It has absolutely nothing to do with training or triathlon but instead about politics, the patriot act, 9/11 and above all else FEAR. Enjoy!
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I felt compelled to share this story with all you! I was just catching up on recent current events and found a story about Ramak Fazel. Some of you might have already heard of him. I had not. Ramak was born in Iran and moved to the states when he was young. He is an American citizen. He recently decided to tour the US, as he has done many times before. But this time it was for a special project. He had a large stamp collection and was visiting each state capitol then sending postcards to himself at his next destination. The result was an art installation in a storefront in SoHo. What happened along the trip, while not surprising to me, is terribly disappointing and frankly disgusting. Here the NY Times video and the NY Times article.
I watched an interview with Ramak from CNN and he says that at the beginning of his trip he told the woman sitting next to him on his plane ride to Hawaii what he was doing. Apparently, she didn't quite 'get' what his purpose was and filed a report with TSA and they alerted the anti-terrorism task force.
This story reminds me of an incident that occurred when I lived in Buffalo, NY. I remember picking up the Artvoice and seeing a story about a professor from UB who had been arrested and detained under the Patriot Act. As I began to read the article I couldn't believe what had occurred.
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I should backtrack a bit here, I apologize. If you want to skip my interlude scroll down to the next dividing line.
I lived in the state of New York when September 11th 'happened'. I was a senior in college, anticipating the beginning of my adult life and moving on. The middle of August brought many changes. I had decided that I wasn't going to law school. All that I had been preparing for for 3 years, suddenly wasn't what I wanted. I wasn't exactly sure what I would do, but I felt like I had two semesters to figure it out. The semester began without incident, then a few days in we found out one of my roommates was pregnant. She had had a short lived, sex filled relationship of sorts with an old high school friend that summer. She felt as though her world was crashing down around her. A week later, I got a phone call at 4:30am. It was the highway patrol, I had to pick up one my roommates who had just been arrested for a DWI. She was hysterical and threatening suicide. I knew she was just scared and I convinced them to let her come home.
Things started to calm down a bit, as much as they could with 6 women living all under one roof. I had a 10:00am Tuesday/Thursday class and so did two of my other roommates so we would walk to class together. Mine was a freshman level science class that I had to take to fulfill my liberal arts reqs. I was in the bathroom brushing my teeth listening to 101.1 The River, a Canadian station and Tears for Fears "Everybody wants to Rule the World" was playing. I heard someone galloping down the steps and then a bedroom door fly open downstairs. I looked at the clock thinking that we weren't late it was only about 9:00am.
I heard a muffled panic coming from the living room and toothbrush in mouth walked in to find my roommates staring at the tv with a look of disbelief. I turned off my electric toothbrush and listened as Katie Couric's voice shifted from journalist to human being. As she was broadcasting from the roof, another plane crashed into the towers. A wave of confusion floated through her and then panic. You could hear the fear in her voice. I looked at my roommates and said, "we are at war, someone attacked us." I knew at that moment, my life had changed, my world, my future were changed. I could feel the loss of all I believed in.
We realized the time and didn't know what to do. We went to class. I sat in class with a bunch of freshman who had the misfortune of 8am classes because they were freshman and registered last. With a professor who had just taught an 8am class and had no idea that anything was amiss. I remember leaving that class as fast as I could and I ran into my Harold on the way out of the Science Building and asked him if he had called his parents in Brooklyn. He just looked at me confused, I said, "Harold, call your mom." And walked away. I never saw the towers actually fall that day. I didn't see them until years later. I remember not being able to use the phone, cell or landline. I called my friend Steve who lived in New Jersey but had clients in NYC at least a dozen times before I got through. The first thing he said when he answered was "they're gone, I saw them and then they were gone." He had received a phone call from a coworker who told them of the first crash. So they got in their car and started driving back to New Jersey. He said that he turned to look as they were on the Garden State Parkway. At the top of the first hill he still saw the towers standing, then at the top of the next they were gone.
Living in New York State and in a border town in the aftermath of September 11th was difficult and stressful. We were inundated with propaganda and fear. Canisius was the only public or private for that matter, entity in the city of Buffalo that didn't close. Our President Father Cooke is from Manhattan, his family all lives there and he hadn't spoken to any of them when he addressed the campus that afternoon. But he told us that we would persevere in the face of this and had to keep moving forward. Bomb threats went on for months. People were afraid to cross the bridges. Everyone was afraid. I've never seen so many American flags. And surprisingly those flags lasted for several years after.
I also saw fear change people I thought I knew. I saw fear take over. I saw my friend Hassan thrown out of a bar and spit on because his skin was brown. I saw an RA from the other dorm get spit at and called a terrorist because she was Lebanese. I saw hate and fear. And it scared me.
I remember thinking what I would do if there was a draft. My brother was only 11 and the time but I knew this would go on for a very long time. I struggled with wanting to protect him from a draft but then feeling guilt. Both of my grandfathers had served in wars. My mother's three brothers all fought during Vietnam, one on the front line. My father's number had been called and he was lucky to not qualify. Was is disrespectful for me to want to know how to save my brother from fighting when it was part of my family history? I kept telling myself that a draft would never happen. Then the Patriot Act was passed.
Being in a border town we felt everything first. The Patriot Act was constantly being used for means of detention on the border. Everyone was afraid to speak his/her mind. I helped organize a Peace Prayer Service and served MC. We had several faiths represented and each read a prayer that was important in his/her respective faith. I cried as Hassan sang his. I couldn't forget how horrible people had been to him and he was still willing to stand up and be different. There were signs everywhere, in stores on campus, on lightposts, anti-terrorist signs I guess you would call them. I call them disgusting. I remember when we saw the large poster someone had put up on the front porch of a house on Eastwood, it was hateful and disgusting. Since it was a college owned house they had to remove it.
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As I sat at Spot and sipped my cafe au lait, my stomach started to knot. On May 11, 2004 Steve Kurtz awoke to find his wife not breathing. He called 911 and paramedics arrived with fire rescue. They found more than just Hope Kurtz. Steve Kurtz is a founding member of Critical Art Ensemble, an art group that explores the intersection of art and technology. He was working on an exhibit at the time and the rescue workers saw petri dishes and several microscopes in the living room. The police called the FBI and Kurtz's home, car, research and writings, laptop, and his wife's body, even his cat were seized under the Patriot Act and he was detained without charges.
He currently is still waiting for his trial to begin, which could end in a possible sentence of 20 years in federal prison. Here are some links to read more about his story:
Artvoice articles
Strange Culture writeup
BoingBoing Interview
Marching Plague - the result of Kurtz's supposed bioterrorist activities; the original manuscript was confiscated as part of the state's investigation
I often think about what the future is for our country. I sometimes think about what the world will be like for my kids. What kind of future do they have waiting for them? Our government is so reactionary, never proactive. What will this fear lead to? What is the result of presidential and congressional panic?
1 comment:
Tracie,
Wow! Amazing post. Thanks for sharing your story about 911. I guess the most common thread was the fear. It was a scary and dark time for me.
Bob
PS I went to UB too :)
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