Reflections on 9/11

It has been 10 years and I still vividly remember that taxi trip from JFK to the International House, safely tucked between Riverside Drive and Claremont Avenue. I still remember the skyline with two towers of WTC piercing the clouds over Manhattan. I was a visiting scholar and Public Interest Law Fellow at Columbia University, excited and eager to explore everything New York has to offer. Coming from Serbia which just survived NATO bombing in 1999, I was also hoping for some stability. It would be a gross understatement to say that I was so looking forward to joining other fellows and students at Columbia University Law School.

On the very last day of August, I visited the WTC with my friend and fellow from Russia, Anton Burkov. We went all the way to the top and admired the view. I still remember almost every face I saw that day: a young lift boy with high cheeks, a waitress that told us we can't go all the way in to the restaurant but that we can admire the view from aside... We loved it! Few snaps here and there, and then back down to admire the towers from the base. I said to myself, I have to come back with a proper camera and for the whole day, this is so great! It was not meant to be..

Few days later, mum woke me up, telling me that Manhattan is burning. I told her she needs to change the channel, it is probably a movie she is watching. Yet, she was persistant: "Turn the TV on!". I did. And after that - nothing was the same.

What followed is death of thousands of innocent people in NY, and more deaths in Afganistan and Iraq. Working for Project Liberty, a victim support service for victims of 9/11 and their families was the most humbling experience. I can only hope I helped them as much as I could.

Yet, what we saw in these ten years can hardly be called justice for those who lost their lives on that day.  War crimes, torture, crimes against humanity that followed can never be justified. As a criminologist, I am dedicated to working on exposing all the abuse of power that was done "on behalf of victims". It is important that we reflect on the legacy of 9/11 and make sure that we learn from the mistakes we made in the name of justice.