For many, as students and Americans and New Yorkers, there was only one appropriate response to the news of Bin Laden’s death– a return to where it began. For those who didn’t or couldn’t leave their rooms last night, the constant stream of images and video piped from the celebrations at Ground Zero to our Facebook and Twitter feeds provided a surreal, removed feeling of collective experience.
Click through for photos from last night, submitted by both NYU Local writers and photographers and dozens of readers who found themselves at WTC.
Photos by Amalyah Oren, Priya Vij, and contributing photographer George Brooks.
More photos from NYU Local:
Reader-submitted images from the celebration:
Historic as this moment is, and amazing as these photos are, the sheer happiness surrounding a man’s death – even one who’s killed thousands of people worldwide, as Bin Laden has – still disturbs me. Anybody else?
I don’t think it’s happiness surrounding his death. Had Bin Laden been captured alive, there would have been an outpouring equal to this (or perhaps greater, since we’d get to pull a Nuremberg-type situation, which is totally fair. Picture Bin Laden being tried in New York City. THAT would be cathartic). It’s more of a celebration of justice—not fair, and probably a little irrational. But some people got a measure of closure, and that’s really it.
And as for the people making stupid comments on the Internet—it’s…it’s the Internet. That’s what we do.
@Sasha, I’m with you. My friend and I were saying that a more appropriate “celebration” would have been a candlelight vigil, not a GO AMERICA, OSAMA’S DEAD mob scene.
I felt strange about celebrating someone’s death in such a way as well. But really, we were celebrating the fact that the families of the victims of 9/11 are one step closer to justice. I see nothing wrong with celebrating the death of someone who himself has murdered thousands. And truthfully, the mood was not only celebratory. On many occasions, I saw people holding signs mourning the love ones that they had lost on 9/11, and these sights were a firm reminder of the tragedies suffered nearly a decade ago and inspired me to really think about the significance of the event and the space. The bottom line is that yesterday was a day for both celebration of the nail that was hammered into the terrorist coffin yesterday and mourning for the victims of the unspeakable tragedies of 9/11.
I agree with George. There was a really beautiful moment of silence amidst the crazy cheering last night at Ground Zero. I saw a lot of people people holding memorial t-shirts/posters and even a few people holding vigil. I was celebrating the victory against terrorism, not specifically bin Laden’s death.
I’ll echo Madeline and George here. Being at Ground Zero was really powerful, especially at the beginning when it really did seem more celebratory and poignant. But as the crowd grew, it did turn a bit more into a party scene than a celebration.
Still, Ari makes a good point. If we merely caught Osama, I don’t think the celebrations would much different. I did feel a bit uncomfortable rejoicing death (still do), but it’s more a symbolic expression of patriotism and justice served than partying over the fact somebody died.
For me, this type of celebration would have been justifiable in only two circumstances: 1) if we had captured Bin Laden or 2) if we had somehow managed to “win” the war (ha). This event may have provided “closure” to some, but it’s essentially illusory– and we’re admitting this fact when we say it was a “symbolic victory.” Killing Bin Laden doesn’t hammer any nail into the terrorist coffin– in fact, I think it’s safe to say things are going to be even more volatile now than they were before. Someone else is going to try extra hard to step up to the plate in his absence.
And… killing Bin Laden doesn’t change the fact that we are fighting wars for extremely questionable reasons. Or the fact that we are fighting enemies that can’t ever be fully defeated.
I respect the vigils. I would have had more respect for the cheering and singing and the drunken antics if we had captured the man rather than put a bullet through his head. As it stands, all we are really celebrating is someone’s death (and for the record, I’m not one of those people who is saying, “he was a person too, it’s horrible to celebrate anyone’s death”– he was a bad guy. I’m not sad about it. But there’s still something morbid about the whole ordeal). If it feels like closure, it’s because it’s vengeance. It’s not because we won anything. We’re celebrating like we won because there isn’t going to be another V-J Day at the end of this thing (if we ever get there). There is no closure in this type of war– we’re celebrating because we know there won’t be a celebration.
(and because we want to feel like we did when Obama got elected)
But maybe I’m just cynical.
The party atmosphere seemed really wrong for the events that happened, and, especially for the events in the decade between the attacks and Bin Laden’s death.
I’m hoping for a better recognition of these events – even a celebration – done in a more tasteful manner.
[...] We Were There: Photos from the Celebration at Ground Zero [...]