[Nettime-bold] Voices Unite for Memorial

I am sending this email with the hopes that you will support our mission to keep the former WTC site memorialized, and not to rebuild, commercially on it.
Should you decide to support this mission, please print this and post so that others may respond.

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While so many of us are still trying to cope with the events of September 11th, plans for commercial rebuilding on the former WTC site are being decided by NY officials.
My mission is to see that the NY City Planning Committee hears, and acts on our opposing views.

Please read my Commentary.

Voices Unite for Memorial - Commentary by Anita Solomon

The concept of commercial rebuilding at the former WTC site is a dishonorable act to our Nation, and needs to be acknowledged.

To place another money making entity at the WTC site is to desecrate the very grounds that became the end of life's journey for so many innocent people.

People need to realize that only a few hundred victims have been recovered and returned to the families, and given proper burial. For those families, there is closure. More than 1,800 victims have yet to be recovered, and
may never be.

The right to a proper burial for these victims was violated insidiously.

What do these families do? When do they get to have closure? What do you tell a child when they ask "Why did they put buildings on Mommys' (Daddys') grave?" And how do you respond to a parent that pleaded not to put a building on their child's only gravesite?

Moreover, let us not forget that many of these people were from other nations, and their remains may never be recovered and returned to their homeland.
Suffice it to say, that proper interment, according to their cultural doctrines, both in the US and abroad, cannot be satisfied.

In a real sense, the former WTC site is now a Cemetery of the World.

Let them rest with dignity and in peace.

How do you think we will look to the rest of the world if we just build over what is now proclaimed as the most poignant, historical site in the Nation? We cannot and should not attempt to bury American History.

The idea of rebuilding to show the terrorists they have not won is nothing more than our EGO talking.

It is time for us to put aside that EGO and start thinking with our hearts, about the long term psychological impact of September 11 on the families, friends, and co-workers of those lost, as well as the survivors, and the rest of the Nation.

The rebuilding of the former WTC site would only show the terrorists that we (so-called "infidels") have more love for money and power than we do for moral values, human life, and the freedom America stands for. Let us prove to them how wrong they are. Let's not see this site as "prize" real estate for mercantilism, but as a place of homage to the Nations' loss, and through that loss, came the resurrection of the American Spirit.

If we are to prioritize and capitalize on the rebuilding where such a contemptuous act took place, then what it is that we are flying our flag so proudly for?

As for the loss of the financial enterprise, there is plenty of commercial space available elsewhere in Manhattan for the economic re-stabilization of the city.

If you are interested in seeing that a Memorial be placed at Ground Zero, without commercialized edifice, please go to:

http://www.petitiononline.com/911wtc/petition.html

This petition has been endorsed by people from all around the US and abroad. Many are survivors of the September 11 attack.
This petition will be hand delivered to Mayor Bloomberg's office, Governor Pataki's office, and John Whitehead of the Lower Manhattan Redevelopment Corp for the former WTC site.
Plans to deliver the petition will be March 11, exactly 6 months to the day.

Thank you,

A. Solomon - 2002
mailto:anita.solomon@verizon.net

Petition can be accessed through:
WTC Petition for Memorial
http://www.petitiononline.com/911wtc/petition.html
A Tribute In Honor http://www.geocicites.com/quivive247/index.html