25 YEARS LATER, 9/11 STILL CARRIES A HEAVY RESPONSIBILITY
For New York City, September 11 is not simply a date on the calendar. It is a day tied to nearly 3,000 lives lost, thousands of first responders and survivors, and families who continue to live with the consequences.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s presence at the 25th-anniversary ceremony has become controversial. Retired Port Authority police officers publicly urged Mamdani and Gov. Kathy Hochul to stay away from Ground Zero, saying their attendance could cause additional pain to victims’ families, survivors and first responders.
Mamdani has also faced criticism over his past refusal to condemn the phrase “globalize the intifada.” In 2025, he said he was willing to discourage the phrase but continued to distinguish between the wording and what he described as support for Palestinian protest.
Another controversy erupted this month after a ceremonial 9/11 pen was given to Mamdani’s chief counsel, Ramzi Kassem, who previously represented Guantánamo detainee Ahmed al-Darbi. The gesture drew criticism from some 9/11 families and public officials, who argued that Kassem’s past representation made the moment inappropriate.
Mamdani nevertheless attended the Ground Zero ceremony on September 11, where the city and national leaders gathered to remember the victims. The anniversary also included a moment of silence honoring people who later died from illnesses connected to the attacks.
Whatever one’s politics, the central obligation of a 9/11 remembrance remains clear: remember the victims, honor the first responders and survivors, and confront the history of the terrorist attacks honestly.
Twenty-five years later, the names being read still matter. So does the responsibility to remember why they are being read.
