My Generation’s “What Were You Doing When” – 9/11

People of my parent’s generation always remember where they were and what they were doing when they heard President John F. Kennedy was shot.  Pearl Harbor probably represents a similar memorable moment for my parents’ parents’ generation.  It’s amazing how horrible events anchor memories.  My generation’s event is 9/11.

My friend, Courtney, inspired me to write about my reflections on this day.  I often feel I forget about too many personal historic events.  9/11 will, unfortunately, never leave me.

On 9/11, shortly after the first Trade Center building was hit, I was driving toward the office of the company I worked for at the time.  As I do every morning, I listened to the morning news, when the normal news was interrupted by a feed from New York.  The news reporter broke in to state that a plane had hit the World Trade Center building and it was thought to be a small plane.  It was a clear day, so reporters could not speculate as to why this might have happened.  As he was reporting this news, the second plane hit.  He chillingly reported what he witnessed.  My first thought was, “those bastards,” while I fought back tears (as I’m doing now).  I thought about the people who were surely in the buildings.  I had no idea at the time who might be responsible, but I was sure, in that split second, these events were no accident.  The reporter felt the same way and voiced his skepticism of an accident.

I managed to get to the office for a surreal day.  I was starved for news.  I went to my desk and tried to get a radio station, which was difficult to do.  All streaming was blocked by the corporate firewall and there was no reception for the AM or FM radio stations carrying the news.  Soon, a contrator working with us on the project arrived to inform us his father and brother worked in the WTC and their whereabouts were unknown.  The events of the day began to take on a more personal note.  This was, fortunately for me but not for many others, as personal as it got.

The towers came down shortly thereafter.  United 93 crashed in the middle of a field in Pennsylvania.  The consulting firm released all their employees for the day about an hour later.  The company president sent out an email informing us to stay at our posts for our clients.  The FAA, in an unprecedented, but warranted, move, grounded all plane traffic.  As the consulting firm, making up more than 80% of the staff on the project left, the surreal feeling became more pronounced.

When the day ended, I rushed home to get more news.  I saw the pictures.  My anger increased.  The surrealness of the situation rose.  These emotions stayed with me for days.

I sincerely hope this is the only event of this nature in my life time.  I wish that my kids’ generation and those that follow do not encounter any, but the reality of life tells me they will.

Race in America

Lewis Hamilton stormed onto the Formula One scene in the 2007 season as a rookie with the acclaimed McLaren racing team as a teammate of Fernando Alonso, the 2006 world champion. The Formula One world raved about the kid’s racing prowess and how cool he was under pressure. I watched this season from day one, listening to every minute of coverage and commentary by the wonderful announcing of the Speed TV team. I was caught up in the Hamilton craze. It was so fun watching this kid come in and show such skill with so little experience. He continues to be a phenomenal driver and won the season opener on Saturday. That was not his first win.

On June 10, 2007, Lewis won the Canadian Gran Prix, only his 6th start in the premier series. This was a wonderful accomplishment the Formula One world was fully expecting based on his performance in his first 5 races.

ESPN ruined it for me.

In the 5 races leading up to the Canadian Gran Prix, the Formula One world, including the US based announcing team at Speed, uttered not a peep about the fact that Lewis was of African descent. He was a British rookie phenom; pure and simple.

My family and I were enjoying an early summer lunch at a sports bar with ESPN Sports Center on in the background. I happened to look up shortly after the end of the race and caught the announcer state, “Lewis Hamilton is the first black driver to win a Formula One race.” End of story. In a split second, I went from elation in knowing Lewis accomplished this wonderful feat to anger and disgust over American sports television’s ignorance.

ESPN ruined it for me by taking the focus away from the important part of the story.

My wife could not figure out what set me off. I explained how the ESPN announcer completely missed the point and the win had nothing to do with the color of Lewis’ skin. It was about a rookie with a high level of skill winning a race very early on in his career.

This was the only time in the stories from the entire 2007 Formula One season where race was ever mentioned. It was only ever mentioned by American sportscasters not close to the sport. Of course, some Spanish fans made some despicable overtures during testing sessions in Spain in the months leading to start of the 2008 season. They were made presumably because of the upstaging of Lewis over their countryman, Fernando Alonso, in the previous season. The overtures were condemned by the FIA and track officials as they should have.

I bring this up today on the day Barack Obama gave a speech about bridging the racial gap in the US. He spoke partially in response to criticism over publicized remarks by his former pastor, Jeremiah Wright. He condemned divisive remarks Wright made in sermons to his church. He called for Americans to acknowledge the deep racial wounds in which the remarks were rooted. Until we do this, he said, we cannot begin to heal. He attempted to refocus the speech on his primary issues in the campaign of jobs, healthcare and the war in Iraq. This, in my opinion, is where campaign issues should be focused on. He made comments to the effect that he would lose if the presidential campaign become about race.

I agree with Mr. Obama on these points. The presidential race cannot be about the race of one of the candidates. We need to acknowledge the wounds and issues at the core of the racial tensions in America.

Then, we need to remove excuses attributed to racial oppression. We need to put a stop to racial stereotypes. In other words, we need to socialize the fact that color of skin has nothing to do with anything. Only then will people start to believe it and treat each other as individuals. This will not be easy.

Racial tensions, issues, etc. will never go away as long as we continue to focus on them.

The international community of F1 focuses on the capabilities of the driver and the technical advances of the team. Racial tensions only exist in Formula One to the extent that ignorant American sportscasters introduce them.