Remembrance Means Vigilance
Reflecting on the legacy of 9/11 should refocus us on the agenda of cruelty confronting us through today's MAGA Republican Party.
Each September 11, we reflect on tragedy and heroism. We reconnect with the humanity demonstrated as well as the lives lost on that day.
But remembrance should not be about the past alone. Reflection on what was taken from us two decades ago must not blind us to what is being stolen from us today.
Cruelty is the point
Right now, Afghans who served in support of US forces remain in limbo. Refugees and asylum seekers from countries destabilized by the wars after 9/11 are being detained and caged—not for our safety, but to satisfy political quotas.
Republican leaders in Austin and Washington have twisted the legacy of 9/11 into something dark and ignoble. Their anti-immigrant policies are not about protection but punishment. The intent is suffering—and that intent should alarm us all.
Years ago, when a friend tried to justify waterboarding, I reminded him that state supervised torture requires torturers—and leaders willing to cultivate them.
Today, we are watching leaders reshape our institutions into tools of oppression. Every false narrative of menace—of an enemy in our midst—is an invitation to trade our humanity for the illusion of security.
Compassion is our strength...
But we must not yield.
Compassion is our strength. It alerts us to the approach of tyrants and fools.
Our hearts can rescue us from the enticements of the cruel and ambitious. But without compassion as our guide, we risk becoming complacent (or complicit) until that moment when cruelty finally reaches us.
I think of a particular Afghan family who fled Taliban persecution after helping the US in Afghanistan. They came here seeking safety.
Now, one of their adult children—with a valid asylum claim pending—has been arrested at a routine hearing. His family doesn’t even know where he is being held as I write this.
But that is America today. And that is why “playing along” in politics is no longer acceptable. The dividing line is no longer ideology—it is instead power and the willingness to use it without regard for the humanity that might suffer from its use, if not with actual malice.
...Courage is our answer
If we are serious about honoring the lives lost on 9/11 and in the wars that followed, then remembrance must mean vigilance. We must confront the injustices of the present so we can build a future worthy of the sacrifices made and tragedies suffered.
By carrying that burden together, we can redeem what has been sullied. We can rise again as a generous people, guided not by fear but by hope.