The September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks have shaped Americans’ views on terrorism and foreign policy. That’s especially true for those who were sitting in a classroom that day.
Alex Braithwaite had recently moved to the United States from England and was in the first year of his graduate program the day the World Trade Center towers fell.
A few years later, he was teaching his own political science classes which, at the time, focused heavily on 9/11.
“When I started in a faculty position in 2006, you can imagine that when I first taught a class on terrorism, it was basically a class about 9/11. It was like, everything leading up to 9/11, everything since 9/11 — 9/11 was sort of the pivot point where we look at a lot of changes,” he says.
Today, Braithwaite is the director for the School of Government and Public Policy at the University of Arizona. In his classes on terrorism and international relations, 9/11 is no longer the focus point.
“It's clear for students that this is an important historical event, but it's not one that defines how they think about their day-to-day lives,” he says. “We spend a lot of time in the class thinking about: How can we make 9/11 important without making it the centerpiece of everything that we're talking about?”
Most students today are too young to have experienced the attacks. That’s why it’s important, Braithwaite says, to approach the subject from an angle that doesn’t perpetuate prejudice.
“If we narrow it too much on 9/11, you can start to see how people think, ‘Well, we need to securitize or make everything about security. So, we need to securitize immigration. We need to securitize American elections. We need to securitize the economy.’ We need to define everything as a response to a security threat,” he says.
Instead, the UA professor encourages students to question the responses to the attacks, such as the establishment of the Patriot Act, airport security and wars in the Middle East.
"Which of these are things we think have actually improved our way of life? And which of these are things that actually limit the scope of our ability to be happy, content, wealthy – whatever it may be that drives us?” he asks.
Research shows that 9/11 has negatively affected the public’s perception of immigrants, whether from the Middle East or not. A 2011 article in The Journal of Politics, co-published by UA professor Chad Westerland, argues that anti-Latino sentiment in the U.S. became much more pronounced post-9/11.
“As undocumented migration increased along the border, citizen groups emerged, gaining substantial publicity in U.S.-Mexico border states, but less attention outside this region. All that was needed to propel this issue to the national stage was a catalyst. We argue the terrorist attacks of 9/11 served that role,” the article states.
“People have internalized the fear that came in 9/11 and they've basically pushed that fear outward towards any population that looks non-white American,” Braithwaite says.
The definition of terrorism has also skewed post 9/11, he adds. Some tend to think of it only as a foreign threat, though Braithwaite says nationalist terrorism remains the bigger threat.
“We're much more comfortable defining something foreign as terrorism. You'll notice this: if ever there's an attack, if we get the sense that the person may be foreign or have connections to some sort of foreign group, we will — without hesitation — say ‘terrorism,’” he says. “If it's a home grown or locally born individual, we start to talk about other possibilities. It might be ‘terrorism’ or it might be ‘a crime gone wrong’ or it might be a ‘mental health crisis.’”
While Braithwaite’s undergrads are delving into the politics of 9/11, Tucson high schoolers are taking a different approach.
High schoolers honor fallen firefighters
Matthew Coody was a 10-year-old at school the moment the towers were struck in 2001. Today, he’s a paramedic firefighter teaching Emergency Medical Services at Sunnyside High School.
“As we're talking about 9/11, we kind of learned that everyone has a different idea of what it means to them,” Coody says.
His classes look at 9/11 as a technical lesson by asking how radio communication could have been stronger that day and how first responders can be more prepared for grave emergencies.
“We kind of talk about what we learned that day and how we make sure that we're not making the same mistakes,” he says.
But students also wanted to honor the 343 firefighters who lost their lives that day. This year, they’re planning the school’s first annual memorial stair climb. They’ll be challenged to ascend 2,200 steps representing the 110 floors of each tower at the World Trade Center.
Coody says students will be manning water stations and his student Rover Teams will be on site providing first aid.
Students in Junior ROTC will kick off the stair challenge Friday morning with the ceremony of flags while band members perform “Taps.”
Several fire districts have also been invited to participate. And Coody himself will be running up and down the bleachers with his brother who’s also a firefighter.
“Oh man, I am super proud,” he says. “I looked at the registration. We already have about 40-50 people signed up, and that's 40-50 people who are taking this seriously… I don't know if I'm going to be able to not cry on that day.”
