THE ISSUE:
15 years after Sept. 11: How the unity we forged broke apart
NEW YORK (AP) — For a time, it felt like the attack that shattered America had also brought it together.
After Sept. 11, signs of newfound unity seemed to well up everywhere, from the homes where American flags appeared virtually overnight to the Capitol steps where lawmakers pushed aside party lines to sing "God Bless America" together.
That cohesion feels vanishingly distant as the 15th anniversary of the attacks arrives Sunday. Gallup's 15-year-old poll of Americans' national pride hit its lowest-ever point this year. In a country that now seems carved up by door-slamming disputes over race, immigration, national security, policing and politics, people impelled by the spirit of common purpose after Sept. 11 rue how much it has slipped away.
Jon Hile figured he could help the ground zero cleanup because he worked in industrial air pollution control. So he traveled from Louisville, Kentucky, to volunteer, and it is not exaggerating to say the experience changed his life. He came home and became a firefighter.
Hile, who now runs a risk management firm, remembers it as a time of communal kindness, when "everybody understood how quickly things could change ... and how quickly you could feel vulnerable."
A decade and a half later, he sees a nation where economic stress has pushed many people to look out for themselves.
"I wish that we truly remembered," he says, "like we said we'd never forget."
Student Reactions
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Gavin Hopkins, sophomore exercise science major “I could see a political movement helping with unity at least, but I don’t think it will ever be what it was," Hopkins said. "No matter what the president does, these issues are still there and I think the media has a major role to play.” |
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Jessica Maxwell, junior fine arts major
“I think there’s a lot of factors that come into play with this ... most of it has to do within our government,” Maxwell said. “I feel like there’s a lot of groups that feel like they’ve been alienated because of different policies, and politicians ignoring issues that’ve been going on, especially with black culture and women’s rights. There’s a huge division between the GOP and the Democratic Party,” she said. “I don’t want to be a pessimist about it but I think it’s the new norm. Unless such a tragedy like 9/11 happens again on American soil, that unifies us as a country, I don’t foresee us going back to the way it was.” |
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Tanner Sizemore, freshman telecommunications major
"I do think that it’s going to have to start with politics. We need a good leader,” Sizemore said. “I personally am for Trump, but I don’t know if he himself is going to be able to unify our country again, but I think it would be a good place to start.” |
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Jazmin Marks-Burns, sophomore biology major
“I think a lot of it comes from the [presidential] race. I think that also caused a big shift in the country because some people are Trump followers and a lot of people don’t agree with them so it kind of created a split,” Marks-Burns said. “Also, coming from an African-American perspective, we also have issues that we’ve been dealing with for years but it’s been really prevalent in like the last four years with police brutality and, you know, the racial issues that also caused a shift even between white people and other white people.” |
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