Photography By James D'Angelo
To those who see themselves as part of #theresistance, especially the more radical segments, September 11 can be a tricky day. While they wish to mourn those who perished in New York City, Washington DC and Shanksville, PA, they also understand the forces that created the hijackers and that many of the agencies being protested today are results of those events.
The events in the skies over Shanksville are something that activists can truly draw inspiration from. An odd and random group of individuals; a police officer, a judo champion, a rugby player, and people from other walks of life all made a decision that they would not be passive. They made the decision to stand up and fight back, and their actions forced the hijackers to abort their plan and crash the plane. What their target was is a mystery; some have said the White House or the United States Capitol, some think Three Mile Island near Harrisburg PA. What is no mystery is that the actions of the passengers spared others.
The spirit and courage of the passengers of Flight 93 is shown by #theresistance in many ways. Most obviously in the actions of AntiFa, who put themselves on the front lines against the alt-right and the police who often enable them.
Resistance can take many forms, though; the people of faith who have let refugees take sanctuary in their churches, the activists protesting the militarized police, the photographers, bloggers and podcasters who act as chronicles, and the people who provide assistance to those affected by ICE raids.
As activists, we may know that the Mujaheddin became the Taliban, who became ISIS. We may know the many of the hijackers were Saudi. We know that ICE was created out of the Department of Homeland Security. We also need to remember that a group of ordinary Americans, in an extraordinary situation, made a heroic decision.
