September 11, 2001 (9-11) is one of those days we will all remember where we were like it was yesterday although 20 years ago. What America seems remiss in remembering or acknowledging is the pain and loss that Black Americans and other non-white communities experienced on that day. In that respect,
this article in the Chicago Crusader,
Twenty years after the September 11 attacks, the faces and stories of hundreds of Black victims are rarely seen and told, is timely as it reminds us that 267 Black people died on that tragic day too...
We don't hear about us, Black victims or survivors of 9-11. We hear about everyone and everything but us. As is the course for most thing America; our lives didn't matter then, don't much matter now...
For this reason and others, 9-11 does not hold the same meaning for me, and I'm assuming many other Black Americans, as it does for some other Americans. Yes, it was a day of tragedy in American history but somehow still a day where Black folks were peripheral. Our lives, our pain and our losses just didn't seem to matter. Then, as now, we were just not that human, or just not that important. Take your pick.
Do you remember the Black firefighters who rejected having an American Flag put on the back of their truck? I do! Most Black folks understood their position then, as we understand now. The media gave them hell. I gave them a raised fist. Ironically, or maybe not, today, I can find no reference to these particular firefighters on the internet. This is why it matters not only who writes the story but also who preserves the story. The Chicago Crusader article reminds us of the fight about the statute that was to be erected in honor of lost firefighters. It was designed absent any representation of the 12 Black firefighters who lost their lives. Weren't they fallen heroes too? Who flew a flag for them?
Who remembers Marcy Borders, a Black woman rendered nameless, faceless and unrecognizable as she was photographed on that day covered in soot and toxic ashes from head to toe, dubbed the "dust lady" and whose life fell apart following this event, physically and emotionally? She died in 2015 at the tender age of 12, still a very young woman. How about Genelle Guzman-McMillan, the last found survivor of 9-11, 27 hours after the tragedy. Does that not make her a symbol of American resilience and determination or an American hero? Why don't we know the names of these and other non-white heroines? Any statute erected in their honor? Any mention of their names during annual commemorations? I'm Just Askin'... The untold stories are countless, I am sure.
9-11 is another day of infamy in America's sordid history. It is yet another day where she will craft/has crafted a narrative of heroics sidestepping or distorting that which makes her anything less than an innocent victim. She will spin a tale of American unity and newfound patriotism and love of country. Flag companies, mostly in China, made a ton of money following 9-11. America will silence any story contrary to the story she has decided to tell or the picture she has decided to paint. Those who dare defy her will be painted as unpatriotic and un-American for sure, unlike the January 6th insurrectionists she is now having a hard time convicting for their televised and forever memorialized acts of treason against her. What will America say of a failed coup by a mob of angry white Americans, led by a sitting American "President", 20 years from now? What story will she spin or create to commemorate that day? What will disappear from the internet regarding that incident? I digress. I'm Just Wonderin...
True to form, America has painted the tragedy of overwhelming loss and pain associated with 9-11 in white face. The victims are largely white and depicted mostly as professional, contributing and valued citizens. She does not remember the faces of Black and Brown folks who also lost their lives and who also had families, loved ones, hopes, desires and dreams and whose survivors have hearts that still are broken, no matter their zip code or level of profession, all of which is irrelevant, except in a capitalistic society...
This article gives face and restores stolen humanity to the 267 Black lives lost on the tragic day. Still in 2021, Black people in America fight to be recognized as human. SMH... Thank You God for Black publications.
Excerpt: "The Black victims of the 9-11 terrorist attacks are for the most part remembered as nameless and faceless statistics. But they, too, have stories, of family, career, school, of lives ripe with future plans."
The article reminds us that
The Root, a Black publication, in 2011
called out Time Magazine for its failure to include one identifiably Black face in its 10th Anniversary coverage of 9-11.
I was at JFK airport working for United Airlines on the day this tragic event occurred. I was working for a woman with racist tendencies whose legend was that in 35 years, she had never hired a non-white person as part of her management team. Reportedly in response to a corporate making diversity part of her bonus, she hired a proverbial rainbow coalition of supervisors just a few years before 9-11. Blacks, Puerto Ricans, Persian, Philippine. You name it, she hired us! This was probably my most favorite job. I was damn good at it, loved the industry and likely would have retired from United Airlines but for this hateful woman. 9-11 gave her a way out from being forced to hire non-white supervisors. It was the bleach she needed to pour on that colorful rainbow of people. She used the excuse of 9-11 to fire 75% of the Blacks she seemingly hired under duress.
You know the story, it never changes. Always we are last in, always we are first out. She cowardly laid us off while retaining a white male who had literally only just begun. He had worked only a few months for the airline. The workforce was to be reduced according to a plan that included performance evaluations. This man, who remains gainfully employed by the company and who has enjoyed a lucrative career, was too new to have had an assessment, certainly beyond the color of his skin, the badge that kept him there. He lacked time enough in service to have proven himself worthy. And the company let her, and I'm sure many other managers, do this. Of course it did...
So, for many reasons I will remember 9-11 but in many different ways and for a host of different reasons. I mourn ALL loss of life on that day and any other day and offer sincere condolences to those personally affected. But on this day, as I mark the 20th Anniversary of a great American tragedy, I will especially mourn and pay respect to the 267 Black people who died on that truly awful day in American history. I will especially mourn for those who America seems to have forgotten or not care about, similar to her lack of regard for the victims of Katrina some four years later... America may not care but I care, as does the writer and staff at the Chicago Crusader who penned and published this article to remind us, to give voice to the Black victims and hugs to the Black community and our families.
I am happy for this article. Please read and pass it on. And if ever you wonder why it is important for Black folks to shout to the top of Dr. King's mountain top, that Black Lives Matter, think of the 267 forgotten faces looking back at you from the pages of this article.
https://chicagocrusader.com/breaking-news/september-11-attacks-the-faces-and-stories-of-hundreds-of-black-victims/
