The Arizona Republic reports that, in a 5-5 vote “debated along party lines,” the Arizona Senate blocked the removal of some “phrases” from the state’s 9/11 memorial adjacent to the capitol building in Phoenix. Yet the newspaper left readers to surmise which political party blocked the legislation. Before reading the article, scan down, review a sampling of what will remain, and guess which party blocked a bill to remove “phrases” unrelated to the September 11 attacks from the memorial:
While they reported the, “…memorial commission now will work to complete their own revisions, which include the removal of two inscriptions considered most objectionable — ‘Erroneous U.S. air strike kills 46 Uruzgan civilians’ and ‘Terrorist organization leader addresses American people,'” many unrelated “phrases” will remain on the memorial.
One of Arizona’s most rollicking political debates appeared to come to a close Tuesday with the defeat of a legislative effort to impose additional revisions on the state’s 9/11 memorial. The measure, House Bill 2700, failed on a 5-5 vote in the Senate Appropriations Committee. Bill sponsor Rep. John Kavanagh, a Fountain Hills Republican, said it’s unlikely he’ll attempt to revive the proposal this session. “I don’t think anything can be done practically at this stage in the game,” he said following the vote.
His proposal would have removed an additional dozen inscriptions from the memorial of concrete and steel, which sits adjacent to the Capitol at Wesley Bolin Plaza. Members of a citizens commission that designed the memorial have viewed the legislative push as an affront to their own, less drastic revisions, which should be completed by early June.
Following the bill’s defeat, relieved memorial supporters hugged each other in the hallway outside the hearing room, rejoicing in a vote that appeared to catch several as a surprise. “This was a great discussion and we’re very pleased with the vote,” said Shelley Cohn, a member of the 9/11 memorial commission.
The memorial has been at the heart of controversy since shortly after it was dedicated in 2006.
Some of the 54 inscriptions laser-cut into its disc-like face have drawn fire for being anti-American or anti-military. Others have been called trite or meaningless. But supporters of the memorial have consistently risen to its defense, saying the phrases represent America’s conflicted psyche following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
Those needing to examine their “conflicted psyche” of what followed should take their editorials elsewhere; 9/11 memorials are to remember the ‘victims’ and ‘heroes’ and not you.
Lastly, if you just now read the words ‘victims’ and ‘heroes’ and were traumatized by my using them because you believe I was making some sort of political statement, you need your head examined, in my humble opinion.
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A comment about Arizona’s 9/11 memorial
Arizona House votes to alter 9/11 memorial
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