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“Where were you when the towers fell?” I arrived at work a little early and the office was eerily quiet. As I walked to my cubicle, I noticed everyone staring intently at their computers. I began to hear murmurs of “terrorist attack” and “World Trade Center” and soon saw for myself the jarring images of CNN across my screen — dark smoke billowing into the sky, screaming crowds in the streets below, and replays of a plane seemingly disintegrating into a massive skyscraper. It wasn’t until the winter of 2003 that I would see Ground Zero in person, then still a massive pile of rubble, surrounded by chain-link fencing full of flowers, makeshift memorials, and handwritten messages of hope and despair. You could feel the grief in the air, and the smoldering anger underneath that pain. What does it mean, now two decades past this traumatic event, to “never forget” 9/11? And why are we simultaneously encouraged to “move on from the past” when it comes to other great American tragedies, like the genocidal erasure of Indigenous peoples, or the horrific violence against Black people from chattel slavery through Jim Crow? Selective memory in this case is easy to explain on one level: Sept. 11 is a tragedy we externalize and blame on outsiders to keep this country’s historic violence against people of color at arm’s length in order to maintain a narrative of American exceptionalism and American innocence.
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Our Latest As a Black Muslim Veteran, I Urge Biden to Close Guantanamo (by Rashaad Thomas) The detention camp reminds me how the U.S. repeatedly equates Blackness and Islam with terror. Valarie Kaur Wants the U.S. to Recognize the Second Ground Zero (by Josiah R. Daniels) After 9/11, Kaur made a pilgrimage to a gas station in Arizona; her life was forever changed. “This is a critical moment,” the statement reads. “Our children’s future and the future of our common home depend on it.” Texas Clergy Are Taking a Stand Against the New Abortion Law (by Sandi Villarreal) “I'm going to help get you the health care you need no matter the risk,” said Rev. Shelby Dean Nowland. |
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From the Magazine The Antidote to Individualism (by Adam Russell Taylor) A southern-African philosophy po |
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Salt of the Earth: A Series on African American Spirituality Cranaleith Spiritual Center presents a three-part exploration of the Christian faith as lived by African Americans, from sainthood to the Civil Rights Movement! Join us for part 1 on September 25 as we reflect on the lives of African Americans on the path to sainthood! Fellowship opening at Sojourners: Digital Mobilizing and President's Office Assistant Do you have experience in email marketing, online advocacy, administration, and a heart for social justice? Sojourners' Fellowship Program has an immediate opening for the Digital Mobilizing and President's Office Assistant. Live in intentional, Christian community in Washington, D.C., and gain valuable, transferable nonprofit experience. Apply today! Sept. 15 — A More Perfect Union Virtual Launch with Adam Taylor & EJ Dionne EJ Dionne will moderate an engaging and rich discussion of the book's themes and applicability to this moment in US history with a panel that includes Sojourners President Adam Taylor, Whitney Parnell, Eboo Patel, and Joseph Tomás McKellar on Wednesday, Sept. 15, 4:00-5:00 p.m. via Sojourners Facebook & SojoAction Twitter. |
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