Marshall Street vigil unites community

A dozen people gathered at the corner of Marshall Street and University Avenue Sunday evening to commemorate the fourth anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

The MoveOn.org-sponsored vigil honored Sept. 11 victims, U.S. soldiers who have died in Iraq and victims of Hurricane Katrina.

"It looks like the vigil that never happened," said Austin Paulnack, Syracuse coordinator for MoveOn.org.

Paulnack later said that more than 100 people showed up to the vigil after 7 p.m. Even before the crowd came, Paulnack said he was not concerned about turnout.

"It's not about the numbers, it's about the idea," he said.

Those attending the vigil held small American flags and listened to peaceful music while they chatted. All said reflecting on Sept. 11 is still important four years later, but one participant said not all vigils are created equal.

"There are a number of events on 9/11 which frankly offend the hell out of me," said Blaine DeLancey, a college recorder in The College of Arts and Sciences.

DeLancey said he doesn't like the tone of many events - like the Pentagon memorial Freedom Walk - because organizers assume that if you mourn victims of Sept. 11, you support the War on Terror and President Bush. While DeLancey considers himself a civic-minded individual and a patriot, he does not agree with the war in Iraq.

Jude Camwell, a political blogger for Syracuse.com, said she liked how this vigil linked victims of Sept. 11 with Katrina victims and fallen U.S. solders because their deaths are symbolic of governmental failure.

"We're talking decades that New Orleans had been ignored," Camwell said.

The mainstream media only provide one opinion when it comes to Sept. 11, the war in Iraq and Hurricane Katrina, Camwell said, and that's the opinion of those in power.

"I think that our voices get drowned out, the ordinary citizens," she said, adding that the government often uses Sept. 11 as a tool of manipulation.

The point of a vigil like this, she said, is to recognize the loss of life without political quarrelling in the background.

Jesse Scott, a friend of Paulnack's, said Americans are forgetting Sept. 11. He said he thinks there was less media coverage this year than there was on the first anniversary. He doesn't think Americans should harp on the tragedy all year, but he does think it's important to honor the victims at least once a year.

A picket sign saying "Syracuse Waiting 13 Years for Jim Walsh Town Meeting" stood alongside the vigil-related signs. Paulnack said during the vigil 91 people signed his petition asking that Congressman Walsh hold annual town meetings. Paulnack said Walsh stopped having town meetings in 1992.

Paulnack has been Syracuse coordinator for MoveOn.org since January, 2003, before the War in Iraq started. He said he has held about 10 rallies, vigils and demonstrations on this same corner across from Starbucks, and they have usually been well attended.