pain of losing their loved ones – clutched each other’s hands or laid bouquets of flowers before Ground Zero. Onlookers – some holding a flag or sticking it in a back pocket – also shared the pain by being there.

But the solemn ceremony was immediately followed by street rallies, with about 1,000 people supporting a new Islamic mosque rallying blocks away from the memorial site and protesters also demonstrating separately nearby.

William Gomes, 63, from the Bangladesh American Christian Alliance, and several of his association members vehemently denounced Muslims and their plan to build a new mosque in New York, which President Barack Obama sympathizes with.

“They want to hoist the Muslim flag on the White House. So, wake up America and wake up America,” Gomes shouted, holding a banner reading “DO NOT BURN QURAN RATHER BAN IT.”

But Matt Sky, 26, an online business consultant of East Village in Manhattan, staged a solo street campaign for Muslim’s rights to build their own mosque wherever they want, with a picket reading “HONOR 9/11. HONOR FREEDOM OF RELIGION.”

“We can’t discriminate against an entire religion because of the actions of a few fanatics,” Sky said.

“The people who want to build a community center are Americans. They live here. They work here. We need to have a public forum. We need to address this issue head-on. We need Muslims and non-Muslims to get into a room and to talk.”

“These are not the people that blew up the towers.”

But Lisa Nancollas, 46, a registered nurse from Pennsylvania, remained firmly against the proposed construction of the mosque which would be like a “slap in the face to the families who lost loved ones” in her friend’s term.

“We came today because we don’t believe in Mosque, and so we want to support other fellow citizens,” Nancollas said. “This is disrespectable.”

A traveling Australian couple -- Joan Bartlett, 61 and Keith Bartlett, 67 -- who dropped by the momentous site in New York, also stepped in the debate.

"It wasn't the religion. It was the people of terrorists,” Mr. Bartlett said, despite the demonized images of Muslims since the terrorist attacks.

"It's so scary how it's divided the world now,” Mrs. Bartlett said.

The Australian couple said that a significant amount of time and education would be needed to address all the painful scar left to the bereaved families as well as the society in general in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks.

Maybe, today’s New York needs the same unity as what Glen had felt after 9/11.

Hundreds of US “Flags of Honors” inscribed with the names of 9/11 victims, fire fighters, relief workers and other volunteers were fluttering in breeze at the Battery Parks, south from Ground Zero, which overlooks the Statue of Liberty.

“It’s only the people that can heal it. Only us and only our heart,” said Curtis Ross, 33, a vendor who was selling the flags as a 9/11 souvenir.