Reopening Old Wounds

 

Kilgannon, Corey. “Reopening Old Wounds”: When 9/11 Remains are Identified, 20 Years Later.” The New York Times, September 6, 2021, https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/06/nyregion/9-11-ground-zero-victims-remains.html?searchResultPosition=1

The New York City Medical Examiner's office recently identified one of 2,753 ground zero victims in the 9/11 tourist attack. They identified the victim as Dorothy Morgan, who had “disappeared into the rubble of the collapsed towers” that day, and now, 20 years later, her bone fragments matched DNA sent by her family, Dante and Nykiah Morgan. Ms.Morgan as well as others questioned why this was an ongoing examination due to the fact that all of these victims were killed 20 years ago. The attack on 9/11 is the biggest missing persons case in the nation, with detectives sorting through 22,000 bone fragments lost in the rubble, with the goal of identifying the victims. Scientists explained that in order to find the DNA from the bones, they would have to collect them using a precise process. Wearing concealed suits to make sure the environment was sanitary and not leaving any other DNA behind, they scrape a bone with a razor and clean it using a set of detergents. Next, they crush the bone to make a fine powder and then use it to match DNA to the DNA sent in by each victim’s family.

New discoveries have been made over the past 20 years, but some argue that they should stop the search because it is giving families of the victims “false hope." Rosemary Cane, a mother of a 35-year old firefighter who died in the attack and got her son's identified remains in 2002 said, “They should ask us if, ‘At this stage, do you want us to continue the testing?’” she said. “I think it’s giving a lot of people false hope who are sitting and waiting for remains”(Killagannon). But many scientists that work on this ongoing case claim that they will continue this search no matter how long it takes. “We committed back then to do whatever it takes, as long as it takes and that’s what we’ll continue to do,” said Dr. Barbara Sampson, Chief Medical Examiner of New York City. Credit… Anna Watts for The New York Times (Kilgannon). Another woman, Nykiah Morgan has had her mother’s remains identified but she faces the issue of reliving her mother’s death now, 20 years later. She explains, “It’s almost like reopening old wounds. Over time, you feel like you’re getting better and then this happens 20 years later and you’re dealing with it all over again” (Kilgannon). 

I chose to review this article because just a few days ago it was 9/11, exactly 20 years after the terrible attack. This discussion of whether the search should go on has been answered by many, but still to this day, researchers continue to identify lost subjects, which may be causing more pain than relief. So should the investigation continue?

Through this long journey which the agency and victim’s families have taken together, they have created a bond of trust, assuming that the scientists will try their best to identify the missing subjects, while the families will try to stay optimistic and patient. After not finding any matches for a while though, the agency started to lose hope, causing the families to do the same. Due to COVID-19, the scientists had to shift focus to the global pandemic, but later in the same year, they managed to pick the investigation back up. The agency understood that this topic was very sensitive; doing their job was a hard task with lots of pressure, and many people relying on them to succeed. The agency stayed emotionally connected with the community by attending Family Day every September 10, where they would offer updates to the victims of loved ones.  As Ms. Desire described it, “You’re usually not emotionally attached, but with the World Trade Center, it became personal — you talk to the families, there’s hugging and crying…”(Kilgannon). To this day, families stay united and gain support from one another over the loss of their loved ones, and this investigation is one thing that keeps them optimistic. 

One way this article could be improved is it could have more examples of how the community is dealing with the tragedy today. This could be done by discussing more events that go on such as support groups or more stories of how the agency has affected families personally. Another way this article can be improved is by showing how the community has come together after the attack, and how this relationship is sustained to this day. This improvement could be made by including simple stories showing the connection of one family to another and how they supported each other through this difficult time. 

This article is very strong and detailed, giving a lot of insight into not only how the agency conducts its experiments, but also how it affects the outside community. The author was able to show multiple points of view in this article, one from the agency, another from the victims’ loved ones. This allowed the readers to expand their thinking beyond one perspective, ultimately giving more context to the story. Some weaknesses shown were how the author didn’t connect with the reader. The whole focus was on showing the stages which this program had been working through, but the author didn’t take time to connect with the reader and really leave a mark at the end of the article. I would recommend asking questions to the reader, which would allow them to engage with the article more than they would if they only had to read the data provided. 

From this article, I have learned that even through tragedies, the support of one another can bring a whole community together, even if this impact lasts a lifetime. This makes me realize that humanity can get through almost anything, as long as we stay strong together, we can stay united as one.

posted for K Bodell