Primary Sources: 9/11/01

Source 1: NY Times September 12, 2001 Front Cover

Source 2:
Emily
Sussell
remembers
9/11

Emily Sussell
and her mother
run for safety on September 11, 2001. (Robert Mecea/Newsday)

'Horrifying, Just Horrifying'

Emily Sussell was in sixth grade just blocks from the World Trade Center on 9/11. Now 21, she reflects
on what that day means to her.
I was at school four blocks from the World Trade Center. We felt the building shake and heard a
shattering boom. I thought it was a big car accident. . . . Someone led me outside, and thats
when I saw it: a fire in the skyan enormous hole with flames and black smoke at the top of the
North Tower of the Trade Center. The hole was shaped like a planeyou could kind of see the
outline of the wings.
I could feel the heat of the fire on my face, even four city blocks away. And Ill never forget the
sight of bodies falling through the airpeople who jumped from the flames. Horrifying, just
horrifying....
We ran from the cloud of smoke and debris. It must have been the first tower falling. I remember
feeling like I was in an action movie, not real life....
I thought it was an accidentthat the plane had just been flying too low. I had no concept of
what the word terrorism even was....
I think I was affected by it all in ways I wasnt able to understand at the time. The following year,
I became depressed, and looking back, I think there has to be some connection, a kind of posttraumatic stress, though I didnt make the connection then.
I remember hearing people say that day, This may mean war. I thought of the Civil War and
World War II, because those were the wars Id learned about. I tried to piece those images
together with modern life and understand what being at war would mean.

How its turned out is even stranger: Weve been at war ever since, but it doesnt feel that way.
As far as Im concerned, there was only one day in the past 10 years that really felt like we were
in a war, and that was Sept. 11, 2001....
Last spring, I had mixed feelings when I heard that Osama bin Laden had been killed. People
around me started to celebrate, and I was kind of caught off guard and confused. I think its
wrong to celebrate anyones death, no matter how many deaths that person may have caused....
I wonder how 9/11 is going to be portrayed in the future. I hope its not going to be glorified like
Pearl Harbor has been in the movies. I hope people remember that it was a real experience, and
that its a sensitive topic. Emily Sussell
This article originally appeared in the September 5, 2011, issue of The New York Times Upfront.

Source 3
Protest against Anti-Muslim Backlash after
9/11

Source 4: StoryCorps Audio Interview of Sekou Siby: http://storycorps.org/listen/sekou-siby/

A few years after immigrating from the Ivory Coast, Sekou Siby began working in the kitchen at Windows on the Worlda
restaurant at the top of Tower 1 at the World Trade Center.
On September 11, 2001, Sekou lost 72 colleagues in the attacks, many of them also immigrants.
Sekou was supposed to be working that morning but he had switched shifts with another kitchen worker named Moises Rivas,
who was killed that day.
He came to StoryCorps to remember Moises and the many other coworkers he lost.

Sekou Siby: I was a prep cook, so for eight hours peeling potatoes and cleaning
onions. And uh, when Moises Rivas was hired I was assigned to train him. We had
a strong relationship because I was directing his work.
On September 8, Moises Rivas asked me, "Do you mind working for me on Sunday,
and uh, I'll pick up your shift on Tuesday." So he ended up working September 11.
And uh, he did not make it. He has two kids.
You know, losing one person in your life is traumatic but I lost a lot of people. And
uh, what I compare it to is the experience of a soldier without being a soldier.
Because a soldier is trained to lose massive amount of people. And uh, we were
just kitchen workers.
So after 9/11, I did cab driving for almost a year and a half. You know, take this
person point A and I drop you point B, let's not make friends. Because I felt if like if I
had to lose another close friend of mine, I don't think I would be able to recoup from
it.
The feeling of why Moises, why not me is something that will travel in me my entire
life. He went to work and never made it home.