story9506.xml
Title
story9506.xml
Source
born-digital
Media Type
story
Date Entered
2003-09-08
911DA Story: Story
As it was to be a late day at the office, I was home when CNN broke in with the story of the first plane hitting.
"Must have been an accident" I thought, but in the back of my mind, there was the recurring thought of the 1993 bombing, and of course, Oklahoma City. As the second plane hit, and that thought was confirmed, I thought, "What sort of person/persons would do such a thing to civilians?" Not knowing what else to do, I started driving to work, but decided to find out what was going on. Rather than listening to the usual FM top 40 fare, I turned into the all news AM station WWJ, and before I even got onto the freeway, the announcer stated that a plane had hit the Pentagon, and another was in Pennsylvania, somewhere.
For those of you who are familiar with the Detroit area, you have no doubt experienced the grid-lock that is I-696. Not on September 11, 2001. It was eerie driving on what normally is a very busy, and slow freeway, and finding yourself all alone. When I reached the office in Southfield, the phones were quiet, and everyone had this look of horror on their faces, and they had not seen the images yet. They had only heard on the radio. After calling some family members, I decided that this was not a day that anything was going to get accomplished, so, I went back home, and sat glued to the television for a few hours. The big concern I had was "Where is the President?" He should be addressing the nation about this. Of course, Presidential security had taken care that POTUS was well protected, and surrounded by the fine men, and women of the United States Armed Forces, as he went from base to base.
I suppose the most lingering thought I had that day was for Detroit's large population of people of Arabic, and Chaldean descent. There is always that element of the population that pins the blame on an entire group of people, no matter how innocent they may be.
There were indeed some threats to harm, or kill people from those areas, or their descendants, but for the most part, most people were too hurt, angry, or stunned to do anything rash.
As someone who has lived in the Detroit area for five years, I can honestly say that the thing that those of us who did not lose loved ones that day should remember from September 11th is that for a little while, the acrimony between black, and white was forgotten, and for that short time, we were Americans first. Yes, we suffered a terrible loss, but together, we COULD overcome.
May God continue to bless America.
"Must have been an accident" I thought, but in the back of my mind, there was the recurring thought of the 1993 bombing, and of course, Oklahoma City. As the second plane hit, and that thought was confirmed, I thought, "What sort of person/persons would do such a thing to civilians?" Not knowing what else to do, I started driving to work, but decided to find out what was going on. Rather than listening to the usual FM top 40 fare, I turned into the all news AM station WWJ, and before I even got onto the freeway, the announcer stated that a plane had hit the Pentagon, and another was in Pennsylvania, somewhere.
For those of you who are familiar with the Detroit area, you have no doubt experienced the grid-lock that is I-696. Not on September 11, 2001. It was eerie driving on what normally is a very busy, and slow freeway, and finding yourself all alone. When I reached the office in Southfield, the phones were quiet, and everyone had this look of horror on their faces, and they had not seen the images yet. They had only heard on the radio. After calling some family members, I decided that this was not a day that anything was going to get accomplished, so, I went back home, and sat glued to the television for a few hours. The big concern I had was "Where is the President?" He should be addressing the nation about this. Of course, Presidential security had taken care that POTUS was well protected, and surrounded by the fine men, and women of the United States Armed Forces, as he went from base to base.
I suppose the most lingering thought I had that day was for Detroit's large population of people of Arabic, and Chaldean descent. There is always that element of the population that pins the blame on an entire group of people, no matter how innocent they may be.
There were indeed some threats to harm, or kill people from those areas, or their descendants, but for the most part, most people were too hurt, angry, or stunned to do anything rash.
As someone who has lived in the Detroit area for five years, I can honestly say that the thing that those of us who did not lose loved ones that day should remember from September 11th is that for a little while, the acrimony between black, and white was forgotten, and for that short time, we were Americans first. Yes, we suffered a terrible loss, but together, we COULD overcome.
May God continue to bless America.
Collection
Citation
“story9506.xml,” September 11 Digital Archive, accessed January 10, 2025, https://911digitalarchive.org/items/show/18662.