Hello and welcome back to the Civic Flame, the podcast that brings the Constitution to you and (we hope!) you to the Constitution. Today weÕre doing a Mother of Democracy edition where we step outside of our strict legal standpoint and look at the way law and democracy interact with each other. Today IÕm going to tell you about where I was 25 Septembers ago and why that still matters. 00:00:36 Where I was September 11, 2001 As you probably guessed, weÕre going to talk about the September 11, 2001, attacks. I donÕt usually do this because I do it in class and then IÕm drained form talking about it. But I almost exactly where I was 25 Septembers ago, but being on the other side of the podium hits a little different. My students are mostly in their teens and 20s. 9/11 is history to them. For most people under 35 they have little or no memory of the attacks, and certainly no memory of the world before. So, this September 11th, a quarter century after the 107 minutes that changed our country and its role in the world, I think itÕs important to remind our younger listeners and our older listeners who have forgotten, what we lost on that day, and as importantly, what weÕve been willing to give away because of it. Grab your favorite comfort food because youÕll need it, and letÕs go! (transition) 00:01: 50 My Memories of That Day On September 11th, 2001, I was in Survey of British Literature II and we were moving from the Romantics to the Victorians. I walked into class and we were hearing about maybe a plane crash in New York and someone had bombed the Pentagon. We talked about it for a few minutes, and our professor carried on the class like nothing had happened. Sometimes I think the need for normalcy might be a huge issue. But because of this, by the time I walked out of class 75 minutes later, the attacks we over (though we didnÕt know that). The college was closing and sending people home, but I didnÕt have a car. I had to wait for my dad to come get me, and since he didnÕt think it was enough of a big deal to leave work early, I waited in the bus shelter for a few hours. On my way to the shelter I remember listening to a group of professors talk about how this was going to reshape politics. I wanted to give W the benefit of the doubt being as I had just moved here from Texas. But I was worried. Historically, the American government does not make great choices when itÕs scared. 00:03:15 It was so Quiet, I think we were all holding our breath It was so eerie how quiet it was. No planes overhead to the airport next to our school. Barely any cars on the street. Most of my classmates were in the science building watching one of the few TVs on campus, but I didnÕt have reliable phone service, so I waited. When my dad did finally come get me, we went to pick up my first car: anÕ84 Toyota camary with a saggy front bumper and an Õ86 engine. I filled my car with gas the first time and followed my dad home too afraid to listen to the radio station. Then I got home and watched the news. It all me. I remember watching WTC 7 fall live and crossing my fingers that it wouldnÕt. The horror I felt at watching those images quickly turned to dread on 14 September when Gorge W Bush stood up and announced Òthe rest of the world can hear you, and the people who knocked these buildings down are going to hear all of us.Ó That was the ball game, I thought. And I was right, though being an 18-year-old idealist, I had no idea how bad the game would get. 00:04:38 The 60 Words that Sent us to War Congress passed the AUMF, the authorization to use military force. With barely any discussion or debate, they gave the us the Ò60 words that sent us to war,Ó ÒÒThat the President is authorized to use all necessary and appropriate force against those nations, organizations, or persons he determines planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001, or harbored such organizations or persons, in order to prevent any future acts of international terrorism against the United States by such nations, organizations or persons.Ó 00:05: 30 Barbara Lee was Right about the Forever War Out of 435 members of the House and 100 Senators, only one had the balls to stand up and say no. Barbara Lee of California read the room and called it: that it is CongressÕ job to declare war, that we have been here before and seen what happened to the military, the country, and the world when the president can go to war whenever he wants, that if there was cause to go to war Congress could authorize it but this had no limits on time, place, or target and would lead to forever wars. Well, Americans hate listening to women and really hate listening to Black women, so Lee was written off by her colleagues and got sent death threats from folks around the country. But she was right. 00:06:30 Congress started the Global War on Terror We invaded Afghanistan. Saw that coming. They surrendered around Thanksgiving. Did not see that coming. W refused their surrender and we stayed on for almost 2 decades. Really didnÕt see that coming. We invaded Iraq. The president lied about it. Everyone knew he was lying. He knew we knew he was lying. And for the first time in my adult life I realized how useless democracy was when the president of the United States was hellbent on causing destruction. 00:07:30 The Best and the Worst Came out on That Day I watched my fellow Americans be the best of themselves on 9/11. They carried colleagues and even strangers out of burning buildings on their backs. They ran to the fire. NYFD lost 343 firefighters, many of them knew they werenÕt going home that day, but they tried to save as many as they could: and between NYPD, NYPA, and NYFD, they saved around 20,000 people. Not bad for a dayÕs work. 00:08:06 All Available Boats The Coast Guard asked for all available boats, and people showed for the largest maritime evacuation since WWII. They brought firefighters to the scene and took terrified survivors away from it. People took strangers into their restaurants and homes for food,, water, shelter. Taxi drivers turned off their meters and just drove folks where they needed to go. Countries around the world sheltered Americans who could not return home and held candle light vigils for our loss. But as happens on those days, when humanity has the opportunity to shine the brightest, its shadows appear in the starkest relief. And boy did that on that day. Muslim teens were being harassed before the towers even fell. Islamophobia went on overdrive and persists today. But it didnÕt just hurt Muslims. Anyone who was vaguely brown, especially Sikhs and Indians. 00:09:07 Democracy and Fear Collided in the Streets and the Halls of power And thatÕs where democracy and fear collided. And democracy lost. Not only did George W. Bush destroy US credibility and alliances abroad, drive recruitment for al Queda and other terrorist groups, allow torture, and destroy the US economy, but he destroyed civil liberties as well. The Abu Ghraib tortures live in my head as a moment I could both believe and not believe. The movie V for Vendetta does a great job of illustrating this, by the way. But watching Americans humiliate and torture detainees was the last straw in a lot of straws for me. Guantanamo Bay was a straw. The press was still asking real questions and holding power accountable to the truth if not to the people, and they shows us these people, kidnapped without evidence, sent halfway around the world and thrown into cages. 00:10:33 Enemy Combatants and the Destruction of Law Everyone knew the term enemy combatant was a workaround so that Bush could allow torture and kidnapping. Prisoners of War have rights. Civilians have rights. Enemy combatants donÕt exist in the law, so no rights for them. The war at home was just as damaging. Fox News had its time to shine and it destroyed a generation of Americans with its hate-filled propaganda, the effects of which we are still feeling. Trump may have said alternative facts, but Fox was showing them long before he said it. 00:11:15 The War at Home and Destruction of Civil Liberties and Operation Stellar Winds The NSA started collecting data on Americans. The Patriot Act handed over our civil liberties to the intelligence community. Sneak and peek warrants meant the government could come to your house, check you things, take your stuff, and not even tell you it had been there. Two hop surveillance meant that anyone suspected of terrorismÑno matter how thin the accusationÑ could be used as a reason to surveil everyone in that personÕs network. So if I called you, and you called your grandmother who I donÕt even know, all three of us could be under surveillance. The DHS was formed and where once military and police powers were separateÑa principle outlined in our Declaration of IndependenceÑnow they were merged. And what happened is what always happened when police are told they should have a military mindsetÑinstead of seeing people as communities to protect, they saw Americans as enemies of the state. 00:12:01 Deriliction of Civic Duty This paired with the pathetic dereliction of duty by the US government to returning troops reinvigorated the American militia and anti-government movements, while Islamophobia gave white nationalists and supremacists recruiting fodder. I often think of what life would be like without 9/11. Would we have just found another war? Would the economy be better? Would we have balked more at the speed run of the surveillance and police states? I donÕt know. But I know that for a lot of people my age, that question will never truly be answered. Many people ignore the day and the history, wrapping themselves in apathy or hatred, other like me power over books and documentaries hoping someone will make it make sense. But the truth is that on September 10, 2001, we were living in a different America, and on September 12, we were living in a different one. (transition) 00:14:03 Anti-Establishment is Still the Way, or Why We Actually miss the Ô90s The Ô90s were by no means perfect, but there was an air of anti-establishment, anti-police state, and attempts to use law to hold powerful people accountable. Living in a country where you were not expected to be obedient, where bootlickers were ridiculed, and where people expected t be able to protest without being maced, arrested, or murdered by agents of the state was pretty solid. The reality is that I tell my students a lot about civil liberties post-9/11 because I want them to imagine a world I remember, before 9/11 where there were problems and there was terrorism, but we were freer. So thatÕs my spiel. IÕll be visiting the 9/11 memorial in New York City for the first time later this year. Look for pictures on Instagram, and take care out there. 00:15:00 Thanks! (outro) This has been a Mother of Democracy podcast with writer Amber Vayo and sound producer Matt Munyon. Thanks for listening.