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At Ground Zero, Relief And Pride In Bin Laden's Death
By
Bethany O'Grady
Published May 2, 2011
Modified May 2, 2011
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By
Bethany O'Grady
Published May 2, 2011
Modified May 2, 2011
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In the wake of Osama bin Laden’s death, media outlets from around the world have swarmed Lower Manhattan near the World Trade Center site, where tourists and New Yorkers are trading patriotic sentiments with each other in front of the cameras. The somber mood typically shared by visitors to the site has, for the most part, been replaced with proud triumphalism. One Brooklyn resident celebrated bin Laden’s demise with gusto in front of a captivated audience; standing on a bench at the corners of Cedar and Liberty streets, he held the ‘Flag of Honor’ with the names of those who perished in the attacks almost a decade ago.
The flag-waver, Germano Riviera, said he was a rescue worker in the rubble at Ground Zero in the days after 9/11, and told us, “If I was to cut my face now and bleed, you can’t say, ‘you’re a Muslim, Jew, a Christian. If we were to look at the DNA of our blood, we’re all the same. So what is the sense to kill one another? It doesn’t make sense. We have to get ready for the bad apples before they can get us. That’s how we got Osama bin Laden. We need to get the other bad apples around us, people that instigate hate.
"I’m a survivor and a volunteer of 9/11. I remember those horrific days. I worked under the rubble. I remember working with one fireman. We were on the top of the rubble. We went in to a deep hole, very deep, and I remember I told him ‘my boots are melting, I feel very hot.’ We put our flashlights down and our boots were melting, they had big bubbles from the rubble. It was melting. At that time I was wearing glasses and I could not see anything and I panicked. He came and hugged me and said, ‘don’t worry you’re gonna get out of here.' I’ll always remember that man. God bless you my friend. I’m Colombia born, but I’m a proud American citizen.”
Tourist Jason Con of Denver was more guarded about his reaction "I have mixed emotions. There’s a happy tone in the crowds. I think this helps Obama. I work in construction and the economy is real slow, I’m not sure how this will affect it." A woman who works two blocks away from the site, and was maneuvering her way through the crowd at Ground Zero, had similar feelings, "It makes me a little nervous, there might be retribution. I was surprised, actually, I got here, in all this insanity, I got off at Chambers street, and was expecting more security. There’s not as much as there was right after 9/11."
Outside the firehouse on Liberty Street, Gloria Magriz of Bayonne, New Jersey watched NYPD fire fighters gear up, and told us, “I’m excited and relieved. My son serves in the Navy and although I don’t celebrate death, I think this one is to be celebrated. Patriotism has never died, we never lost it and we’re not to be messed with,” She added, “I’ve never felt unsafe. This happened, it was a tragedy, we weren’t paying attention, but I think we get it now."
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