Lessons from times of panic

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 14/09/2023 (766 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

“… Now on September 11, I try to take the day off. I want to be in a peaceful, quiet place praying. It is a day I both mourn and celebrate.” – Genelle Guzman-McMillan, 9/11 survivor

Is there anyone, 31 or older, having trouble remembering where they were on Sept. 11, 2001?

If you’re wondering about my memory math, it’s easy. The Sept. 11 attacks happened 22 years ago. If you’re 31, you were nine, on that historic day. I was nine when Lee Harvey Oswald fired a bullet into the head of a handsome American President, on Nov. 22, 1963. Sept. 11, 2001 is one of those rare days in history where even those who were only nine at the time, quite likely remember the event. Generally it’s because they cannot forget the reactions of those around them.

When JFK was shot, we were let out of school early. We weren’t told why. By the time I got home it was clear. Mum was listening to the radio and sobbing. Neighbours were urging her to immediately make a grocery run for as many canned goods as possible. They were certain that we were on the doorstep of World War Three and supplies would be limited. Most of our neighbours were just like us, born in Europe, survivors of the Second World War. They had no doubt the decision to murder President Kennedy was made in Moscow. Therefore the U.S. would be at war with the Soviet Union within weeks if not days. And Canada would be involved.

I was not in school 22 years ago. I was in a radio station in Winnipeg, hosting a talk show on the venerable CJOB.

Just as is the case with this column, those who hired me gave me a wide berth. They did not care whether my focus was local, national or international. It did not matter to the suits whether I was discussing politics or the price of peas. The show had my name, my brain and my heart. That’s the girl I brought to the dance of radio. There was no event or topic that was going to change how or why I was doing the show.

On Sept. 11, 2001, I described what happened at the three crime scenes: New York; Washington, D.C.; and Pennsylvania. I also described what was going on in my heart. I told the audience that while the U.S. was clearly under attack, all of democracy was the target of those who were responsible, and our job as Canadians was to guard our democracy zealously from those who would take advantage of our fears to loot our liberty. Canada is defined by freedom. We are a country that has enshrined a Charter of Rights and Freedoms in our constitution. While most of us agreed that we needed to remain free, there would be those who tell us that freedom is not for everyone. They will want to blame people in our own communities for the attacks on this day. My message 22 years ago was not fuelled by fantasy.

Long before I went to the phone lines for listener comments, I was getting email from people telling me it was time to take a serious look at immigration, the criminal justice system and the schools. In the hours after the collapse of the towers in Manhattan, I was being told by Manitobans who were using their real names, that Canada was much too vulnerable to attack because of the new Canadians living among us, especially those from the East.

The emailers weren’t referencing Eastern Canada. They were telling their talk show host we needed to talk about shutting out people from the Middle East and Asia. They were not using words like “Caucasian” or “white.” But they were telling me that we would be a safer country if Canadians looked exactly like the neighbourhoods they grew up in the 1940s, ’50s, and ’60s. The emailers wanted me to tell teachers in our public schools, colleges, and universities to stop promoting diversity. Diversity made the U.S. vulnerable, I was told. And it was just a matter of time before the forces of darkness who planned 9/11 were going to do the same to us.

I will never forget where I was on Sept. 11, 2001. And I will always remember the misguided reactions to two historic events. Our neighbours were wrong in 1963 and our first emailers were just as wrong, on September 11, 2001.

Charles Adler is a longtime political commenter and podcaster.