Bay Ridge Remembers 9-11 in true New York fashion

JJ Devaney. Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. NYC. Sept 10, 2011.

Published in the Sligo Weekender, September 27, 2011.

Ten years on from the terror and loss of September 11^th 2001 the people of New York are still coming to terms with the darkest day in their history. This weekend New Yorkers have attempted to honor those who died in a solemn and thoughtful way while still showing the resilience and hope that was so evident in the lives of those that perished that day.

On Saturday night 74^th street in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn honored Officer Moira Smith of the NYPD. Moira Smith perished in the World Trade center while evacuating people from the burning and soon to collapse towers. Smith, a daughter of Irish parents, is credited with saving hundreds before the collapsing towers took her own life.  I was invited to join in this celebration of an exceptional life by Tony Conaghan, a great friend of mine, an Irish American and a 74^th street native. Tony is married to Mary whose people, the Tuffys, are from Castleconnor in Sligo. Officer Moira Smith was a dear friend to all on 74^th street and especially the Conaghans.

I had never been to a block party before. Block parties were the stuff of movies and events that only the Beastie Boys could rap about with any credibility.  The fact that my first block party was a commemorative event added to my sense of wonder. While I grew up with the cathartic idea of the Irish wake (almost a party for the deceased) I was fascinated by the thought of this block party which was being held with such a tragic back drop.

At the intersection of 74^th and 5^th avenue a wreath hangs above a sign ‘MOIRA SMITH WAY’. This wreath is the only visible sign of bereavement or loss on 74^th street. With the street closed to traffic at both ends there is a big party underway. The street is bedecked with star spangled banners and the smell of food cooking. Music fills the air. At the lower end of the street the Conaghans sit outside their family home place drinking, eating and cracking wise with neighbors and friends alike. At the other end the Latino kids are competing for space to play soccer with a large inflatable slide and some Italian kids who are throwing a football around. An impromptu game of volley ball has broken out with a tree and a NO PARKING sign being utilized to suspend a net. An older gentleman has decided to sing ‘Bad Bad Leroy Brown’ on a speaker system much to the joy of his daughter who gleefully asks her kids in the stroller ‘wanna hear grandpa sing?’ as if they had a choice in the matter. A Greek mother and daughter skillfully negotiate the crowded sidewalk with huge desserts and, thankfully, just before the Irish kids decide now is the time to unleash the cans of silly string. The Algerian family adjacent to me are barbequing something and that something smells very good.

So on that most somber of evenings a little part of Brooklyn is celebrating life. This is not just a celebration of the lives of heroes like Officer Moira Smith. In its own beautifully subtle way this block party is an act of defiance. 9-11 took the lives of almost 3000 innocents. It broke families and destroyed lives. But the fundamental idea that is at the core of this Big Apple and central to American life has not been extinguished. Brooklyn celebrates life. All of it. As Bono sung so prophetically on U2’s ‘’New York’’: ‘Irish/ Italians/ Jews and Hispanics/ Religious nuts/ Political fanatics in the stew/ Living happily not like me and you’. New York is epitome of E PLURBIS UNUM- ‘Out of many we are one’. And tonight, in honor of Moira Smith, my neighbor Kieran Gorman (from Lavagh in Sligo) and all those who perished on that awful Tuesday there are many. Many, colors races and faces. All celebrating as one. All New Yorkers. Those who tried to dim the brightest of cities with hijacked planes and twisted ideology wanted to create a New York as grey and mournful as the cloud that blocked out the sun over Manhattan on that day in early fall 2001. Ten years on the cloud has lifted but the memories remain. Memories of great people celebrated on 74^th street with a unity of shared belief that will always remain free of any cloud.

Days after 9-11 New York chat show host David Letterman proclaimed on TV ‘If you didn’t believe it before, and it’s easy to understand how you might have been skeptical on this point, you can absolutely believe it now; New York city is the greatest city in the world’.  Ten years later on 74^thstreet, Brooklyn, written on the faces of everyone in their smiles of resilience and hope were the words: Still the Greatest.