HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – At least nine people with Hawaii ties died during the Sept. 11 terror attacks, while countless others live with its memory and impact.
In 2001, Naka Nathaniel was a journalist at the New York Times and living in Brooklyn, across the river from the World Trade Center.
When he heard the news a plane had crashed into one of the Twin Towers, he jumped into action.
“I immediately ran up to our roof in Brooklyn, set up the camera on top of the tripod,” Nathaniel said. “I ended up having the second plane hitting the South Tower. That was the footage I had.”
“We had my cousin and three of her friends from Hilo staying with us. They were just arrived in New York … so these poor kids from Hilo were suddenly caught in the middle of this most amazing story,” he recounted.
“Immediately had to get back into the newsroom, which was in Times Square. And so I jumped on my bike, rode over the Brooklyn promenade. That’s when the second tower, the North Tower collapsed, and I was able to get into New York on my bike, going over the Manhattan Bridge.”
As a foreign correspondent who’s reported on disasters and conflicts across the world, Nathaniel said 9/11 had the most far-reaching and lasting impact.
“We were all in the newsroom. We were all New Yorkers, we’d all just seen this happen, and we all kind of came together to start telling this story,” he added.
The terrorist attack not only changed how we travel — it also changed how some people saw the news.
“People were saying that I had faked it. And this is kind of like the rise of these misinformation campaigns that keep on happening in the wakes of disasters. And it was something that completely caught me off guard. It’s like, no, here’s my video. You can see exactly what I just shot,” Nathaniel said.
“What is truth here? And this is one of the things that’s awfully difficult to deal with in the wake of disasters and tragedies.”
Naka went on to report on the recovery and rebuilding — from the impact on first responders to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Amid all the loss — stories of resilience, healing and hope.
“There was so much aloha spirit — no one called it that, obviously, in New York. But that was that same generosity towards each other, that moment of everybody coming together, leaning up against each other and supporting each other, that was so important,” he said.
It was a spirit Nathaniel saw again when he covered the aftermath of the Lahaina wildfires.
“We have hope. You know things will be better. You know things can. When people say we will rebuild, we will build back in a way that’s even better from what was there before. I believe that can happen. We just have to be patient,” said Nathaniel, who is now a columnist and editor-at-large at Honolulu Civil Beat.
Nathaniel suggested making Aug. 8 a “Day of Service” in Hawaii — the same way Sept. 11 has been designated a National Day of Service and Remembrance — to rekindle that spirit of charity and honor the lives lost.
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Publish date : 2024-09-12 12:07:00
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