We Said, "Never Forget." Have We?

September 11, 2001, began like just another day. I was an assistant principal at Sunrise Middle School in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. My coworkers and I arrived on campus at around 7:30 AM, supervised the student arrival process, and ushered the children onto classes for an 8:30 AM start.

As I entered the main office of the school, just after 9:00 AM, I was greeted by my colleague, Suzy, who said, “Desmond… A plane just hit one of the twin towers in New York.” I remember a crushing feeling of inquisitive disbelief. As I turned my attention to the news coverage on television, I saw the unfathomable… another plane crashed into the second tower. Over the next two hours, we would learn of a third plane hitting the Pentagon; a fourth plane crashing into a field in Pennsylvania; and the total collapse of both towers. Thousands of innocent people were killed.

Our country was under attack in ways many of us had only read about in the history books. All of us, staff and students alike, were shaken to our core. Agonizing parents frantically rushed to the school to take their children home. A day that started out as routine ended in a hellacious manner to say the least. At the end of what became an extremely long day, I finally headed home. While driving home, I would have to navigate more than 60 minutes of hysteria-filled congestion.

About 20 minutes into my drive, as I listened to the reports on the radio, I interacted with a fellow driver in a way that I have never forgotten. As I approached a red light in my modest Honda Civic, there was a Jaguar to my immediate right with an emblem of the Star of David, representing the Jewish faith. The driver was an elderly white woman. I was a 27-year-old black guy who was wearing a crucifix around my neck, representing my Christian values. As we both slowed to a stop, me in the far left lane and her immediately to my right in the middle lane, she glanced at me and I looked at her. We solely focused on each other. There were no words. She shrugged her shoulders and shook her head in dismay; I did the same. Still facing me, she then clasped her hands together in a prayerful motion towards me; I responded likewise. Right there, two very different people, and total strangers, bonded. We were united in both our fear and our reliance on faith. While no words were exchanged, we conveyed our commitment to one another as Americans.

These small gestures between the elderly lady and myself, symbolized the prevailing feeling I would have over the coming days, months, and years. I remember a tone of oneness. Suddenly, togetherness and patriotism took precedence over differences related to color, class, religion, gender, native language, sexual orientation, or political affiliation. We were just Americans; extremely frightened, but Americans nonetheless. For a period of time, amid the devastation, there was a bit of euphoria. It did not matter what I looked like, where I was born, where my parents were born, who I prayed to, who I loved, where I lived, how much money I earned, what language I spoke, or who I voted for. All of those differences took a backseat to togetherness, fear, grief, and the eagerness to bring the cowardly terrorists to justice. The most popular slogan that many of us adopted was, “Never Forget.”

Our unity as a nation, during our dreariest moment, was a silver lining within the dark clouds we were all experiencing. Unfortunately, this widespread unity that I speak of is in stark contrast to today’s reality. Sadly, divisiveness and dissonance plague today’s America. We are burning our own cities, unjustly killing our fellow unarmed citizens, allowing ourselves to be divided by race, class, religion, gender, and in total disarray on how we end a deadly pandemic. We said we would “Never Forget,” but I’m afraid we have done just that. 

As a life-long educator, I am particularly troubled by current events. Being that I have proudly served in positions as a classroom teacher and a school principal, I have intimate knowledge of how hard it is to teach one child who lives in a disruptive home tormented with infighting among its occupants. I am disheartened by the enormity of the task that our schools are faced with in trying to educate millions of innocent children who are living in a fractured society. I will not engage in the game of blame, for there is enough of that to go around. On this day, I simply pray that we embrace the notion that we are not each other’s enemy and that we rejuvenate the creed of “Never Forget.”

About the Author. Desmond K. Blackburn, Ph.D, is Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of New Teacher Center (NTC). NTC is a national non-profit organization that works with school and district leaders to develop a culture of high quality instruction that improves teacher practice, increases teacher retention, and disrupts the predictability of inequitable educational outcomes for systemically underserved students. Prior to joining NTC in 2018, he spent more than two decades in education, from math teacher to superintendent. To find out how Dr. Blackburn and the NTC team can support you, contact him at [email protected].