Twenty Years After 9/11 — A Renewed Urgency for Unity
by Josh Fryday, California Chief Service Officer
It was 20 years ago — half my lifetime — and still the memories are fresh. I can close my eyes and see Democrats and Republicans swaying together on the steps of the U.S. Capitol singing ‘God Bless America’. That moment of post-9/11 unity and solidarity remains as vivid as watching the horrific and paralyzing images of the Twin Towers falling on live TV from my college bedroom.
Twenty years later, my children will have a very different memory of a U.S. Capitol overrun by domestic terrorists seeking to upend a presidential election.
After 9/11, politicians, leaders and neighbors stood in solidarity to tackle our biggest challenges and protect our people from grave threats. Two decades later, we are bitterly divided across almost every line, too often leaving us unable to grapple with a pandemic, gun violence, growing inequality and poverty, racism and the existential threat of climate change.
For America to change, we must remember the way we felt immediately after we saw the World Trade Center Towers fall — back when ‘united we stand’ was more than a saying but was something we believed and acted upon.
To start our journey down the path of unity, we must address the loss of trust in each other, in our institutions and even in ourselves. My personal experience, whether on a Ship or Base overseas in the Navy or as Mayor of my hometown in Marin County, has taught me the power of service to build genuine trust among people from very different backgrounds, perspectives and political ideologies.
When our country embarked on what would become the longest war in our country’s history, the military was the clearest and most specific way I felt compelled to join the nation’s efforts. However, in post 9/11 America, serving has too often centered on military service on less than 1% of the population. This was a mistake.
Just think what could have been if more people were called to and given the opportunity to serve after 9/11. Imagine what our country would look like today if our leaders, instead of telling us to go shopping, invested more resources, time and focus in creating opportunities and infrastructure to actually bring us together.
As student debt ballooned to $1.7 Trillion over the last twenty years, we could have helped pay for a generation of young people to finish college while serving in our schools, cleaning our communities, aiding in natural disasters and helping the poor. For a fraction of the $2.2 Trillion spent in Afghanistan, how many domestic organizations focused on building community could have been supported?
For my kids, and the next generation we are not going to make this mistake again.
In California, where Governor Newsom created a Cabinet-level position for overseeing Service, we are working to unite Californians and create a culture of service where everyone has the opportunity to serve.
Recently, California approved an unprecedented service investment of nearly $400 million to increase the number of AmeriCorps members in California, create a youth community jobs plan and launch the #CaliforniansForAll College Program — with the spirit of a ‘California GI Bill’ — to help thousands of students receive up to $10,000 for committing to a year of service in their community.
Thousands of young Californians will tutor and mentor low-income students, lead climate impactful projects, fight food insecurity and support a variety of other activities to build community bridges and solve problems.
To further engage Californians in service and civic engagement, we launched a statewide California Climate Action Corps, as well as the #CaliforniansForAll volunteer initiative, calling on and connecting tens of thousands of Californians across the state to volunteer opportunities at food banks, vaccine clinics, environmental groups and other causes.
And with our ‘Neighbor-to-Neighbor’ campaign we are working with NextDoor and other neighborhood partners to call on everyone to check on their neighbors, cook meals, pick up groceries and support each other during Covid-19, fires and other disasters.
The question today is the same as it was for the thousands of us, shocked and uncertain of the future, holding candles side-by-side at the vigil on campus that night twenty years ago — what kind of country do we want to live in? To me, the options are clear. Do we want to continue standing apart from one another, isolated, polarized and lacking common experiences and purpose? Or would we rather live in a country defined by connection and community, where compassion and fundamental trust spurs thriving communities benefitting all?
This is not a question of fairytale or naïve idealism. All big challenges we face as Americans will be determined by our ability to deliberate, work and solve together. Twenty years from now I am hopeful my three children will not reflect on the time with a sense of sadness of what was lost and could have been. Instead, we will be stronger and more united, in service to one another.
Join us at CaliforniansForAll.ca.gov.
