Our Shared Duty to Drive Change

Let’s recognize the fierce urgency of now, on this 9/11 anniversary and as we look ahead to November

An unidentified New York City firefighter after the collapse of the Twin Towers on Sept. 11, 2001. (Photo by Anthony Correia via Getty Images)

This week, with the 25th anniversary of 9/11 approaching, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani released 170,000 pages of documents that exposed the toxic conditions that were poisoning first responders and others who spent time in and around Ground Zero in lower Manhattan. These pages include air quality reports, records of contamination and communication between city officials. The New York Times reported that these records have been “shielded from public view for more than two decades and, according to city officials, discovered only last year.”

The words of Mayor Rudy Giuliani in 2001 and then newly elected Mayor Mike Bloomberg months later suggest an active cover-up as they sought to assure a worried public, prioritize rebuilding the financial district and serving the interests of business, and shield the city from legal liability.

First was Giuliani in October 2001, who acknowledged that “sometimes the odor is terrible” and “you feel there must be something wrong with it.” But, “what I’m told is that it is not dangerous to your health.”

Then came Bloomberg in February 2002, serving up a more definitive lie: “Every test that has been done says the air quality was in acceptable limits. I think some people are just never going to want to believe that.”

To date, more people have died from cancer and other illnesses related to the toxins than the nearly 3,000 who died in the horrific attacks that day. Over 4,000 lives have already been lost to illness while at least 49,000 first responders and survivors continue to struggle with cancers resulting from exposure to the toxic environment surrounding Ground Zero.

But it’s taken 25 years for New York to get a mayor committed to telling the truth about top city leaders’ complicity in this ongoing tragedy.

“On Friday, we will mark 25 years since the worst tragedy ever to befall our city, the darkest day New York City has ever known,” Mamdani said at a news conference on Tuesday. “And yet the devastating truth is that the suffering did not end once the smoke cleared and the dust settled.” He added, “People got sick because the leaders they trusted lied and told them they were safe to breathe in toxic air.”

Disgracefully, the Islamophobic Giuliani has said he’s “offended” that New York’s first Muslim mayor is attending the 9/11 commemoration today. (Mamdani was nine years old in 2001.) I would argue that he’s the one who should be denied access, given his deadly role in misinforming the public.

This is a day to reflect on that seismic, world-altering attack on New York and the nation. It’s something that I’ve sought to do each anniversary since I began publishing America, America five years ago. These remembrances have included telling personal stories—to not forget the human scale of the tragedy—and analyzing the larger geopolitical and structural impact of 9/11.

Silence is not an option

But the failure to tell the truth 25 years ago—as revealed in this week’s release of documents—has gotten me thinking about the coming midterms and the responsibility that each of us has to say what we know about the deadly destruction of this poisonous Trump operation.

Of course, the scale and brazenness of the pathological lying and corruption and criminality makes it impossible to grasp and capture it all. The determination of a Republican-led Congress and the sycophants closest to him—that includes his cabinet of miscreants and the extremist Supreme Court—to enable his poisonous authoritarian agenda leads many among us to feel powerless or even to despair about our nation’s future.

That threat is at the core of my continued focus on the necessity of accountability—not out of vengeance or a hunger for retribution, but a yearning for justice that has been in such short supply in the face of unprecedented self-dealing and crime. I’ve been writing America, America since 2021—and since the beginning accountability has represented the responsibility to tell the truth, deal with the felons and create the necessary conditions for our country to genuinely move forward.

As Jan. 6 has taught us, anything less makes it possible for a violent insurrectionist and his enablers to retake the reins of power and expand their hateful schemes; meanwhile, the underlying moral rot and related miseries continue to fester and poison our body politic.

I wish I could say that we have made more progress. Bur re-reading my inaugural essay for America, America, entitled “Silence Is Not an Option,” reminded me that the issues now were very much alive then. This was February 25, 2021, just seven weeks after Jan. 6:

If I dreamed that the election of Joe Biden and the eviction of Trump from our house would make this publication unnecessary, that I could simply move on to other work as a new and better America arrived to replace four years of pathological lying, malignant narcissism and cruelty, sociopathy and criminality, the deadly insurrection on January 6 put an end to that.

We have seen how seditious extremists and millions of Americans, including a majority of elected Republicans, continue to stand with Trump and against our democracy. They are willing to toss aside the rule of law to keep Trump and his acolytes near the levers of power.

The nightmare potential has only grown darker, which is why our collective efforts have never been more urgent.

The fierce urgency of now

We have 52 days until Nov. 3, roughly seven weeks. It’s my goal to provide you concrete information about projects underway at the state and national levels to combat Trump’s voter suppression and election fraud.

In these pages, I will continue to spotlight what Trump and his henchmen are saying and doing—not to simply ring the alarm bell that I know everyone here already hears—but to help determine the most useful responses. That means connecting the insidious dots, but also highlighting the positive, pro-democracy work of advocacy groups and courageous, dedicated individuals.

And, at the risk of excessive repetition, our collective project must include doing everything we can to ensure maximum voter turnout and significant margins of victory, the most critical thing to over-riding the inevitable lies and denials. There’s work for each of us, whether it’s the bread-and-butter work of writing postcards, making phone calls and going door-to-door or the daily opportunity to talk to friends, neighbors, family members and even strangers that you meet in person or online.

In so doing, you will quickly learn whether you’re engaging with an intransigent cultist who cannot be reasoned with or the growing population of Americans who are ready to abandon Trump’s sinking ship. I hope you’ll share what you’re learning both in coming live chats and in the comments section.

The Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., in his iconic “I Have a Dream” speech in August of 1963, warned, “It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment.” He had come to the National Mall “to remind America of the fierce urgency of now,” he said. “This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism.” And more:

Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quick sands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God’s children.

These ideas resonated powerfully then. The need for audacity is obvious now. King’s urgent message continues to speak to our time as we recognize how shattered our nation will be if we fail to curtail the Trump regime’s continuing corruption and destruction.

Let’s not look at this enterprise darkly. This is our opportunity to fulfill the promise of democracy, a task that rests on the shoulders of every citizen who believes in the value of self-governance, the necessity of justice and the possibility of a progressive future.

As we head to the midterms, it’s more important than ever to support the survival of democracy. I remain committed to raising my voice as vividly and fiercely as I can. I hope you’ll consider becoming a paid subscriber for just $50 a year or $5 a month to show your support and enhance your engagement—to share your thoughts in the comments sections and access all content.