José A. Bruno Feliz, Staff Writer

Our parents can tell you where they were when the second plane crashed into the South Tower of the World Trade Center. They can tell you where they were when the Pentagon was hit. They can tell you where they were when the towers fell. But I can’t call 9/11 a memory because there is no memory to tell; I was  born into it. It’s normal for me to walk down my local train station and read a Homeland Security sign that says, “if you see something, say something,” to listen to a TSA agent yell at you to take off your shoes and put all electronics in the plastic bin, to watch a news clip of the FBI warning that terrorist attacks on American soil were a possibility. It is the norm. 

Seeing the events through a historical perspective gives us a moment to reflect on how it became the tipping point in the current climate of the United States, a climate that is deeply rooted in the erosion of trust. It was clear that the government took advantage of the situation and exploited it for political purposes; the Bush administration used 9/11 to launch a series of failed wars that destabilized the Middle East and killed four million people across the planet. And the posterior Obama, Biden and Trump administrations have used a security apparatus, initially designed to stop terrorists, to terrorize migrant families, to persecute political enemies and to suppress our constitutional rights. 

The understanding as to why 9/11 became more than just the patriotic symbolism that is preached to us becomes more understandable through the eyes of the aftermath. When the towers fell and those in danger needed help, it was our own citizens who stepped up to lend a helping hand, not worrying about political views or affiliations. But ask yourself this: if 9/11 happened today, would your fellow Americans take a flight to New York City New York to help with the rescue efforts? Would President Trump take the shoulder of a weary firefighter to announce another war? Would you donate blood if it meant it would end up in the veins of an undocumented migrant?