Letter to the Editor | Aims of Sept. 11 chalkers misinterpreted

Zachary Kaye wrote in his Letter to the Editor “Sept. 11 inappropriate day for chalking,” (in the 9.22.06 issue of The Miscellany News) that the chalkers who wrote on campus sidewalks statements such as “Iraq ≠ 9/11” and “Impeach Bush” acted childishly and disrespectfully. He believes that the chalkers had unnecessarily politicized 9/11, marring the memory of the innocent people whose lives were lost on that tragic, awful day.

I respectfully disagree. I fail to see what is childish about demanding that 9/11 be seen for what it is: a day when our country was so brutally attacked by terrorists who sought to destroy what it means to be American. I also fail to see what is undignified about demanding that Bush stop using that day for his political means.

Isn’t trying to shift responsibility for 9/11 from Osama bin Laden to Saddam Hussein a more appalling action than using sidewalk chalk to express one’s thoughts? Distorting the facts of what happened is simply intolerable and disgraces those who lost their lives. 9/11 has already been unjustly politicized, and the chalkers are not to blame.

I wholeheartedly agree with Kaye that 9/11 should indeed be a day of somber remembrance. However, I also think that the chalkers’ motives were misinterpreted. They sought to explicitly separate 9/11 from Iraq, and they should not be chastised for this.

I sympathize with those who were offended by the chalkers’ statements; how horrible it must have been to feel that your fellow students were devaluing such an emotionally straining event. However, I implore you all to reconsider the chalkers’ motives. I firmly believe that they were simply seeking to give the victims of Sept. 11, 2001 the respect that they so clearly deserve.
—Sarah Godoy ’07