9/11 Remembrance Brings Biden, Harris, Trump Together at Ground Zero

Then the presidential rivals stood just feet apart, Biden and Bloomberg between them, as the commemoration began with the ringing of a bell and a moment of silence | Photo: PTI

The scene was one of politics being put aside for a moment during a solemn commemoration of the hijacked plane attacks of September 11, 2001, which killed nearly 3,000 people. For years, politicians were mere spectators at the Ground Zero commemorations. The microphones were instead for family members, who read out the names of the victims.

A number of these readers took the opportunity on Wednesday to deliver their own political message.

We are begging for your help, but you are ignoring us, said Allison Walsh-DiMarzio, directly challenging Trump and Harris to press Saudi Arabia over the involvement of Saudi officials in the attacks. Most of the 19 hijackers were Saudi, but the kingdom denies involvement of senior Saudi officials.

Who among you will have the courage to be our hero? We deserve better, said Walsh-DiMarzio. She is the daughter of 9/11 victim Barbara P. Walsh, an administrative assistant.

Joanne Barbara was one of many readers who spoke out against the now-retracted plea agreement military prosecutors reached with Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of the 9/11 assassination, and two co-defendants.

It’s been 23 years and the families deserve justice and accountability, said the widow of Assistant Fire Chief Gerard A. Barbara.

Biden, who last held office on September 11, and Harris were scheduled to pay their respects on Wednesday at the three sites of the September 11 attacks: Ground Zero, the Pentagon and a rural part of Pennsylvania.

The president, vice president and, separately, Trump laid wreaths at the Flight 93 National Memorial near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, on Wednesday afternoon. Biden and Harris met with families of victims and visited local fire departments; Trump and Vance visited a fire station in New York City earlier in the day.

The Flight 93 memorial stands at the site where one of the hijacked planes crashed after crew members and passengers tried to storm the cockpit. Trump described the site as an incredible place in brief remarks from afar to reporters.

The attacks killed 2,977 people and left thousands of survivors and scars. The planes brought down the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center and cut a hole in the Pentagon, the U.S. military headquarters.

While it may seem like many Americans no longer commemorate 9/11, the men and women of the Department of Defense still remember it, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Wednesday.

The attacks have changed U.S. foreign policy, domestic security practices, and the mindset of many Americans who previously did not feel vulnerable to attacks from foreign extremists.

The effects were felt around the world and across generations as the U.S. responded by leading a global war on terror, including invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, killing hundreds of thousands of Afghans and Iraqis and thousands of U.S. troops.

Communities across the country hold their own 9/11 commemorations. Volunteer projects also mark the anniversary, which Congress has designated both Patriot Day and a National Day of Service and Remembrance.

During the first commemorations at Ground Zero, presidents and other officials read poems, portions of the Declaration of Independence, and other texts.

But the National Sept 11 Memorial and Museum decided in 2012 to limit the ceremony to relatives reading the victims’ names.

If politicians care about what actually happens, fine. Be here, Korryn Bishop said as she arrived to watch Wednesday’s ceremony.

If they are just here for political influence, then that bothers me, Bishop added. She lost her cousin John F McDowell Jr, who worked in finance.

Brandon Jones was glad there were no politicians on stage.

This should be a place to come together and find workable solutions and peace. This should not be a place to score political points to get brownie points to take on your constituents, said Jones, a cousin of victim Jon Richard Grabowski, a technology executive at an insurance company.

In 2008, then-senators and presidential campaign rivals John McCain and Barack Obama paid tribute at Ground Zero, then an open-pit mine.

The commemoration became a fraught part of the 2016 presidential campaign. The Democratic nominee, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, abruptly left the ceremony at the Trade Center, tripped while waiting for her motorcade and later revealed that she had been diagnosed with pneumonia. The event drew new attention to her health, which her Republican opponent Trump, who also attended the commemoration, had doubted for months.

Over the years, some of the family members who read the names of the victims have used the forum to lament divisions among Americans, urge leaders to prioritize national security, recognize the victims of the war on terror, complain that officials are politicizing 9/11 and even criticize individual officials. Others have called for peace.

It is my prayer that this evil act called terrorism will never happen again, Jacob Afuakwah said on Wednesday, who lost his brother, Emmanuel Akwasi Afuakwah, a restaurant worker.

But most have limited themselves to tributes and personal reflections. Increasingly, they come from children and young adults born after the attacks killed a member of their family.

Thirteen-year-old twins Brady and Emily Henry have never met their uncle, firefighter Joseph Patrick Henry.

We promise to keep telling your stories, Emily said, and we will never let anyone forget the victims of September 11th.