Can’t We Have A Better Name Than “Freedom” at Ground Zero?

Nicolai Ouroussoff in the New York Times observed that a picture in the Freedom Center was altered to eliminate a reference to Iraq before LMDC released it to the public.

The image above shows the photo in question — Martin Luther King and Lyndon Johnson were substituted for a photo of a woman showing a V sign after voting in Iraq. The image above is a closeup of an inside the Freedom Center on the “Freedom Trail.” Ouroussoff goes on to bemoan that the term has been hijacked by politicians for personal agendas rather than focusing directly on how the events of 911 affected NYC.

The term “Freedom Center” and “Freedom Tower” were coined by a foreigner — the German Daniel Libeskind — when his master plan was selected that called for a tower when viewed from a certain angle kind of, sort of looked like the upstretched arm of the Statue of Liberty.

Nobody in New York really thought in terms of “Freedom” when they rush into the burning towers or watched them collapse. New Yorkers thought in terms of sacrifice and courage. The popular term in everybody’s memory is “911.” We were attacked in a sneak attack. The unfurling of flags throughout the country was a response to us being attacked — not about a broad issue that we must embark on a “Freedom Jihad.”

The whole world on September 12 was sympathetic to the U.S. It was when the U.S. did launch into a Freedom Jihad when the term got corrupted.

Clearly LMDC knew that in the bluest of cities in the bluest of states that any reference to Iraq would evoke a firestorm of protests.

Why can’t New York come up with something more original and more focused on what the courage and sacrifice of 911?

Boston already has a Freedom Trail. It is aptly named for the struggles for the U.S. to achieve freedom Great Britain.

Cincinnati has a Freedom Center devoted to the Underground Railroad and the struggle for blacks to achieve Freedom from slavery.

But a Freedom Trail in New York? Sounds like we’re copying and it has nothing to do with what really happened. How about the synonyms of courage: guts, nerve, valor, daring, audacity. That sounds more like New York.


The Freedom Trail in the Freedom Center where the image was portrayed. See out Freedom Center gallery.


The front page of the NY Post on the day the Freedom Center was unveiled. Whether or not Saddam deserved to be humiliated in this manner can be debated elsewhere. But there are strong opinions both ways on the wisdom of going into Iraq now in the name of “Freedom.” These types of debates should not divert the focus on the courage and sacrifice shown on 911.

More info and links:
http://911memorials.org/archives/2005/05/22/cant-we-have-a-better-name-than-freedom-at-ground-zero/