Seattle Marks 25 Years Since September 11 at Seattle Center Memorial

SEATTLE — Twenty-five years later, Seattle stopped to remember.

I joined community members, first responders and city leaders at Seattle Center Friday as the city commemorated the 25th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

The public memorial was held at the 9/11 Memorial Garden near Fisher Pavilion, bringing together Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson, Seattle Fire Chief Harold Scoggins, Seattle Police Interim Chief Andre Sayles and members of the community.

For about half an hour, the noise and movement of Seattle Center gave way to something much quieter: remembrance.

The ceremony included remarks from city leaders, musical performances and a moment of silence at 12:25 p.m.

It was one part of a day of remembrance across Seattle.

Earlier Friday morning, Scoggins and Sayles raised the American flag at the Space Needle. At Seattle fire stations, firefighters read aloud the names of the 343 FDNY firefighters who died on September 11, followed by moments of silence.

Seattle also ordered American flags at city facilities to be flown at half-staff for Patriot Day.

The numbers behind September 11 remain staggering.

Nearly 3,000 people were killed after four commercial airplanes were hijacked. Two planes struck the World Trade Center in New York City, another struck the Pentagon, and United Airlines Flight 93 crashed near Shanksville, Pennsylvania after passengers and crew fought back against the hijackers.

Among those killed were 343 firefighters and 71 law enforcement officers.

But standing at Seattle Center 25 years later, this didn’t feel like a day about numbers.

It was about people.

It was about the first responders standing together.

It was about the people who quietly gathered to watch.

It was about remembering an event that changed this country and the lives of millions of people, while recognizing that an entire generation has now grown up knowing September 11 only through history books, photographs, videos and the stories passed down by those who remember it.

Twenty-five years is a long time.

For the families who lost someone that morning, however, an anniversary doesn’t erase anything.

And remembrance shouldn’t require pretending that everything that followed September 11 was simple, either. The attacks changed American foreign policy, national security, immigration policy, surveillance and the way Americans understood their place in the world. Those consequences continue to shape the country today.

But Friday’s ceremony in Seattle wasn’t about resolving those debates.

It was about remembering the human beings who went to work, boarded airplanes, responded to emergency calls or simply started an ordinary Tuesday morning and never came home.

There are moments when journalism means asking hard questions.

There are also moments when the job is simply to show up, document what happened and listen.

Today was one of those days.

Seattle remembered.

And 25 years later, we still remember.

Sean