1 00:00:11,880 --> 00:00:15,000 Speaker 1: Good morning, peeps, and welcome to willk F Daily with 2 00:00:15,080 --> 00:00:18,640 Speaker 1: Meet Your Girl Danielle Moody, recording live from our pod 3 00:00:18,720 --> 00:00:23,239 Speaker 1: stream studios in Times Square. Folks, over the weekend we 4 00:00:24,000 --> 00:00:31,200 Speaker 1: recognize the twentieth anniversary of nine to eleven, and over 5 00:00:31,240 --> 00:00:33,199 Speaker 1: the weekend and I'm sure for the rest of the 6 00:00:33,280 --> 00:00:40,440 Speaker 1: month we will see segments, read articles, videos, documentaries on 7 00:00:40,680 --> 00:00:43,600 Speaker 1: nine to eleven where we were and what has happened. 8 00:00:43,880 --> 00:00:48,159 Speaker 1: And I want to take today's episode to have my 9 00:00:48,240 --> 00:00:52,560 Speaker 1: own remembrance, which I'm sure we'll conjure memories of your own, 10 00:00:53,479 --> 00:00:59,400 Speaker 1: and to think about how much our world was transformed 11 00:01:00,000 --> 00:01:03,040 Speaker 1: over the last twenty years, all of the things that 12 00:01:03,120 --> 00:01:08,360 Speaker 1: have happened that prior to September eleventh, two thousand and one, 13 00:01:08,920 --> 00:01:13,720 Speaker 1: we would have never thought could happen in this country. 14 00:01:13,840 --> 00:01:18,839 Speaker 1: We believed prior to nine to eleven that our borders 15 00:01:19,280 --> 00:01:23,880 Speaker 1: right at our oceans separated us from quote unquote the 16 00:01:23,959 --> 00:01:31,160 Speaker 1: bad people. That it wasn't you know for decades, Pearl 17 00:01:31,240 --> 00:01:35,720 Speaker 1: Harbor being one of the only major attacks that we 18 00:01:35,760 --> 00:01:40,839 Speaker 1: had ever seen in America throughout my entire lifetime, war 19 00:01:41,319 --> 00:01:44,080 Speaker 1: or acts of war and acts of terror and violence 20 00:01:45,240 --> 00:01:49,880 Speaker 1: were something that happened someplace else. They didn't happen in 21 00:01:49,920 --> 00:01:53,200 Speaker 1: the United States. And even though we had our Timothy 22 00:01:53,280 --> 00:01:57,840 Speaker 1: mcvays and would have our bombs in nineteen ninety six 23 00:01:57,840 --> 00:02:00,920 Speaker 1: in Atlanta at the Olympics, those were kind of few 24 00:02:00,960 --> 00:02:06,880 Speaker 1: and far between. To think about this nine to eleven, 25 00:02:07,240 --> 00:02:10,919 Speaker 1: twenty eighth year anniversary, on the backdrop of just having 26 00:02:10,960 --> 00:02:17,799 Speaker 1: withdrawal from Afghanistan, to think about the thirteen troops military 27 00:02:17,960 --> 00:02:23,800 Speaker 1: personnel that were killed at Kabul at the airport, the 28 00:02:23,919 --> 00:02:28,280 Speaker 1: oldest being twenty three. They were toddlers, and some of 29 00:02:28,280 --> 00:02:31,400 Speaker 1: them weren't even born when nine to eleven happened, and 30 00:02:31,480 --> 00:02:35,480 Speaker 1: yet they were sent to defend a war that we've 31 00:02:35,520 --> 00:02:41,800 Speaker 1: been fighting for twenty years. I think about what life 32 00:02:41,919 --> 00:02:47,560 Speaker 1: was like before, and twenty years is a long time 33 00:02:48,000 --> 00:02:51,919 Speaker 1: to kind of remember when we felt safer, when we 34 00:02:51,919 --> 00:02:57,720 Speaker 1: weren't surveiled, where we watched shows and movies that featured terrorists, 35 00:02:57,760 --> 00:03:00,880 Speaker 1: but it wasn't anything that we ever experienced in our 36 00:03:00,919 --> 00:03:03,639 Speaker 1: own day to day lives. So I want to bring 37 00:03:03,680 --> 00:03:07,359 Speaker 1: you back to where I was on September eleventh, two 38 00:03:07,360 --> 00:03:12,560 Speaker 1: thousand and one, and things that I remember bubbling through 39 00:03:12,639 --> 00:03:16,320 Speaker 1: my mind and kind of excitement that I had for 40 00:03:16,360 --> 00:03:20,520 Speaker 1: the future, and then all of that excitement turning into fear. 41 00:03:21,919 --> 00:03:26,000 Speaker 1: So September eleventh, two thousand and one, a couple of 42 00:03:26,040 --> 00:03:32,320 Speaker 1: months prior, I had just graduated from college and was 43 00:03:32,360 --> 00:03:36,040 Speaker 1: so excited. My whole life was in front of me. 44 00:03:36,920 --> 00:03:39,760 Speaker 1: What would I do? Where would I go? Well, first off, 45 00:03:39,880 --> 00:03:42,920 Speaker 1: I was going to be setting off on a flight 46 00:03:43,480 --> 00:03:47,520 Speaker 1: to Europe for the next three months to travel around 47 00:03:47,560 --> 00:03:50,360 Speaker 1: the world. That was my gift that my parents had 48 00:03:50,400 --> 00:03:54,520 Speaker 1: given me for graduation to do so with my best friend, 49 00:03:55,120 --> 00:03:59,920 Speaker 1: and our flight was to take off on September thirteenth. 50 00:04:01,160 --> 00:04:05,560 Speaker 1: That morning, I was in Washington, DC. And just so 51 00:04:05,760 --> 00:04:08,600 Speaker 1: folks have context, because I made a joke about this 52 00:04:08,680 --> 00:04:13,320 Speaker 1: earlier that I was at my boyfriend's house, So that 53 00:04:13,440 --> 00:04:16,320 Speaker 1: just goes to show you how much has changed in 54 00:04:16,440 --> 00:04:24,760 Speaker 1: twenty years. And in Arlington, Virginia, I started to receive 55 00:04:25,000 --> 00:04:29,080 Speaker 1: phone calls on what was probably a flip phone at 56 00:04:29,120 --> 00:04:32,320 Speaker 1: that time. It was early in the morning, and I 57 00:04:32,360 --> 00:04:35,239 Speaker 1: was no longer in college, and I was getting ready 58 00:04:35,240 --> 00:04:37,960 Speaker 1: to leave in but a couple of days to travel 59 00:04:38,000 --> 00:04:41,839 Speaker 1: for the next three months. So I was sleeping and 60 00:04:42,279 --> 00:04:44,960 Speaker 1: the phone kept ringing, kept ringing, and so finally I 61 00:04:45,040 --> 00:04:49,919 Speaker 1: answered it, and on the other line was my boyfriend 62 00:04:49,960 --> 00:04:54,640 Speaker 1: at the time, and he said, Danielle, where are you? 63 00:04:55,080 --> 00:04:57,680 Speaker 1: And I was like, I'm in the apartment in Arlington. 64 00:04:58,720 --> 00:05:01,280 Speaker 1: And it was like, do you know anybody that works 65 00:05:01,480 --> 00:05:05,560 Speaker 1: in the world Trade Towers? And I thought to myself, 66 00:05:06,279 --> 00:05:10,760 Speaker 1: what an odd question to be asking. No, I don't 67 00:05:10,800 --> 00:05:13,920 Speaker 1: think so, but both of my parents are working in 68 00:05:13,960 --> 00:05:18,800 Speaker 1: the city. Why what's happening? Turn on the TV? Was 69 00:05:18,839 --> 00:05:23,359 Speaker 1: the response. So I sit up and I turn on 70 00:05:23,400 --> 00:05:29,680 Speaker 1: the television and on every station is smoke billowing out 71 00:05:29,720 --> 00:05:33,960 Speaker 1: of the first tower that was hit. I could not, 72 00:05:34,360 --> 00:05:39,839 Speaker 1: like the rest of the world, believe my eyes. This 73 00:05:40,040 --> 00:05:43,480 Speaker 1: is one of the most, if not the most iconic 74 00:05:43,560 --> 00:05:48,160 Speaker 1: skylines in the world, and all I could think of 75 00:05:48,200 --> 00:05:54,280 Speaker 1: in that moment, because this day, like many traumatic days 76 00:05:54,320 --> 00:05:58,760 Speaker 1: that would soon follow, are kind of I don't know, 77 00:05:58,920 --> 00:06:03,400 Speaker 1: etched into my mind. I looked into the towers and 78 00:06:03,440 --> 00:06:08,720 Speaker 1: I'm thinking to myself, are people there are people inside? 79 00:06:09,680 --> 00:06:15,400 Speaker 1: What's happening? And then right in front of us, the 80 00:06:15,560 --> 00:06:20,599 Speaker 1: second plane hit. And then my reaction was, oh, my god, 81 00:06:20,600 --> 00:06:24,360 Speaker 1: are there people on that plane? Because the initial thought 82 00:06:25,160 --> 00:06:27,800 Speaker 1: when we first saw the smoke was that there had 83 00:06:27,800 --> 00:06:33,040 Speaker 1: been an accident, right, because planes and helicopters fly around 84 00:06:33,160 --> 00:06:35,320 Speaker 1: New York City all the time. There are two of 85 00:06:35,560 --> 00:06:40,919 Speaker 1: major international airports, right, and so it had to have 86 00:06:40,960 --> 00:06:45,800 Speaker 1: been an accident, because it never would have occurred to 87 00:06:45,960 --> 00:06:50,600 Speaker 1: any of us prior to that time that this was intentional, 88 00:06:51,640 --> 00:06:58,000 Speaker 1: that it would be that nineteen hijackers fit with armor 89 00:06:58,120 --> 00:07:03,080 Speaker 1: and zip ties would have the ability to hijack an 90 00:07:03,279 --> 00:07:12,520 Speaker 1: entire fucking plane and crash it into the towers. Well, 91 00:07:13,280 --> 00:07:20,280 Speaker 1: my eyes didn't leave the television screen except when there 92 00:07:20,400 --> 00:07:25,200 Speaker 1: was news that there was another plane that had hit. 93 00:07:25,320 --> 00:07:28,760 Speaker 1: But this time it wasn't in New York that it 94 00:07:28,840 --> 00:07:32,480 Speaker 1: was around the corner from where I was at the Pentagon, 95 00:07:34,040 --> 00:07:36,960 Speaker 1: from the apartment building that I was living in at 96 00:07:36,960 --> 00:07:40,960 Speaker 1: the time. On the balcony, you could see the smoke 97 00:07:41,880 --> 00:07:47,040 Speaker 1: billowing up from the Pentagon, which was probably about a 98 00:07:47,200 --> 00:07:52,160 Speaker 1: mile two miles away from where I was standing. It 99 00:07:52,280 --> 00:07:58,960 Speaker 1: was if in that moment, the entire place, all of Arlington, 100 00:07:59,240 --> 00:08:02,240 Speaker 1: all of New York, just seemed to stop dead in 101 00:08:02,280 --> 00:08:09,000 Speaker 1: its tracks. I turned back, went back inside, and feverishly 102 00:08:09,080 --> 00:08:12,680 Speaker 1: began to call my parents, who, like I said, both 103 00:08:12,800 --> 00:08:16,040 Speaker 1: were working in the city in Manhattan, at that time, 104 00:08:17,160 --> 00:08:19,400 Speaker 1: and if folks remember, if you were trying to reach 105 00:08:19,440 --> 00:08:23,080 Speaker 1: people in New York, all you got were busy signals. 106 00:08:23,200 --> 00:08:26,120 Speaker 1: There was call waiting, was not breaking through, so you 107 00:08:26,200 --> 00:08:30,520 Speaker 1: just kept having to call and call and call. So 108 00:08:30,600 --> 00:08:33,880 Speaker 1: for an hour or so, which felt like forever at 109 00:08:33,920 --> 00:08:36,800 Speaker 1: that time, I couldn't get in contact with either of 110 00:08:36,840 --> 00:08:42,840 Speaker 1: my parents. Finally I did, and I had called around 111 00:08:42,880 --> 00:08:46,600 Speaker 1: to my grandparents, to my aunts, to my uncles to 112 00:08:46,640 --> 00:08:52,560 Speaker 1: see if they had heard anything from them. Thankfully, my 113 00:08:52,679 --> 00:08:58,920 Speaker 1: parents were okay. Thankfully my mother had gotten news while 114 00:08:59,080 --> 00:09:02,480 Speaker 1: she was commune to the city about what had just 115 00:09:02,679 --> 00:09:05,880 Speaker 1: transpired and was able to get on a train and 116 00:09:06,000 --> 00:09:09,240 Speaker 1: head right back home. The same went for my dad. 117 00:09:12,400 --> 00:09:18,480 Speaker 1: The fear that was coming from their voices and from 118 00:09:18,520 --> 00:09:21,560 Speaker 1: my own was palpable. As we were on the phone, 119 00:09:21,960 --> 00:09:27,200 Speaker 1: asking each other what was happening. And remember I just 120 00:09:27,280 --> 00:09:30,440 Speaker 1: had graduated from college. I'm thinking that the world is 121 00:09:30,480 --> 00:09:33,880 Speaker 1: my oyster, that I'm getting ready to step out into 122 00:09:33,920 --> 00:09:37,960 Speaker 1: this brave new space with all of this information and knowledge, 123 00:09:38,040 --> 00:09:44,240 Speaker 1: ready to embark on my great adventure. It's now, in 124 00:09:44,360 --> 00:09:48,160 Speaker 1: hindsight that I realized that my entire life has been 125 00:09:48,920 --> 00:09:54,520 Speaker 1: from that moment on the kind of pathway into adulthood 126 00:09:55,040 --> 00:10:01,320 Speaker 1: has just been littered with traumatic United States event. It 127 00:10:01,360 --> 00:10:06,240 Speaker 1: would be soon that school shootings would become the norm. 128 00:10:06,440 --> 00:10:10,479 Speaker 1: It would become normal that our government, through the Patriot 129 00:10:10,520 --> 00:10:14,920 Speaker 1: Act and passed almost unanimously, would be the beginning of 130 00:10:15,000 --> 00:10:22,040 Speaker 1: surveillance on United States citizens, all with the idea that 131 00:10:22,520 --> 00:10:27,160 Speaker 1: if we gave away our liberties right then our government 132 00:10:27,200 --> 00:10:30,600 Speaker 1: would keep us safe. We would never think that twenty 133 00:10:30,640 --> 00:10:34,480 Speaker 1: years later you would be using the same tools that 134 00:10:34,559 --> 00:10:38,640 Speaker 1: were to combat terrorism that put in the wrong hands 135 00:10:38,720 --> 00:10:42,200 Speaker 1: like that of Donald Trump, would be used to surveil 136 00:10:42,360 --> 00:10:46,840 Speaker 1: those that are fighting for justice or politicians that he 137 00:10:47,000 --> 00:10:52,200 Speaker 1: just didn't like. Surveillance, it seems, has become our way 138 00:10:52,240 --> 00:10:54,720 Speaker 1: of life, and we didn't realize that nine to eleven 139 00:10:55,640 --> 00:11:01,319 Speaker 1: was the gateway drug to that right two hour or 140 00:11:01,440 --> 00:11:10,000 Speaker 1: Willian present the days following nine to eleven. I can 141 00:11:10,120 --> 00:11:15,280 Speaker 1: remember first that once I was reunited that later that 142 00:11:16,320 --> 00:11:20,400 Speaker 1: late afternoon on nine to eleven with my boyfriend at 143 00:11:20,440 --> 00:11:24,880 Speaker 1: the time, who ended up having to walk from his 144 00:11:25,360 --> 00:11:30,120 Speaker 1: job in DC all the way back to Arlington because 145 00:11:30,200 --> 00:11:34,040 Speaker 1: traffic was that bad. People had abandoned their cars. There 146 00:11:34,040 --> 00:11:38,480 Speaker 1: was just the panic in the air was palpable. When 147 00:11:38,480 --> 00:11:41,439 Speaker 1: he finally reached back to where we were living at 148 00:11:41,440 --> 00:11:47,080 Speaker 1: the time, we decided to go out and see what 149 00:11:47,160 --> 00:11:52,960 Speaker 1: was going on in the streets. Right empty, completely and 150 00:11:53,160 --> 00:11:59,640 Speaker 1: totally empty. It was equivalent to what we saw during 151 00:12:00,280 --> 00:12:03,079 Speaker 1: the shutdown in New York City, where you were seeing 152 00:12:03,520 --> 00:12:08,160 Speaker 1: these iconic pictures of Times Square, in Central Park and 153 00:12:08,760 --> 00:12:12,439 Speaker 1: Washington Square Park in all of these places, just completely empty. 154 00:12:12,520 --> 00:12:15,560 Speaker 1: That's exactly what it looked like in Arlington, Virginia. Not 155 00:12:15,600 --> 00:12:18,719 Speaker 1: a person, not a soul, was on the street. Everyone 156 00:12:18,960 --> 00:12:23,520 Speaker 1: was in their house, glued to their television wondering what 157 00:12:23,559 --> 00:12:27,240 Speaker 1: was going to happen next. Was this the beginning of 158 00:12:27,280 --> 00:12:31,920 Speaker 1: a larger attack? Now, remember there were multiple planes that 159 00:12:32,000 --> 00:12:35,679 Speaker 1: were going around, and one of them was headed squarely 160 00:12:35,880 --> 00:12:39,520 Speaker 1: towards the White House, but somehow was either shot down 161 00:12:39,720 --> 00:12:43,720 Speaker 1: or missed, or what have you. We would later hear 162 00:12:45,360 --> 00:12:49,920 Speaker 1: phone calls, last calls of those that were on the 163 00:12:50,000 --> 00:12:54,880 Speaker 1: planes that hit the towers to their loved ones, saying goodbye. 164 00:12:55,720 --> 00:13:01,120 Speaker 1: For families would forever be changed. Over three thousand Americans 165 00:13:01,200 --> 00:13:08,040 Speaker 1: died that day. While it was a time where I 166 00:13:08,080 --> 00:13:12,280 Speaker 1: would say that I remember the country really coming together 167 00:13:13,240 --> 00:13:16,520 Speaker 1: and George W. Bush was president and telling us that 168 00:13:16,559 --> 00:13:20,880 Speaker 1: we were going to get through this together as Americans. 169 00:13:21,360 --> 00:13:24,120 Speaker 1: I think about that in hindsight and in comparison to 170 00:13:24,720 --> 00:13:28,120 Speaker 1: going to war with a virus, and how Donald Trump 171 00:13:28,679 --> 00:13:34,319 Speaker 1: could have presented the American people with the same thoughts 172 00:13:34,360 --> 00:13:37,640 Speaker 1: of unity, with the same thoughts of we will get 173 00:13:37,640 --> 00:13:41,920 Speaker 1: through this traumatic, terrible time, but we will do so together. 174 00:13:42,040 --> 00:13:45,840 Speaker 1: But of course we know that he squandered that opportunity. 175 00:13:48,480 --> 00:13:53,520 Speaker 1: But when George W. Bush said those things, there was 176 00:13:53,640 --> 00:13:59,560 Speaker 1: something that passed my mind, and it was I wonder 177 00:13:59,600 --> 00:14:07,440 Speaker 1: whatnicity the people are that attacked our country. And that 178 00:14:07,600 --> 00:14:11,240 Speaker 1: is always a thing that has always been thought in 179 00:14:11,320 --> 00:14:15,439 Speaker 1: my head. Anytime that somebody had ever said anything about 180 00:14:15,440 --> 00:14:19,440 Speaker 1: a shooting or a robbing or whatever, my fear is 181 00:14:19,480 --> 00:14:22,520 Speaker 1: always said, it's going to be a person of color, 182 00:14:22,600 --> 00:14:25,840 Speaker 1: which means that then an entire community is going to 183 00:14:25,880 --> 00:14:30,120 Speaker 1: be victimized. Well, that is exactly what happened post nine 184 00:14:30,120 --> 00:14:37,960 Speaker 1: to eleven, that once the ethnicities of the terrorists were 185 00:14:38,000 --> 00:14:42,640 Speaker 1: revealed to be of Middle Eastern descent, to be of 186 00:14:42,680 --> 00:14:47,000 Speaker 1: the Muslim faith. Mind you, there are over a billion 187 00:14:47,360 --> 00:14:52,880 Speaker 1: Muslims in the world right over a billion people worship Islam. 188 00:14:53,960 --> 00:14:59,080 Speaker 1: And yet we in this country decided that every single 189 00:14:59,120 --> 00:15:03,280 Speaker 1: one of those millions of people were in fact terrorists. 190 00:15:05,800 --> 00:15:10,640 Speaker 1: Muslim Americans were surveiled, they were followed, they were threatened, 191 00:15:11,360 --> 00:15:17,880 Speaker 1: they were beat up, and worse, now, all of a sudden, 192 00:15:17,920 --> 00:15:20,840 Speaker 1: we began to fear our neighbors in a way that 193 00:15:20,920 --> 00:15:26,080 Speaker 1: we never had before, all because of what these nineteen 194 00:15:27,560 --> 00:15:34,880 Speaker 1: hijackers did. That is it for Today's Woke, a f 195 00:15:35,080 --> 00:15:38,360 Speaker 1: daily podcast. To hear more from me, including five full 196 00:15:38,480 --> 00:15:42,600 Speaker 1: hour long shows every single week, exclusive guests, interviews, and more. 197 00:15:42,720 --> 00:15:46,640 Speaker 1: Support me on Patreon at Patreon dot com. Slash Woke 198 00:15:46,680 --> 00:15:49,920 Speaker 1: a power to the people and to all the people. Power, 199 00:15:50,120 --> 00:15:52,200 Speaker 1: Get woke and stay woke as fuck.