REPORTAGE
America commemorated Friday the 19th anniversary of the September 11 attacks, in a particular context this year, linked to the epidemic of coronavirus. Especially at New York, hit hard with nearly 33,000 dead and an economy on the ground. Its inhabitants wonder if the city will manage to recover, as after the attacks of 2001. While, as every year, the names of the victims resounded in the streets of southern Manhattan, New Yorkers have expressed their concern at the microphone of Europe 1.
A country divided by the virus
Michael is wearing his old, battered fire helmet. It was in the same place, in front of the south tower, 19 years ago. “It was a terrible day,” he said. “But we got up in the end, because this tragedy united us.” With the virus, it’s different, he notes, bitter. “The country and the city are very divided, it will be much more difficult to recover from this.”
© Xavier Yvon, Europe 1
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A little further in the crowd, Anne argues with a man who does not wear a mask. “It makes me angry,” said the woman who lost her nephew on September 11. “We are in an emergency situation again, but it’s worse this time, because I feel hatred. We have a president who divides us.”
“We don’t talk politics on a day like this,” implored James, who came to pay homage to the victims with his trumpet. President Donald Trump and Democratic candidate Joe Biden have also respected this truce, while performing a separate ceremony. The president commemorated the attacks in Pennsylvania while Biden was at Ground Zero in New York.
“New York will bounce back”
However, Americans are not without hope. “We have recovered from September 11, Hurricane Sandy, the recession,” recalls Michael. “New York is going to bounce back, as always,” he concludes, proudly showing the heart on his ‘I love New York’ t-shirt.
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