An overwhelming share of Americans who are old enough to recall 9/11 remember where they were and what they did when they heard the news. That is certainly true for me. At 8:49 am Tuesday, September 11, 2001, I was early for my 9:00 am international
law research class. I was in my second year at Brooklyn Law School, and my phone kept
going off. My mom called me from Israel three times, and I picked up the third call. I
learned about the first plane from my mom. She had realized this was an attack, and
she couldn’t get a hold of my brother, who was working a block from the trade center,
and I immediately tried to reach him. He ultimately walked across the Brooklyn bridge
and walked home. It was a long 12 hours until I knew he was alright. I watched people
walk into the law school covered in soot, dazed, and confused.
My earliest memory in Israel was don’t pick up packages on the street because they
could be a bomb. My mom repeatedly told me, “Please don’t talk to strangers because
they might try to kill you.” Those memories affect me today, and they are second nature
for me. My kids will tell you I can be paranoid and overprotective. From 1997-1998, I
spent a year at Tel-Aviv University. During that time, car bombings, shootings, grenade
attacks–injuring dozens of civilians–and at least one suicide bombing at a Jerusalem
market. I remember the bomb squad investigating a suspicious package left at a bus
stop I took with my brother every day to get to class.
When my mom told me, a plane hit the world trade center. Instantly, I knew terrorism had
found its way to America. On that Tuesday morning, 19 al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked four
American commercial flights destined for the West Coast and intentionally crashed
them. American Airlines Flight 11 departed from Boston and struck New York City’s
World Trade Center North Tower at 8:46 am. A second plane, United Airlines Flight 175,
hit the South Tower at 9:03 am, resulting in the collapse of both towers. A third plane,
American Airlines Flight 77, leaving Dulles International Airport in Virginia, crashed into
the Pentagon at 9:37 am. The final plane, United Airlines Flight 93, departing from
Newark, N.J., crashed in a field in Shanksville, Pa., at 10:03 am, after passengers
stormed the cockpit and tried to subdue the hijackers.
In 90 minutes that Tuesday morning, America changed. Shock, sadness, fear, anger: The
9/11 attacks inflicted a devastating emotional toll on Americans. Before 9/11, we
weren’t personally affected by terrorism; that stuff happened to others. Almost 3,000
people died that day. The events of 9/11 not only reshaped the global response to
terrorism but raised new and troubling questions about security, privacy, and treatment
of prisoners. It led to a surge in discrimination, racial profiling, and hate crimes. 9/11
reshaped U.S. immigration policies by creating the Department of Homeland Security to
prevent terrorism, secure our borders, enforce immigration laws, secure cyberspace,
and ensure disaster resilience.
It is not my place to say whether the changes are for the better. Still, they certainly make
my life as an immigration attorney harder. If you are from North Africa or the Middle
East, whatever you are applying for will take longer, be harder to achieve, and be more
complicated than before 9/11. That is undeniable.
What is your 9/11 story? Where were you when it happened? How has 9/11 affected
your life?
Andres “Survivor” Mejer
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