9/11 and COVID-19

In 2001, I was living in New York City. On 9/11, I was planning to head to the World Trade Center around noon to catch the PATH train to Newark. Little has been said about how the terrorists showing before 9 a.m. saved a lot of lives. Many New Yorkers don’t board trains to work till a little later.

Almost 3,000 people died on 9/11, and the cry has been to “never forget.” On each anniversary, solemn ceremonies recall that tragedy. Bells ring and someone reads out the names of the dead. 

Fast forward to 2020. So far this year, we have had the equivalent of 10 9/11s each in March, April, May, June, July, and August. That makes 180,000 dead courtesy of COVID-19. If you’ve had a loved one, friend, or relative die, it hits home, but the collective sorrow you’d expect of a country that’s lost so many people doesn’t seem to be taking root.

Nothing in my life has been like walking the streets of Manhattan after 9/11. An overwhelming weight of sorrow hung in the air. Everyone was crying. Missing person posters were plastered everywhere. Small bands walked the streets playing patriotic songs. Fire stations became grieving centers where folks expressed their sympathy to firefighters. Armed guards wore AK-47s strapped to their shoulders. The streets were empty of tourists and business people. Those were tough days. 

Early in the coronavirus pandemic, a friend and I tried to prepare ourselves for a period of sadness. Recently, deaths — even beyond COVID — have piled on like football players after a tackle. There was my friend Master Blaster, Black Panther Chadwick Boseman, NBA star Cliff Robinson, Chester gospel singing legend Bernard Pinder, and a murder victim on Chester’s streets. 

180,000 have died in six months. And we face the prospect of perhaps as many additional deaths before the end of the year. 

This year’s 9/11 remembrances will temporarily take our minds off the new tragedy staring us right between our eyes. 

Imagine that: using one tragedy to take your mind off another. 

Stefan Roots blogs at Chester Matters and Covid While Black .