"Our Grief is Not a Cry for War:" The Stories of September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows

On this 25th anniversary of the September 11th attacks, I'm re-releasing a radio documentary I produced back in 2001, along with an interview I conducted five years ago (for the 20th anniversary) with David Potorti, whose brother James worked on the 96th floor of Tower One of the World Trade Center.

In the immediate aftermath of 9/11, President Bush vowed revenge against the perpetrators, but not everyone found his words comforting. Around this time, a small but vocal group of people got together to speak out. They were the parents, spouses, siblings, and children of people who were killed in the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, and they said they didn’t want the deaths of their loved ones to be used to justify military attacks that could harm innocent civilians on the other side of the world.

They called themselves “September Eleventh Families for Peaceful Tomorrows,” and in late November of 2001, they took part in a walk for peace from the Pentagon to the World Trade Center site. I was a young reporter at the time, and I tagged along and interviewed several members of the group, later producing this hour-long documentary featuring their stories.

David Potorti has co-edited an anthology of poetry from over 100 poets who’ve written about September 11th. It’s called Crossing the Rift: North Carolina Poets on 9/11 and its Aftermath. Also check out the book David edited containing essays from members of September Eleventh Families for Peaceful Tomorrows.

As always, you can find, follow, and message Far From Home on Instagram or Facebook. Or you can drop me a line at info@farfromhomepodcast.org

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On Far From Home, award-winning public radio journalist Scott Gurian documents fascinating stories from far-flung places like Iran, Chernobyl, and Mongolia. For more info, visit farfromhomepodcast.org