IN THE SHADOW OF THE TOWERS: STUYVESANT HIGH ON 9/11: The Children Of September 11th Speak

“People don’t talk about the fact there were kids there.”

Every person remembers where they were when they heard the news that the World Trade Center had been hit by a plane in NYC. Televisions around the world were tuned in, viewers glued in horror as they watched as the towers fell one after the other. A country mourned as one, tears for the lives of those lost and a renewed sense of patriotism burning from within. It is a day that has lived on in infamy, and one that will not soon be forgotten.

While we were glued to our TVs, the students of Stuyvesant High School had a front-row seat to the massacre on 9/11 and the hate that befell immigrants in NYC and around the country. What started off as a normal fall school morning turned into terror, shock, and for some, hate. It has been 18 years since the events of that day, but the memories are as fresh as though it were yesterday.

It is hard to think of children being at the center of it all, all the more harder when you listen to their stories, knowing how that day changed their lives. In The Shadow of the Towers: Stuyvesant High on 9/11 brings us their stories.

September 11, 2001

Their story starts off like many around the country – it was a normal day. A nice September morning. The school year had just begun. In an instant, their world was changed as many students witnessed the first plane flying into the North Tower, smoke billowing from inside confirming what they had seen. As all began to understand the gravity of what was happening, the second plane crashed into the south tower elevating the fear and confusion throughout the school – one student recounting seeing the plane enter the tower, and turning to watch it happen again on the TV set in his classroom.

As the alumni recalled that day, they mentioned the confusion of the school, the uncertainty of what was the right decision with students and faculties well being in mind. Should they evacuate? Was it safer to keep everyone within the walls of the school, a fortress to whatever terror was continuing to conjure outside? From here, their raw and visceral experience only continues to deepen, students relaying the lack of communication (no cell phones) that would only further isolate when they did eventually evacuate.

There is a parallelism, an unbelievable relatability to these students as we all experienced 9/11 together, yet a distance all the same as one can never truly be able to understand and comprehend the fear and uncertainty these young children had to face. The descriptions of trying to cover their air conditioners when the first dust cloud came to engulf their school and the eventual evacuation, fueled by fear as they ran from the second dust cloud – one student describes as “walls of dust coming like a mummy movie”.

Yet, their journey does not end with the towers. Like the rest of New York City, these students were left stranded on the lower West side. No subways or buses. No cell phones. Their parents gripped with fear waiting to see if their children would arrive home that night – one student recalling his father’s plea when he was able to reach home on a friend’s Nextel –  “please, please – just survive”.

There is poise in the alumni as they speak, an understanding of what they went through and an ability to embrace led them – and us – as a country. There is a strength that speaks to the American spirit and the call for unity that is resolute as they embrace the chance to share their stories. The plethora of perspectives and imagery from that day seems endless, and this year it is time for Stuyvesant High School to share their stories.

Hate and Racism

As with many tragedies, heartbreak begets heartbreak. Unfortunately, 9/11 has not been sheltered from this ripple of life. For those who rushed into the towers, the first on the scene to provide relief and aid, many were lost. For those who shifted through the rubble and rebuilt a landscape, many are now forced to faced illness – and the lack of means to fight it. Tragedies within tragedies. For some of the students of Stuyvesant High School, their heartbreak within heartbreak was immediate as ignited hate fueled by the day’s events began to encroach.

Many will remember the attacks and treatment of immigrants – especially those of color and Middle Eastern descent – in New York City and around the country following 9/11. The treatment by police, abuse by fellow citizens, fear and attacks on livelihood; a demand for a physical entity to place blame upon and dole out presumed justice. As recalled in the documentary, a few of the students were some of the first to witness the mindset of a nation following the fall of the towers.

This was one of the most surprising revelations from In the Shadows of the Towers; the hate was instant – not everywhere and not from everyone but it was there. Some of the students recalled being told to go back to their country, ”to go home” – when all they were doing was making the same long walk like every other NYC citizen (many walking as far as Brooklyn, The Bronx, and Queens). What started as statements on the long journey home, became an environment in the time that followed. The descriptions of the atmosphere and mindset towards immigrants, especially those of color and Middle Eastern descent, seem as clear to them now as they were then when the terror began.

In one of our country’s darkest moments, it was heartbreaking to hear it from the source, to hear that some of us turned our darkest that day – and in the weeks that would follow. With each anniversary of 9/11, new information sheds new light, new points of view of that day, new ways of looking at our country. Sadly, this has been one of the most startling revelations regarding the aftermath of that day.

A Documentary that Speaks for Itself

In the Shadow of the Towers is truly a documentary that speaks for itself. Director Amy Schatz does not try and craft something political, something with a message to be learned from that day. Instead, she gives the film to the alumni of Stuyvesant High School. The former students decide what they are going to say, guided only by questions to guide them through their recollections. What truly makes this documentary is this freedom it was allowed. Schwartz works more as a conduit, a means to an end for these alumni to tell their stories and have them heard. It is a recount of events from a child’s eyes, now living in an adults body.

A director who has made a living crafting films for children regarding some of the most difficult topics to communicate (i.e. school shooting, the holocaust), she was adeptly suited to craft this intricately delicate moment of time. Literally discovered on the cutting room floor after not fitting into her initial children’s project, What Happened on September 11, the interviews lend themselves to their own story. A sign of a truly attuned director, she saw the story and let it speak.

Even when she was faced with elements of the students’ stories she was not sure to include, she let their stories be the deciding factor of the documentary. They were raw and they were real.

In The Shadow of the Towers: Never Forget

I commend Schatz and her team for seeing the story, for seeing a need to have these voices heard. I further commend the alumni of Stuyvesant High School for once again returning to that moment, furthering our understanding of 9/11 and what happened on that day. It is important to remember, to never forget, and to understand that there is not a singular side to a story. With the thousands of lives lost, there were others who lived, able to recount the events as they occurred – to keep the memory alive.

In the Shadow of the Towers does just that. Through their stories, 9/11 is never forgotten.

Watch In the Shadow of the Towers: Stuyvesant High on 9/11