Month: September 2019

“Never Again”

/ Drew Blazejewski / Leave a comment

In recent years, I’ve tried to bring up different facets of 9/11 to talk about. This year will be no different. What I want you to focus on today is not the unity that came after 9/11, but rather the disunity that resulted from it.

The phrases “never again” and “never forget” are powerful tools. But, what I want you to think about is this – what are we vowing will never again happen? Death? Surely, that’s a foolish promise to make. What are we not forgetting? The abstract memory of death?

Now, I want you to think about how we have used these two powerful tools in practice. When we say “never again” – what has become the practical application? Distrust of the other. Definition of what it means to be “American.” These are how we say “never again.” We have a President who won’t take in refugees “because they might be criminals.” The man on the street who sees a Sikh person in a turban and automatically sees a terrorist. The people who hear a different language and immediately assume it’s conspiratorial. That, friends, is “never again” in practice.

When we say “never forget,” are we saying to never forget the memory of those who died? How many of the dead can you remember? Do you even remember the number without looking it up? Or, are you supposed to never forget the images of fire and smoke? The wounds in the Earth that seemed so deep as if they would never heal? We are meant to remember the idea of what it felt like to be attacked – to have lost our innocence, our illusion of security. We are meant to remember those images to remain ever vigilant, that trust must be earned and not given, that the other should be scrutinized, and that only Americans can protect Americans.

I want to end with an excerpt from a poem by Langston Hughes called “Let America be America Again.”

𝑳𝒆𝒕 π‘¨π’Žπ’†π’“π’Šπ’„π’‚ 𝒃𝒆 π‘¨π’Žπ’†π’“π’Šπ’„π’‚ π’‚π’ˆπ’‚π’Šπ’.
𝑳𝒆𝒕 π’Šπ’• 𝒃𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 π’…π’“π’†π’‚π’Ž π’Šπ’• 𝒖𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆.
𝑳𝒆𝒕 π’Šπ’• 𝒃𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 π’‘π’Šπ’π’π’†π’†π’“ 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 π’‘π’π’‚π’Šπ’
π‘Ίπ’†π’†π’Œπ’Šπ’π’ˆ 𝒂 π’‰π’π’Žπ’† π’˜π’‰π’†π’“π’† 𝒉𝒆 π’‰π’Šπ’Žπ’”π’†π’π’‡ π’Šπ’” 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆.

(π‘¨π’Žπ’†π’“π’Šπ’„π’‚ 𝒏𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 π’˜π’‚π’” π‘¨π’Žπ’†π’“π’Šπ’„π’‚ 𝒕𝒐 π’Žπ’†.)

𝑳𝒆𝒕 π‘¨π’Žπ’†π’“π’Šπ’„π’‚ 𝒃𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 π’…π’“π’†π’‚π’Ž 𝒕𝒉𝒆 π’…π’“π’†π’‚π’Žπ’†π’“π’” π’…π’“π’†π’‚π’Žπ’†π’…β€”
𝑳𝒆𝒕 π’Šπ’• 𝒃𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 π’ˆπ’“π’†π’‚π’• π’”π’•π’“π’π’π’ˆ 𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒐𝒇 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆
𝑾𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒏𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 π’Œπ’Šπ’π’ˆπ’” π’„π’π’π’π’Šπ’—π’† 𝒏𝒐𝒓 π’•π’šπ’“π’‚π’π’•π’” π’”π’„π’‰π’†π’Žπ’†
𝑻𝒉𝒂𝒕 π’‚π’π’š π’Žπ’‚π’ 𝒃𝒆 𝒄𝒓𝒖𝒔𝒉𝒆𝒅 π’ƒπ’š 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒗𝒆.

(𝑰𝒕 𝒏𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 π’˜π’‚π’” π‘¨π’Žπ’†π’“π’Šπ’„π’‚ 𝒕𝒐 π’Žπ’†.)

𝑢, 𝒍𝒆𝒕 π’Žπ’š 𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒃𝒆 𝒂 𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒅 π’˜π’‰π’†π’“π’† π‘³π’Šπ’ƒπ’†π’“π’•π’š
𝑰𝒔 π’„π’“π’π’˜π’π’†π’… π’˜π’Šπ’•π’‰ 𝒏𝒐 𝒇𝒂𝒍𝒔𝒆 π’‘π’‚π’•π’“π’Šπ’π’•π’Šπ’„ π’˜π’“π’†π’‚π’•π’‰,
𝑩𝒖𝒕 π’π’‘π’‘π’π’“π’•π’–π’π’Šπ’•π’š π’Šπ’” 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 π’π’Šπ’‡π’† π’Šπ’” 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆,
π‘¬π’’π’–π’‚π’π’Šπ’•π’š π’Šπ’” π’Šπ’ 𝒕𝒉𝒆 π’‚π’Šπ’“ π’˜π’† 𝒃𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒆.

(𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆’𝒔 𝒏𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏 π’†π’’π’–π’‚π’π’Šπ’•π’š 𝒇𝒐𝒓 π’Žπ’†,
𝑡𝒐𝒓 π’‡π’“π’†π’†π’…π’π’Ž π’Šπ’ π’•π’‰π’Šπ’” “π’‰π’π’Žπ’†π’π’‚π’π’… 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆.”)

The parenthetical voice that Hughes employs is the voice of the downtrodden, the minority, the immigrant, the worker. Later in the poem, Hughes writes the following:

𝒀𝒆𝒕 𝑰’π’Ž 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒐𝒏𝒆 π’˜π’‰π’ π’…π’“π’†π’‚π’Žπ’• 𝒐𝒖𝒓 π’ƒπ’‚π’”π’Šπ’„ π’…π’“π’†π’‚π’Ž
𝑰𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑢𝒍𝒅 𝑾𝒐𝒓𝒍𝒅 π’˜π’‰π’Šπ’π’† π’”π’•π’Šπ’π’ 𝒂 𝒔𝒆𝒓𝒇 𝒐𝒇 π’Œπ’Šπ’π’ˆπ’”,
𝑾𝒉𝒐 π’…π’“π’†π’‚π’Žπ’• 𝒂 π’…π’“π’†π’‚π’Ž 𝒔𝒐 π’”π’•π’“π’π’π’ˆ, 𝒔𝒐 𝒃𝒓𝒂𝒗𝒆, 𝒔𝒐 𝒕𝒓𝒖𝒆,
𝑻𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏 π’šπ’†π’• π’Šπ’•π’” π’Žπ’Šπ’ˆπ’‰π’•π’š π’…π’‚π’“π’Šπ’π’ˆ π’”π’Šπ’π’ˆπ’”
𝑰𝒏 π’†π’—π’†π’“π’š π’ƒπ’“π’Šπ’„π’Œ 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒏𝒆, π’Šπ’ π’†π’—π’†π’“π’š π’‡π’–π’“π’“π’π’˜ 𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒏𝒆𝒅
𝑻𝒉𝒂𝒕’𝒔 π’Žπ’‚π’…π’† π‘¨π’Žπ’†π’“π’Šπ’„π’‚ 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒅 π’Šπ’• 𝒉𝒂𝒔 π’ƒπ’†π’„π’π’Žπ’†.
𝑢, 𝑰’π’Ž 𝒕𝒉𝒆 π’Žπ’‚π’ π’˜π’‰π’ π’”π’‚π’Šπ’π’†π’… 𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒔𝒆 π’†π’‚π’“π’π’š 𝒔𝒆𝒂𝒔
𝑰𝒏 𝒔𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒄𝒉 𝒐𝒇 π’˜π’‰π’‚π’• 𝑰 π’Žπ’†π’‚π’π’• 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆 π’Žπ’š π’‰π’π’Žπ’†β€”
𝑭𝒐𝒓 𝑰’π’Ž 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒐𝒏𝒆 π’˜π’‰π’ 𝒍𝒆𝒇𝒕 π’…π’‚π’“π’Œ 𝑰𝒓𝒆𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒅’𝒔 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒓𝒆,
𝑨𝒏𝒅 𝑷𝒐𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒅’𝒔 π’‘π’π’‚π’Šπ’, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 π‘¬π’π’ˆπ’π’‚π’π’…’𝒔 π’ˆπ’“π’‚π’”π’”π’š 𝒍𝒆𝒂,
𝑨𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒏 π’‡π’“π’π’Ž π‘©π’π’‚π’„π’Œ π‘¨π’‡π’“π’Šπ’„π’‚’𝒔 𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑰 π’„π’‚π’Žπ’†
𝑻𝒐 π’ƒπ’–π’Šπ’π’… 𝒂 “π’‰π’π’Žπ’†π’π’‚π’π’… 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆.”

America is at its best when it is unified and welcoming. America was built by the other. The downtrodden. All united by a singular dream of the abstract thought of freedom. 9/11 took that from us. It divided us. It did more than create physical wounds in the earth. It ripped open psychological wounds that have existed since our founding.

From now on, when you say “never again” and “never forget,” don’t associate it with 9/11. The physical act was monstrous. But what 9/11 did to “we the people” was worse. Never forget that 9/11 made us fear the other. Never forget that 9/11 made us hate the other. Never forget that 9/11 made us turn our backs on what should be a bedrock principle: that America should be a shining city on a hill where no person can be illegal just for existing.