This past weekend marked the third year anniversary of the day that changed America forever: the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Over 3,000 people died on that horrible day, at work in New York City and Washington, D.C., and in a field in rural Pennsylvania.
Although unspeakably terrible, something good did come of the attacks. Almost all Americans, of all political stripes, banded together in a show of unity not seen in nearly 60 years. People stood in line for hours to donate blood. Money, time, and love were generously given. There was more respect for the armed services than there had been in years. Patriotism became “cool” again.
In memory of that day, some UT students wanted to place a memorial to honor the victims. On Tuesday night, these students met and placed 3,025 flags in the amphitheater between Humanities and the library – one flag for each victim. The memorial was beautiful, and very moving. People walking through were noticeably affected by it. One would assume that it was a gesture everyone could agree on.
Unfortunately, this was not the case. Late Wednesday night or early Thursday morning, an individual or individuals vandalized the memorial. They removed every flag, and moved them to the plaza, where they planted them again. They arranged them to spell out “The World Suffers.” They also chalked various antiwar and anti-Bush slogans on the side of the Humanities building and on the pavement. Obviously, their message was that the world suffered because of the United States, not because of 9/11. Implicitly, it stated that we got what we deserved.
Most people were appalled by this act. The memorial was just that – a memorial. It was not a political statement of any sort. The Iraq war was not mentioned; indeed, the flags were largely paid for with donations from Congressman Jimmy Duncan, who strongly opposes the war in Iraq. It was simply a monument to those innocent people who were murdered on 9/11. So how could anyone justify vandalizing it?
The answer to this question is simple, yet at the same time difficult to understand. Some people simply hate America. They believe that we deserved to be attacked. This is not a common opinion among the public, but it is considerably more prevalent on college campuses. After all, following the 9/11 attacks, some schools actually banned displaying the American flag, claiming it was divisive. This anti-American sentiment is nurtured by leftist professors, many of whom spent their youths crusading for “progressive” (read: anti-religious, anti-capitalist, and anti-American) causes, and now want to continue these crusades through their easily influenced (and often very naive) students. In their view, the U.S. is simply an evil empire and must be combated in every way imaginable.
This anti-American sentiment has become so strong that even the recognition of an American tragedy is offensive to people such as these. While the Abu Ghraib prison abuse (rightly) received their universal condemnation, crimes against Americans are much more understandable. They would simply prefer to rationalize the actions of terrorists and make excuses than face a simple fact: 3,000 innocent people died. They are so sympathetic to the terrorists that it is obvious that a few actually support their goals.
Of course, it is also possible that we’re reading too much into this incident. It could have simply been a group of students were sitting around in their room drinking beer or smoking pot, and thought it would be cool to screw with the memorial. After all, smoking and drinking excessively aren’t exactly uncommon on this campus (or on most others). Mixing them with extreme ignorance seldom produces positive results.
So who vandalized the memorial? No one seems to know. The perpetrators did it under the cover of darkness. Obviously, they do not have the courage to identify themselves. Vandalizing a memorial is certainly a despicable act, but being a coward is even worse. But no one ever claimed these were honorable people.
Early Wednesday morning, the chalk slogans were washed away, and the flags returned to where they belonged. Few people even saw the defaced memorial. The cowards would not be successful in their efforts to politicize it. In that respect, they failed to accomplish their goal.
But they did teach us one very important lesson: Hate for America is not limited to far away countries. It is alive and well on this campus and many others across the nation. Next year, more memorials will probably be vandalized. And Americans will continue to wonder what has gone wrong in America’s colleges.
John Brown (www.johnnorrisbrown.com) is a senior in political science and history at the University of Tennessee @ Knoxville. Contact him at johnnyb325@aol.com. This column originally appeared in the September 14, 2004 edition of The Daily Beacon entitled "Vandalism implies hate for America," available here.