On September 11, 2019, members of the Santa Monica College Young Americans for Freedom club staged a memorial in front of Santa Monica City Hall, to mark the eighteenth anniversary of the September 11 terror attacks in 2001.
SMC’s Young Americans for Freedom Club Stages 9/11 Memorial
Pirate Staff, Sept 11, 2019
On September 11, 2019, members of the Santa Monica College Young Americans for Freedom club staged a memorial to mark the eighteenth anniversary of the September 11 terror attacks in 2001 (often referred to as “9/11”.) During that attack, al Qaeda terrorists hijacked four commercial planes and crashed them into New York City’s World Trade Center, the Pentagon building in Washington DC, and an empty field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
Two of the hijackers had lived in Southern California, where they took flight training in the months leading up to the attack.
As part of the memorial, members of the Young Americans for Freedom club, including club president Jacob Shofet, Gabriella Montgomery and Brandon Chase, set out 2,977 miniature American flags on the lawn of the historic Santa Monica courthouse, in downtown Santa Monica.
The number of flags corresponded to the total number of people lost in that tragedy, which included people from all over the world, some hailing from Southern California.
Speaking about the day-after that tragic event, Shofet said, “This project may also remind us of September 12, 2001, when Americans greeted each other with stunned eyes and open arms. We felt most vulnerable, but also protected by each other as life tried to carry on.”
The club’s memorial remained on display through the close of the business day.
The Young Americans for Freedom club can be contacted via email at: youngamericansforfreedomsmc@gmail.com.
