This episode of the Rhythm & News Podcast, hosted by Christopher B. Bennett, spotlights Emma’s BBQ as part of the Pack the House campaign, a 10-week initiative by The Seattle Medium, Urban League of Metropolitan Seattle, and Byrd Barr Place supporting Black-owned restaurants in the Seattle area amid rising operating costs.
The discussion features owner Tess Thomas Anderson and her granddaughter, general manager Miceala Thomas, who share the family story behind the restaurant, its multigenerational legacy, and the importance of community support in sustaining small independent businesses.
This Rhythm & News Podcast episode features host Christopher B. Bennett interviewing Anzhane Slaughter, founder of Young Black Homeowners, an organization focused on homeownership education and resources. The discussion addresses challenges such as debt, damaged credit, and limited resources that can hinder people from becoming homeowners.
Slaughter discusses the organization’s mission to help prospective buyers navigate the homebuying process and develop personalized strategies for achieving homeownership. The conversation also previews an upcoming event hosted by the organization aimed at supporting attendees in building their own path toward owning a home.
This Rhythm & News Podcast episode discusses Tabor 100’s 25th annual Captains of Industry Gala, scheduled for Saturday at the Seattle Convention Center. The organization has long supported minority-owned and underserved businesses by providing access to capital, contracts, and networking opportunities. This year’s event theme is “Rooted in Justice, Rising in Power.”
Host Christopher B. Bennett introduces guest Darci Henderson, a member of the gala’s planning committee, to discuss the event’s significance, the broader work of Tabor 100, and how supporting small businesses benefits the entire community. The gala will bring together business leaders, elected officials, entrepreneurs, and community members.
In this September 11, 2001, photo, firefighters work beneath destroyed mullions, the vertical struts which once faced the outer walls of the World Trade Center towers, after a terrorist attack on the twin towers in New York. (Mark Lennihan/AP via CNN Newsource)
In this September 11, 2001, photo, firefighters work beneath destroyed mullions, the vertical struts which once faced the outer walls of the World Trade Center towers, after a terrorist attack on the twin towers in New York. (Mark Lennihan/AP via CNN Newsource)
By Emma Tucker, Gloria Pazmino, CNN
(CNN) — New York City released over 170,000 pages of documents revealing officials repeatedly misled residents about the toxic air quality levels after the September 11, 2001, attack on the World Trade Center, just days before the city marks its 25th anniversary.
The disclosure reveals the scale of lives lost and harms for those whose health was affected in the years since the tragedy. It’s also expected to give the public a better understanding of how the city responded following the collapse of the towers as they raced to restabilize and reopen Lower Manhattan.
Those living near Ground Zero were repeatedly reassured by officials that the air was safe, despite internal data and residents’ experiences that contradicted their claims, according to the documents.
The documents might only contain a fraction of the air quality reports taken at Ground Zero, but they also include crucial internal memos.
In some of them, officials raised alarms regarding environmental testing between October and November 2001, which regularly detected elevated levels of toxins, including asbestos and hard-to-detect, dangerous chemicals.
It details failures to protect the health of first responders, concealing asbestos data and other testing, along with officials’ contradicting statements to the public regarding health risks.
“As the years pass and the human toll grows, we reckon with the cost of September 11th whenever another New Yorker is stolen from us too soon,” said Mayor Zohran Mamdani on Tuesday at a news conference announcing the documents’ release.
Nearly 3,000 people were killed on 9/11, but thousands more – including first responders who spent months working at the site – have since died from 9/11-related cancers and other illnesses, according to the 9/11 Memorial.
A searchable portal will provide access to the documents, and the city is expected to add more material on a rolling basis in the coming months, officials said Tuesday. Every document published in the portal will be available for view and download at no cost.
Why release the records now?
The documents were among 68 boxes stored in a city government office that were discovered last year and are being released ahead of Friday’s 25th anniversary of the attacks, according to city officials.
For years, 9/11 advocates, survivors and first responders including many who were sickened from exposure to toxins in the air following the attacks, have called for more transparency and demanded the release of the documents.
Their release this week resolves a lawsuit brought by the advocacy group 9/11 Health Watch, which had sued the city for their release to bring more federal assistance and help kick-start additional research on health outcomes, according to executive director Ben Chevat.
“Mr. Mayor, I want to thank you for being the mayor who, after 25 years, begins to answer the question: What did the city know about the dangers from the toxic cloud at Ground Zero, and when did it know it?” Chevat said at Tuesday’s news conference, addressing Mamdani.
What alleged lies did officials make?
When asked whether the yearslong delay in releasing the documents was a “cover-up,” Mamdani said, “This was multiple mayoral administrations refusing to release documents that New Yorkers were owed.”
The documents cite evidence that then-Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and other city officials repeatedly reassured residents and first responders that the air was safe, despite contradictions from their own internal data.
News reports from February 2002 show former Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who succeeded Giuliani, said “every test that has been done says the air quality was in acceptable limits. I think some people are just never going to believe that.”
A spokesperson for Bloomberg declined to comment Tuesday.
The documents similarly cite public statements from Giuliani saying the air was safe and encouraging people to return to normal life.
In one example, an internal memo written by Associate Health Commissioner Kelly McKinney on October 6, 2001, warning that “air quality [for asbestos] at those locations is not yet suitable for reoccupancy,” came the same day that Giuliani publicly declared the air to be safe, the documents say.
Both independent scientists and environmental groups later discounted Giuliani’s claims.
In a post Tuesday from his X account, labeled as posted by staff, Giuliani pushed back on the allegations. “The EPA said it was safe. They made a mistake. No one covered it up,” the post read. “Giuliani has 9/11 lung disease like so many others because he couldn’t be kept from helping the people.”
A spokesman later issued a statement to CNN, reiterating Giuliani’s defense of the EPA and accusing Mamdani of “attempting to score cheap partisan political points.”
The documents also say government officials misled the public by withholding information about dangerous levels of asbestos in the air, covering up major lead contamination at the Department of Transportation headquarters building and discouraging the use of respirators among first responders.
There was a detrimental impact on residents who “returned to their ash-filled apartments because they were ‘lulled by reassuring statements’” from Giuliani and EPA Administrator Christie Whitman, according to the records.
Many of those residents and workers, the documents say, developed “severe, persistent health problems,” including chronic nosebleeds, skin rashes, headaches, newly onset asthma and cough due to inhaling “the highly alkaline, caustic dust.”
Who sounded the alarm about air quality issues?
Some government leaders shared concerns about the air quality after the tragedy, including US Rep. Jerry Nadler of New York.
Outlined in a white paper, Nadler’s memo sent to Bloomberg’s office in February 2002 detailed his concerns and belief that the Environmental Protection Agency had “neglected its responsibility for monitoring indoor air quality around Ground Zero.”
Nadler told the mayor’s office that shortly after the attacks, Whitman misled the public by declaring that the air was “safe to breathe,” but that the statement was made before any government test of indoor air quality had been conducted, the documents show.
He also wrote to the mayor’s office about findings by University of California, Davis, scientists which showed the air contained “startling concentrations” of lung-penetrating, ultra-fine particulate matter that could “lodge deep in the lungs.”
Whitman said in a statement Tuesday that her comments about the Ground Zero site’s air quality “were based entirely on the analysis done by EPA scientists.”
“Within days, the EPA had put up a website with all the data available, which they frequently updated so that it was all public — the goal was as much transparency as possible. Everyone at the EPA did the best they could with the information, tools, and knowledge available at the time,” she said in the statement.
Whitman said EPA officials repeatedly distinguished between conditions at the site and the air elsewhere in the city and warned of the risks to workers at Ground Zero. She added that the EPA did not control the worksite — which she said New York City oversaw — and had no authority to regulate indoor air quality.
Some of the most pointed memos at the time came from EPA chemist Cate Jenkins, who later became a whistleblower claiming the agency lied about air safety and downplayed the dangers of the dust. She was fired by the EPA after publicly speaking out, but later rehired by the agency.
In one of her memos to officials of the city’s waste identification branch, dated December 3, 2001, Jenkins pointed out unsafe cleanup guidelines by the city, testing methods that were called “irrelevant,” and public claims from public officials about air quality that contradicted scientific evidence.
What do the records say about 9/11-related illnesses?
The physical and mental health toll of the tragedy continues to “deeply impact tens of thousands of individuals” across the country, which has manifested for many as illnesses from exposure to the toxic dust that covered the city, according to the 9/11 Memorial.
At least 140,000 people from all 50 states have enrolled in the World Trade Center Health Program, and 49,000 have been diagnosed with certified WTC-related cancers, according to the 9/11 Memorial.
More people are eligible for assistance than are currently enrolled, including residents who lived near the site, but have not received outreach, and those who live outside of New York, Mamdani said Tuesday.
Cancer wasn’t covered when Congress created the health program in 2011. Coverage was added in 2012 — only after advocates fought for its inclusion, and a study showed elevated cancer rates among New York firefighters who offered relief at Ground Zero.
Residents of Chinatown, located in the Ground Zero perimeter, faced the most challenges coping with the tragedy, the documents said. They reported that their apartments were filled with dust that later led to illnesses and respiratory problems.
The documents also cited EPA failures to hire outreach workers who spoke Asian languages, leaving many people in Chinatown with respiratory issues from the dust without any knowledge of the agency or its indoor cleanup program.
Chinese American children who were receiving care in Chinatown showed a “substantial increase in the severity of asthma symptoms,” according to one study cited in the documents.
The community received disproportionate federal grants to rebuild, as many were excluded from city and state grant programs due to Chinatown being located outside of the scope to receive that funding, the report said.
“People got sick because the leaders they trusted lied and told them they were safe to breathe in toxic air,” Mamdani said.
Firefighters speak out on documents’ release
Unions representing New York firefighters expressed frustration Wednesday at a news conference responding to the documents.
“What could (we) have done differently if we had this information sooner? Could members have been diagnosed earlier? Could illnesses have been treated earlier? Could families have been spared years of fighting for health care, compensation, and recognition?” Bob Eustace, president of the Uniformed Firefighters Association, asked at the news conference.
Jim Brosi, president of the Uniformed Fire Officers Association, said the documents released so far show the city prioritized the economic stability of Lower Manhattan over the health and safety of firefighters, other first responders, and people who lived and worked in the area.
“I would like the world to know that somebody made a conscious choice, and not only did people make a conscious choice not to tell us, they made a conscious choice to keep their own family members from the exposure, and they definitely made this choice over the economic viability,” Brosi said.
Will there be legal repercussions?
At the news conference, Corporation Counsel Steve Banks – who represents the city – was asked whether city leaders are concerned the released documents could open the door to more legal action against them.
“If you’re in City Hall and afraid of taking action because somebody is going to bring a lawsuit, you’re probably not going to take the action that needs to be taken,” Banks responded.
In the coming months, the city will provide updates to the court as part of their commitments detailed in the settlement, said Banks.
One of the crucial documents included in Tuesday’s release was what became known as the “Harding Memo,” which was sent to then-Deputy Mayor Robert Harding.
The memo cited a Law Department estimate of about 35,000 potential plaintiffs — roughly 10,000 of whom were expected to file claims — as a result of the September 11 attacks and outlined legislative options to limit the city’s legal liability.
“A major concern is that if these cases make it to court, the judges and juries will be biased in favor of plaintiffs (even though the City seems to have a strong defense) and therefore, award substantial damages to compensate individuals for their loss,” the memo states.
Meanwhile, the two lawsuits filed by 9/11 Health Watch were settled with the release of the new portal, Mamdani said, ending “what has been a multi-year legal battle and restrictions on New Yorkers’ ability to access information that can shed valuable insight on air quality and health concerns.”
Will more documents be released?
The first release of documents into the portal is “only the beginning,” said Banks. There will be more documents released over the course of the next year, he added.
As more documents roll out, the city will continue to provide public updates, he said.
Releasing the documents was “doing the right thing,” Mamdani said.
“I also think beyond making it easier for New Yorkers to make clear their eligibility for this fund, it is also important that those who faced such sustained pushback for years finally be told by the City of New York: ‘You were right. You were right to push. You were right to demand,’ and that the city is finally catching up,” he said.
The history of 9/11 includes Black firefighters, police officers, workers and Flight 93 pilot LeRoy Homer Jr. The national memory of the attack hasn't always reflected that history. Credit: Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
The history of 9/11 includes Black firefighters, police officers, workers and Flight 93 pilot LeRoy Homer Jr. The national memory of the attack hasn’t always reflected that history. Credit: Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
After learning terrorists had flown jetliners full of people into the World Trade Center — and that their own plane had been hijacked for a similar purpose — a group of passengers on United Airlines Flight 93 decided they wouldn’t surrender. Their doomed charge toward the cockpit, Todd Beamer’s rallying cry, “Let’s roll,” became a defining act of American courage.
In the cockpit on that day, however, LeRoy W. Homer Jr. — the first officer of Flight 93, a military veteran, experienced pilot, and a Black man — already was resisting the hijackers.
Homer was sitting beside Capt. Jason Dahl when terrorists stormed the cockpit on that terrible day. Air traffic controllers heard a desperate transmission, most likely Homer, as the attack began: “Mayday! Hey, get out of here! Get out of here! Get out of here!”
No one knows precisely what happened next. Audio recovered from the flight indicates there was a struggle, and Homer’s family believes he and Dahl were the first people aboard Flight 93 to resist the hijackers. It was just minutes before passengers in the cabin organized the revolt that would become one of the most celebrated stories of 9/11. Overlooked
Overlooked but On the Record
Yet as the nation marks a quarter-century since the worst attack on U.S. soil, we don’t remember or honor Homer’s role, even though the rebellion on Flight 93 was the subject of two feature films. Indeed, it’s hard to find high-profile stories of Black first responders who saved lives, or heroically sacrificed their own, on 9/11.
It’s almost as if the infamous day has been whitewashed — metaphorically if not literally.
To be sure, the historical record includes Black people in photographs, on casualty lists, and in official histories of Sept. 11. They worked in the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. They were aboard all four of the airplanes. Black firefighters, police officers, paramedics, and other first responders ran toward the danger. Twelve Black New York City firefighters died at the World Trade Center.
At least 24 Black firefighters and law enforcement officers were killed on 9/11. Black people died who were working in the towers, serving at the Pentagon, and aboard the hijacked airplanes.
Nevertheless, when someone says “9/11,” our collective national memory and popular culture conjure up a familiar set of images and storylines. Office workers fleeing Manhattan beneath clouds of ash. New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani striding through the rubble. Beamer fearlessly organizing passengers aboard Flight 93. Mostly white firefighters raising the American flag at Ground Zero.
Those stories and the courage they illustrate are real, but they aren’t the only stories.
An American Story
According to official records, at least 24 Black firefighters and law enforcement officers were killed on 9/11, including members of the city’s Department of Corrections staff. Black people died who were working in the towers, serving at the Pentagon, and aboard the hijacked airplanes.
Their stories, however, remain largely outside the narrative America constructed around that day.
LeRoy Homer Jr. (Photo: Facebook/United Pilots)
Paul Washington, a former president of the FDNY’s Vulcan Society, the Black firefighters’ union, has written that the 12 Black firefighters who perished when the towers collapsed “didn’t seem to get the same recognition as the white firefighters” and weren’t represented proportionately in mainstream coverage.
Two and a half decades later, a staggering, unimaginable national tragedy has been compressed into a national narrative stocked with heroes, symbols and familiar faces. Some stories, like Beamer’s and those of his fellow passengers, became legend. Others became footnotes. Homer’s is one of them.
One of nine children, with seven older sisters, Homer grew up on Long Island, New York, obsessed with airplanes. He began flying lessons at 15, soloed at 16, and entered the U.S. Air Force Academy already holding a private pilot’s license.
He went on to fly military transport aircraft, supporting operations during Desert Shield and Desert Storm, as well as humanitarian missions in Somalia. He joined United Airlines while continuing to serve in the Air Force Reserve.
It is a distinctly American story. It is also a distinctly Black American one.
Shining a Spotlight
A generation after the Tuskegee Airmen battled racism simply for the right to fly military aircraft, Homer became an Air Force officer and commercial airline pilot. After his death, the Airmen posthumously honored him.
He left behind a wife, Melodie, and a 10-month-old daughter, Laurel, who grew up knowing her father largely through other people’s memories. Today, mother and daughter help keep that memory alive through the LeRoy W. Homer Jr. Foundation, which provides scholarships to young people pursuing private pilot licenses.
In recent years, the National September 11 Memorial & Museum in New York City has worked to bring greater attention to lesser-known Black victims, survivors, and first responders — an implicit acknowledgment that the story America remembers isn’t necessarily the complete one.
That doesn’t diminish the stories of firefighters we honor or the passengers who charged the cockpit of Flight 93; it enlarges it.
Because before “Let’s roll,” there was a Mayday call, a struggle in a cockpit, and a fight for control. And one of the first Americans to fight back on Sept. 11 was a Black man.
As the nation commemorates the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attack on the World Trade Center’s twin towers, the health fallout from the attack still affects thousands of individuals — and the numbers are increasing.
Nearly 3,000 people died that day in the wreckage of two airplanes and burning buildings. Clouds of toxic dust and chemicals also shrouded thousands of first responders, office workers and pedestrians, and anyone near Ground Zero breathed in the smoke and noxious fumes. But thousands of others are still being treated for lingering medical and mental health conditions stemming from that day.
Decades of Continuing Care
The World Trade Center Health Registry was created in 2002 to track and investigate illness connected to 9/11, such as long-term physical and mental health issues and emerging and rare health conditions, and to connect enrollees to resources. While the registry monitored the health of people directly exposed to the WTC disaster, it didn’t provide treatment. In 2003, it began enrolling people who lived, worked or went to school near the WTC site, or who were involved in rescue and recovery. Roughly 71,000 individuals, including 2,869 children, were added to the registry,- making it the largest post-disaster health registry in U.S. history. Enrollees included 2,869 children whose parents or guardians completed the enrollment process for them.
In 2011, the WTC Health Program opened and now serves 145,000 responders and survivors, as well as responders from the Pentagon and Shanksville, Pennsylvania, sites where Flight 77 and Flight 93, respectively, struck and were downed. Several clinical centers in metropolitan New York and a nationwide provider network offer no-cost treatment only for certified WTC-related health conditions. The program is administered by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, which is part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and authorized until 2090.
Before the federal program launched, 9/11 survivors were treated via a patchwork of city, philanthropic and federal healthcare providers that didn’t operate as one unified system.
Since 2003, the World Trade Center Health Program Clinical Center of Excellence at Rutgers University has provided care to survivors from the New York and New Jersey areas, with more than 6,500 people relying on the center.
Jodi Streich, director of the center’s mental health services, said their conditions range from respiratory, neuromuscular and gastrointestinal disorders to cancers, PTSD, depression and anxiety.
“One might think that 25 years is enough time to grieve,” Streich said. “In reality, many who responded that day held in their grief for 25 years and only now are they ready to talk about it.”
Frank Geffre, 61, a firefighter from Piscataway, N.J., spent time at Ground Zero supporting recovery efforts. Since then, he has had cancerous nodes on his sinus canal, colon cancer and nearly lost his left kidney to radiation treatment. Many of the people he worked alongside at that time have since died.
The WTC Health Program at Rutgers gave him a community of support and clinical and mental health services that he said saved — and extended — his life. That sense of community matters most in August, when anniversary-related symptoms often intensify, according to Streich.
The Cancer Numbers Keep Climbing
One of the starkest examples of how 9/11’s health effects have grown worse with time is an escalation in the number of people diagnosed with cancer. A Rutgers study published in 2019 found a 40% increase in head and neck cancer diagnoses among WTC responders between 2009 and 2012, compared with the overall population. Cancers of the throat and voice box showed the sharpest rise. The increase was most pronounced among responders over age 55. Because some cancers take 20 to 30 years to develop, doctors say the full impact on health of 9/11 is still coming into focus. Every cancer linked to WTC exposure is now covered by the health program, including uterine cancer, which federal officials added to the official list of WTC-related conditions in 2023.
Other ongoing conditions tracked by the program include asthma, chronic lung disease, sleep apnea, gastrointestinal disorders, PTSD, depression and anxiety. Data from the Rutgers clinic feeds into broader research at the university and in other government-approved WTC health studies, helping scientists track how these illnesses evolve decades after exposure.
Health Effects Reached Beyond Manhattan
While the twin towers were located in Lower Manhattan, the attack’s health effects were not contained to one borough. The federally recognized exposure zone stretches below Houston Street in Manhattan to include parts of Brooklyn Heights and DUMBO in Brooklyn, reflecting how far the dust cloud traveled.
The WTC Health Registry also has documented lasting harm beyond solely first responders. Of the more than 43,000 office workers and passersby enrolled in health tracking, about 8% developed asthma within five to six years, according to officials. Nearly 8,500 people who were evacuated from the towers enrolled; roughly 40 % were injured while escaping, and about 15% later showed signs of probable PTSD. Residents near the site, including children, older adults and people with existing medical conditions, also faced long-term respiratory symptoms, asthma and PTSD.
On Wednesday, the CDC announced it will begin studying the health issues of people who were under age 21 when the attacks occurred.
New Research on Racial Disparities
Newer studies also have begun to examine how 9/11-related illness has affected Black responders differently. A study that tracked more than 61,000 WTC rescue and recovery workers from 2001 to 2015 found Black responders had nearly double the rate of prostate cancer and more than triple the rate of multiple myeloma, a blood cancer, compared with white responders. The same study found Black responders had lower rates of thyroid and colorectal cancers.
Fortunately, Black members of the WTC Health Program have been getting equal access to care, according to a study that found Black responders and survivors completed their initial health evaluations required to enter the program at higher rates than white members. Researchers suggested that lower access to the overall health care system, as well as a lack of insurance among Black Americans, may have made the no-cost WTC Health Program a more viable option.
City Releases Long-Sought Records
Decades of effort to uncover the full scope of 9/11’s health impacts reached a turning point this week when Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced the release of more than 170,000 pages of city records on the government’s response to the attacks and their aftermath. The release also settled two lawsuits brought by 9/11 Health Watch, ending a multi-year fight over records on air quality and health.
Across several mayoral administrations, first responders, elected officials and families of victims of 9/11-related illnesses have pushed for the records to be made public. In 2023, t then-Mayor Eric Adams denied the organization’s request to release the records.
“We commend the fresh commitment to transparency …,” Andrew Carboy, counsel to 9/11 Health Watch, said in a statement. “But the City’s reversal is no reason for celebration. The September 11th community expects the government to obey the law and not willfully defy it for a quarter century.”
The new online portal containing the records includes the frequently cited “Harding Memo” that assessed legal risk and ways to protect the city from lawsuits. The portal also contains previously “lost” records known as the “68 boxes” that officials could not locate until last year. More documents and information are scheduled for release in the near future.
“The very least our city owes the families, survivors and first responders whose lives were forever changed by the September 11th attacks is transparency and accountability,” Mamdani said.
The city also plans to add staff to help New Yorkers document their presence in the exposure zone so they can access the WTC Health Program and the federally-funded September 11th Victim Compensation Fund.
Marking the Anniversary, in Different Ways
For many, reflecting on the past 25 years brings a sense of relief. The WTC Health Program Clinical Center of Excellence at Rutgers marked the anniversary with a ceremony honoring those who died and the first responders who answered the call.
“For many of our members, taking part in the commemoration itself — whether performing, speaking or simply standing together — is its own form of catharsis,” Streich said. “They’re not just honoring that day. They’re also paying tribute to who is standing alongside of them.”
Not everyone marks the day the same way. Geffre, the firefighter from Piscataway, N.J., plans to attend a Yankees-Mets game with his son instead.
“As a first responder, ‘Never forget’ brings up things that I don’t always want to remember,” he said. “Sometimes, I do want to forget.”
The years right after 9/11 brought a wave of mental health needs among emergency workers, especially those who left their jobs. Lockdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic brought another wave of retirements — and another wave of grief.
Among the more than 300 New York firefighters killed on Sept. 11, 2001, 12 were members of the Vulcan Society, the FDNY’s association of Black firefighters: Gerard Baptiste, Vernon Cherry, Tarel Coleman, Andre Fletcher, Keith Glascoe, Ronnie Henderson, William Henry, Karl Joseph, Keithroy Maynard, Vernon Richard, Shawn Powell and Leon Smith Jr.
The Vulcan Society was founded in 1940 by Wesley Williams, one of the first Black fire chiefs in the country and has long advocated for Black firefighters. Each year, it invites the families of the firefighters it lost on 9/11 to a memorial service in Brooklyn.
“While the city may forget, the families don’t,” Vulcan Society member and firefighter Greg Shepherd said during a previous commemoration. “A lot of these people had kids and some of them are firefighters now. I bet you they never forgot either. For us, it’s about helping the families. They’re our extended family.”
Mental health issues also have stretched across the decades.
“Think about what difficult jobs our patients had,” said Dr. Iris Udasin, medical director at Rutgers. “They’re not just recovering from what happened on 9/11. They’re recovering from whatever happened to them when they were police officers, firefighters or first responders.”
Many first responders who stayed on the job suppressed their feelings for years, Streich said. “Once they retired, symptoms often surfaced for the first time, compounded by their own illnesses or trauma unrelated to 9/11. As responders age, new health problems can emerge, deepening their grief,” she added.
Black police officers who worked at Ground Zero had higher PTSD rates than white officers, and Black bystander responders — construction, utility and cleanup workers — had a PTSD rate of 27.3% compared to 26.5% for their white counterparts. The researchers found the gap was driven less by race itself than by factors like prior psychiatric history, exposure severity and socioeconomic disadvantage.
Issues affecting the city’s firefighters are handled separately by the FDNY WTC Health Program. The program has found that FDNY firefighters and EMTs have rates of PTSD at roughly 7% to 8% higher and twice that for depression. But the program has not separated the data by race, which leaves an unclear picture of how Black firefighters and EMS workers have been affected.
(Trice Edney Wire) – This month my parents are beginning their seventh decade of marriage despite a law that tried to stop them. Next June marks 60 years since Loving v. Virginia. My parents did not wait for it.
Sixty years ago they were married in a church in Washington, D.C. They had to leave Maryland to do it. My mother is Black. My father is White. In Maryland their marriage was a crime.
They met in West Baltimore. Her city. Two student teachers at Harlem Park Junior High, the same classroom, one semester after the other.
They wrote each other every week that spring. Their students. Life back on campus. What they believed. When my mother came home to Baltimore for the summer, they were both seeing other people. They went on a date anyway.
That date was at the recently desegregated movie theater. They slipped in like racial fugitives. They found two empty seats. He walked down one aisle. She walked down the other. They sat side by side but didn’t want their entrance or exit to cause a stir. They knew the looks wouldn’t all come from White people. It was the summer of Black Power, after all.
My father proposed three times in two weeks. She turned him down twice. She was not being coy. What he asked was against the law. The third time she said yes.
My father’s uncle told him he believed the love was real. Then he explained that if my father wanted to stay in the family, and in his grandfather’s will, he would need to fall in love with someone else instead. Others said, “Think about what it will be like for the children.”
They married two months later. They arrived at the church separately, the way a bride and groom do. This time it was tradition.
Afterward the caravan drove back to Baltimore with its headlights on. Cars on the highway pulled aside to let it pass. In the city people stopped walking to turn and stare and then pray for them. Men took off their hats. Everyone thought it was a funeral. The lights were only so nobody would get lost on the way to my grandparents’ house in West Baltimore, where the reception was.
At the reception my father danced with my mother. He is red-headed and freckled and looks as English and Irish as he is. One woman watching them decided the groom had to be Black. Apparently she could not imagine a White boy dancing like that. My father was delighted.
And Todd and Fred Jealous, August 27, 1966. They wed at a church In Washington DC.They couldn’t get married at her home church in Baltimore, Maryland because it was still a crime.
Somewhere in there my father made her an offer. Jealous is a strange name to carry. He told her he would take hers instead. He would become Fred Todd.
She said no. She took the name Jealous.
Telling that used to make me chuckle. Who turns down any name for such a notorious adjective? I hear it a little differently now.
His grandfather had already disowned him and cut him out of the will. His own father had died years earlier, of his third heart attack. My father was the eldest grandson of an industrialist. He had a great deal to lose and he lost all of it. His mother and his brothers stood by him. Much of the rest of the family did not. His name was the last thing that was his to give, and he offered to give that up too. She would not let him.
The following June the Supreme Court decided Loving v. Virginia. When my parents stood in that church, nobody knew it was coming. They married anyway.
They went west. With Loving grinding through the courts, they apparently decided the nation didn’t need Jealous v. Maryland too.
San Diego first, then the Monterey Peninsula. There my father taught soldiers home from Vietnam, many of whom could not read. Later he founded a community where men learn to listen to one another, and to be listened to, most of them for the first time. My mother spent her career as a therapist. They raised us in California, far from her mother and her church and her city.
Every summer they sent me back east. Baltimore for her people. Maine for his. The move had cut them off from all of it. They handed it to me.
A decade ago they returned to St. James Episcopal Church on Lafayette Square and renewed their vows for the 50th anniversary of Loving. My mother was baptized in that church. So was I. So was my son.
My mother wore the dress. Her grandmother sewed it for her in 1966, when my mother was 25. She sewed it for that church, where she worshipped. Then the law sent the wedding to Washington, and the dress never went down that aisle.
A half century later it did. My mother was crying. I told her to stop bragging. She looked at me, confused, tears still on her face. I told her she just wanted everybody to know it still fit.
Sixty years. My father is still the man who offered to give up his name. My mother is still the woman who would not let him.
They were never a test case. They were a marriage. They still are.
Happy anniversary, Mom and Dad. Thank you for being so courageous in love. My sister and I literally would never have existed but for it.
Ben Jealous is a professor of practice at the University of Pennsylvania and former president and CEO of the NAACP.
Sherika Moore is shown here after moving into her new home. Photo Courtesy of Young Black Homeowners.
By Kiara Doyal,The Seattle Medium
After years of struggling with debt and a credit score that made homeownership seem out of reach, Sherika Moore moved into a home of her own in May, completing a journey she says required discipline, faith and the support of Young Black Homeowners.
Moore, a single mother with two young children, entered the Young Black Homeowners program in September 2023 facing financial barriers that made qualifying for a mortgage difficult. Working with YBH founder Anzhane Slaughter, Moore developed a plan to improve her credit, reduce her debt and prepare for homeownership.
Through YBH, which provides homeownership education, resource connections and guidance through the homebuying process, Moore received help understanding the steps she would need to take to become mortgage-ready and eventually purchase a home. For Moore, that meant confronting financial challenges that had previously made homeownership seem difficult to reach.
“It was like a wash, rinse, and repeat kind of cycle. It seemed so hard for me to get out of debt, try to raise my credit score enough to get my first home, all while paying bills, and also providing for my children,” said Moore. “I felt like I was literally drowning in uncertainty about becoming a homeowner. Unfortunately, I also didn’t qualify for the debt assistance programs because my credit was way too low.”
Slaughter said Moore’s determination to become a homeowner for herself and her children helped her remain committed to the process.
“She was so determined for the sake of her children, for the sake of wanting a better life for her family,” said Slaughter. “She was determined to stick through the program, to follow the guided plan that was customized by our team for her specifically, to not only help boost her credit but also to pay down some of that debt that she needed to get qualified, and she did it.”
As Moore worked through that plan, she and Slaughter remained in contact, with Slaughter checking on her progress and adjusting the plan when necessary. Moore would also call when she reached financial milestones.
“She was on top of it. She would call me sometimes, monthly, just when she paid off her debt and we would celebrate over the phone,” said Slaughter. “It was a great support system that we built around her, and her just calling so frequently was a reflection of that.”
Moore said making progress required confronting her finances directly and changing some of her spending habits.
“It took a lot of discipline and willingness to face my fears. I had to stop hiding from my bank statements and actually study my spending habits and make real sacrifices,” said Moore. “Now, I can say today I am free from all of my old debt, a homeowner, and have funding to actively invest in my family’s future.”
“I am most proud of myself for not just saying I am giving it to God, but really doing it. I knew what I had to do. I did my part and let God do the rest. My whole thing that I want to express to other Black women who are single with one or more kids is that they can do. They can own a home no matter what the circumstances are.”
Moore also credits her faith with helping her through the process.
“The moment I realized my life and financial situation were beginning to change was when I surrendered it all and gave my financial situation over to God. I knew I couldn’t carry it alone anymore,” said Moore. “After I did that, I began to see money free up in areas where I could pay down my debt and chip away at it little by little. Needless to say, God has been so good to me! He is the Lord of breakthroughs.”
As Moore moved closer to buying a home, YBH also helped connect her with down-payment assistance made available through resources developed in collaboration with the African American Leadership Forum. According to Slaughter, YBH and AALF secured $100,000 in state funding that allowed YBH to leverage additional resources to support homebuyers, including Moore.
“My experience with YBH was great! Even my smallest victories were treated like major milestones,” said Moore. “I am also forever thankful for the down payment resources they were able to provide.”
Once Moore was pre-approved for a mortgage, Slaughter said their communication became more frequent as they moved from financial preparation into the home search.
“While we were just trying to get her mortgage ready, we would speak every other month. I would check in and see how her spirits were doing, where the progress is at, and see if we needed to reevaluate the plan,” said Slaughter. “Once we got her pre-approved, we were speaking on a weekly basis. Whether it was us going out and shopping or just checking in on the progress. And then once we got her in a contract, it was more of a day-to-day communication.”
“Staying connected and knowing that we’re a resource to help them not only just get into that first home, but level up is important to us,” Slaughter added.
Moore moved into her new home at the end of May, but she said the significance of becoming a homeowner did not fully sink in until nearly two months later.
“I remember finally putting in my Juneteenth flagpole on the corner of the house, and it just hit me. Like, wow, this is what I worked so hard for,” said Moore. “Being able to see my son put in effort to keep his room clean daily as a teenager and constantly sending me things for his room to make it his is more than what I have asked for. I am just overwhelmed with joy, and I am so ready to make memories with my family.”
For Slaughter, her own experience growing up without housing stability remains part of what motivates her work with prospective homeowners.
“I came from an unstable household, so I just think about my childhood and how it would have been different, and that keeps me motivated,” Slaughter added.
Looking back at her journey, Moore said she hopes her experience encourages others who may believe financial difficulties or past circumstances have placed homeownership beyond their reach.
“You could be one resource, one open door, or one supportive community away from completely changing your life. My transformation didn’t happen because I became a different person suddenly,” said Moore. “It happened because my faith and hard work finally met with the right structural support. Always remember the math: surrender plus discipline equals generational cycles that can be broken!”
For more information, please visit www.youngblackhomeowners.net
King County Metro busses operate around Seattle, Wa. on May 9, 2023.
King County Metro busses operate around Seattle, Wa.
King County Metro riders are seeing expanded transit service across the county following an Aug. 29 service change that added nine bus routes and more than 3,000 bus trips each week, with South King County receiving the largest share of the improvements.
The expansion, one of Metro’s largest service increases in recent years, includes more frequent buses, earlier morning and later evening service, additional weekend trips and new connections to the region’s expanding Link light rail network.
South King County received the most significant increase in bus service, according to county officials, with additional trips and expanded service hours designed to improve connections to Link light rail and RapidRide.
“This marks the single largest bus service investment in South King County in a generation,” King County Executive Girmay Zahilay said. “These improvements mean shorter waits, stronger connections and more opportunities for people to get where they need to go whether that’s work, school childcare or home. Better transit helps build stronger communities in King County.”
Metro said the fall service changes were developed in part through public feedback and are intended to reduce duplication between bus and light rail service while improving connections between the two systems.
The expansion also includes a Metro Flex pilot in Auburn and Federal Way that launched Aug. 31. The on-demand service allows riders to book trips connecting them with schools, transit hubs and other destinations within designated service areas.
Metro Flex uses accessible minivans, including wheelchair-accessible vehicles and vans equipped with bike racks. Rides cost the same fare as a Metro bus trip and can be booked through the Metro Flex mobile app or by calling 206-258-7739.
Eastside riders are also seeing changes intended to improve connections between communities stretching from Bellevue to the Snoqualmie Valley and 2 Line light rail stations. Those improvements include more frequent bus service, longer operating hours and additional connections to Link service across Lake Washington.
In North King County, Metro introduced new routes and other service changes designed to connect riders with new Link stations and strengthen east-west transit service. Changes informed by community feedback are also intended to improve connections between Lake City, Interstate 5 and Aurora Avenue.
Seattle riders will see more frequent service on Route 8 through investments from the Seattle Transit Measure. Route 8 buses are also expected to use new bus lanes on Denny Way scheduled for installation in September.
The service expansion comes as Metro adjusts its bus network around the continued growth of regional light rail, shifting some service away from routes that duplicate Link while adding or increasing bus connections intended to help riders reach rail stations.
Riders can find information about Metro’s fall service changes, including individual route changes, schedules and Metro Flex, at kingcounty.gov/metro.
