Marina Roski
The term “American” does not only pertain to naturally born citizens; it is about being a part of a people that believe in certain values. The value of freedom in all forms transcends any other identities. When the 2,977 individuals lost their lives in the terror attacks of 9/11, deaths were not counted by identity. It was not the number of white lives lost that mattered, nor was it the number of black, Asian or Latinx lives lost that mattered. The only thing that mattered that day was the number of American lives taken.
A previous viewpoint author stated that placing American flags to honor each victim of the 9/11 attacks “homogenized the diverse entities of 9/11’s victims.” This author was not wrong. Why diversify the victims? Race did not matter that day — nor did gender, social class or economic class. The only division experienced that day was between us Americans and our enemies. We as Americans, representing and defending the most free and most equal country in the world, stood united against the common enemy realizing that our freedom and equality, along with the safety of our own people, were under attack. People of all races — Americans — stood in lines for hours to donate blood. Victims of all colors accepted the blood, not caring about the skin color or gender of whom it came from. Hundreds of charities arose post-9/11 and a record number of Americans were volunteering to join the military.
Moreover, let us not forget how united our country stood when our military captured and killed the master mind behind these attacks. Americans, regardless of race, gender, class or political affiliation, celebrated in the streets as a proud American.
Along with claiming the actions “homogenized,” the author subsequently accused The College of Wooster of “anonymizing” the group to protect such actions. As a board member of the group responsible, the College Republicans, I felt it necessary to provide explanations of the motives behind this project. Since I matriculated here in 2016, nothing had been done in a campus- wide fashion to remember the victims of 9/11, and the College Republicans felt that the events were important enough to publicly honor.
Not only was this event officially sanctioned by The College of Wooster, this display was not meant to be polarizing or even political. The act of placing those thousands of flagsisnotanactthatdeserves credit. Attaching a name to the memorial would defeat its purpose. The College Republicans wanted to establish a memorial to invoke American pride in our community. During the attacks, every person that perished did so for one of two reasons — they were either perceived as Americans by the terrorists responsible or they sacrificed their lives to save their fellow Americans.
It is necessary to reiterate to such a degree the focus of this event, especially when our group was accused of trying to erase others from history. In fact, I agree with the previous author’s argument regarding the dangers of excluding other voices or identities from history. However, I find it extremely disrespectful to attempt to take the focus away from those who gave their lives on that September morning. It was very clear that our organization was not claiming to have a memorial to focus on all implications of the War on Terror since the beginning of the 21st century. As an organization, we will continue to take pride in these American values and respect the flag of the United States. One of the best parts about living in this country is our right to honor and celebrate whatever — and I truly mean whatever — we want to. Let us not forget that terrorists attempted to threaten our right to freedom that day. We will continue to be thankful for service members who wear our flag emblazoned on their shoulder and chest to protect the same values every day, especially those who have died in that pursuit no matter how controversial some deem that to be. We also encourage individuals to exercise their right to memorialize whatever they please instead of criticizing others for doing so.