Important to teach young people how 9/11 ‘continues to impact lives’, charity director says
Yvonne Richards, director of the charity Since 9/11, says it is important to find a way for young people in school today to have an understanding of 9/11, given they have “no living memory” of it.
She calls it an event that “changed the world that we live in”.
The charity speaks to young people about the consequences of the attack – including “how it continues to impact lives”.
Richards points out that people are still dying from “toxic-related diseases”. The disaster is “not something that finished in 2001,” she says.
Young people are at risk of losing the “human stories behind those events” when they see footage online, she adds. The charity encourages them to “critically engage” with what they see – including identifying content that promotes conspiracy theories or dehumanises the event.
‘I lost my uncle and aunt on 9/11 – it’s important future generations learn about it’
Among the guests at today’s event in London is Liam McKenna, who was 15 and home from school in Hull on September 11, 2001 when he watched the events in the United States unfold on TV.
His mum then told him: “Your Uncle Michael works in that building.”
Liam says that “in a cruel twist of fate”, his uncle’s sister Christine was in New York visiting from Canada that day. Both Michael and Christine were killed.
He says the events of 9/11, which initially felt so far away, then arrived in his family’s living room.
He describes how important it is for him and his family not only to never forget what happened that day – but also to ensure future generations learn about the events of 25 years ago.
US ambassador lays floral wreath in Grosvenor Square memorial garden
On the other side of London, US Ambassador Warren Stephens was pictured laying a wreath in Grosvenor Square at the 9/11 Memorial Garden, alongside his wife Harriet.
“Harriet and I want to pay our respects to the 67 UK citizens who were killed on 9/11 25 years ago,” he has said.
He added it is “hard to believe” 25 years have passed and “still hard to believe what happened”.
He describes the attacks as “a tragedy none of us will ever forget”.
New Yorkers were ‘lied’ to about toxic air after 9/11, says Mamdani
Toxic air quality was being recorded in Manhattan soon after the 9/11 attacks even as officials played down health risks to the public, according to a trove of newly released files.
Asbestos was found “nearly everywhere” tested near Ground Zero, where the World Trade Center towers collapsed in 2001, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said earlier this week.
“People got sick because the leaders they trusted lied and told them they were safe to breathe in toxic air,” he said, announcing the release of 170,000 documents related to the attacks.
Illnesses related to dust and smoke from the towers’ collapse have since claimed more than threefold the nearly 3,000 lives lost in the attacks, US health officials say.
The records show asbestos was found near Ground Zero for months after the attacks at the same time people were being advised it was safe to go there.
The files, which include air-quality reports and communications among city officials, include October 2001 correspondence known as the “Harding Memo”.
