Ground Zero is not a campaign stop. It is a grave.
Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman — whose nephew died in the South Tower and who is running to unseat Gov. Kathy Hochul — told Newsmax that Hochul and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani should stay home from the 25th anniversary commemoration. If they show up anyway, he said, families and first responders should turn their backs. “Hopefully they won’t go, but if they do, turn your back on them.” He compared it to a wake: you do not crash a wake where you are not wanted.
The Port Authority Retired Police Association, about 600 members, already put it in writing. Aug. 14 letters asked both Democrats not to attend. The officers cited Mamdani’s record on policing and rhetoric that many in the 9/11 community hear as hostility to the values of that day — including his failure to clearly reject “globalize the intifada.” They cited Hochul’s decision to light One World Trade Center for Muslim American Heritage Month on a site they consider sacred. The association told Mamdani a written statement or a separate event would be enough. Both officials still plan to attend. Hochul’s office said respect for families and opposition to Islamophobia can coexist. Mamdani said he will “proudly honor the families” by standing with them. The families asked him not to.
This is the 25th year. Nearly 3,000 murdered. First responders still dying of the dust. Relatives have circulated petitions with tens of thousands of signatures. Mamdani skipped this year’s memorial for the 1993 World Trade Center bombing — six dead, more than 1,000 injured — and sent a deputy while he pitched a housing deal in Washington. That is his calendar. Sept. 11 is theirs.
A memorial is not a diversity seminar and it is not a photo for the midterms. If the people who buried their own say your presence causes pain, the decent answer is a letter and an empty chair. Never forget is not a slogan for people who treat the pit as a stage.
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