Alexandra Galvin, psychology junior from New Jersey, said she visits New York City almost every other weekend when she is in New Jersey during school breaks.
Galvin said life changed for her after Sept. 11, 2001.
“It’s really tough [to travel around New York City] now because it’s always on some kind of terror alert,” Galvin said. “My mother hates it when I use mass transit now, but there’s really no other way for me to get around in the city. It’s second nature for me to use the trains and subways, and it feels unnatural to feel insecure about it. I still experience a moment of fear that there’s [terrorism] involved if the train stops or the lights go out.”
Galvin compares the emotional aftermath of Sept. 11 for New Yorkers to what people felt locally after hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
“People where I’m from can talk about Katrina pretty easily, but talking about Sept. 11 can be really hard for them because it hit close to home,” Galvin said. “When I came to LSU, I realized it’s the other way around here. People here find it more difficult to talk about the hurricanes but can speak freely about Sept. 11.”
Galvin said she thinks it would be difficult for many New Yorkers to watch movies about Sept. 11, such as “United 93” or “World Trade Center.”
“I saw a documentary about a rookie firefighter [involved in Sept. 11], and I couldn’t get through the whole thing,” Galvin said. “I couldn’t see because my eyes were so teary.”
Galvin said she has relatives who work for NYPD and were called in to work during Sept. 11.
“I didn’t hear from my aunt and uncle that entire day,” Galvin said. “I kept wondering about where they were and if they were okay.”
Galvin said no one in her family was injured, but people she knew lost friends and relatives.
“My friend Phil’s father was a firefighter who died [on Sept. 11],” Galvin said. “Of course he’s angry at the terrorists who [attacked the World Trade Center], but he’s seeing his father’s death as doing [his job] and honors the courage it took to take it on.”
Olivia Hernandez, mass communication sophomore, said people became more patriotic after Sept. 11.
“We’re a lot like our grandparents’ generation because we care more about the welfare of our country,” Hernandez said. “Our parents didn’t have a Pearl Harbor or Sept. 11, and I think that made them connect less to the nation.”
Hernandez said she thinks the military is a good example of how young people are showing their patriotism.
“I’ve had several friends and boyfriends join the military, and I can’t picture a large number of people doing that 30 years ago,” Hernandez said. “One of my friends said that Sept. 11 was the day he decided to join because he wanted to be able to protect his family and his country.”
Jared Larpenteur, cadet Lt. Col. and battalion commander of the University’s ROTC program and history senior, said that Sept. 11 strengthened his resolve to join the military.
“Before Sept. 11, I knew I wanted some type of career in the military,” Larpenteur said. “Sept. 11 encouraged me to join rather than deter me.”
Amal Esmail, mass communication sophomore and native of Saudi Arabia, said traveling has become more difficult for people from the Middle East since Sept. 11.
“When we fly [to America], about 80 percent of the time we’ll have our luggage checked,” Esmail said. “They pull us over to ask questions like, ‘What are you doing here? Do you have family here? Do you have a brother? What does your dad do?'”
Mohammed Altammar, petroleum engineering sophomore who is also from Saudi Arabia, said he also has trouble flying but understands the reasons.
“Fifteen out of the 19 hijackers were from Saudi Arabia,” Altammar said. “It’s frustrating but necessary.”
Altammar said he witnessed a violent act of racism at a viewing of “United 93.”
“There was a white guy who was crying during [‘United 93’] who stood up and hit another guy that was sitting near him,” Altammar said. “The guy [who was hit] looked Arab but was actually Mexican.”
Altammar said Saudi Arabia is struggling hard to recover from the image that the terrorists have made.
“The king [of Saudi Arabia] created scholarship programs to send people to be educated in America,” Altammar said. “In 10 years the whole generation will be going back to Saudi Arabia and making the country more open and more Western. We want to be able to have a close relationship to America again.”
Both Esmail and Altammar said people from the Middle East are misrepresented by the media.
“I find that the only time you ever hear about Arabs is when there’s something bad happening,” Esmail said.
Esmail said the terrorists who committed the acts on Sept. 11 are extremists and represent a small percentage of Muslims.
“There is nothing in the Quran that says to kill foreigners or people of different religious beliefs,” Esmail said. “The Quran says that you should treat others better than you want them to treat you.”
Esmail said she aches for the families of the victims and the victims themselves.
“No one should ever have to go through that,” Esmail said.
—–Contact Laura Weems at [email protected]