New pain for some 9/11 families as New York’s mayor finds himself in commemoration controversy

By Gloria Pazmino, CNN

New York (CNN) — Twenty-five years after the mayor of New York City became the champion of America’s grief and resilience at the time of the 9/11 attacks, families of those killed are split on whether the current mayor should attend the annual remembrance.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani, the first Muslim to hold the office, said he would “proudly honor” those affected by standing alongside them at ground zero, but some relatives of victims say they don’t want him there. “I don’t know if I could stomach that,” Robert Hughes told CNN. Others are unhappy the focus is on the mayor — in part because of his political ideology and his identity — and not their loved ones. For Liz Miller, it is time for acceptance, not division. “Unity can represent itself as kindness and compassion towards others, even when you do think differently,” she said.

Mamdani, a democratic socialist who is a lightning rod especially for those on the right, is now the subject of a petition to have him banned from ceremonies commemorating what happened. Opponents castigate him for what they say are extremist views on his support for Palestinian rights and criticism of the Israeli government.

It’s another point of pressure after years of pain for the mothers, fathers, spouses, sons and daughters who lost so much so publicly, many of whom say they still have had no justice.

Survivors and families who have spoken to CNN this week said emotions were already running high as the quarter-century mark approaches of the day four planes were hijacked and crashed into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a field in Pennsylvania.

And with the spotlight again about to focus on Lower Manhattan, they said it’s an awful time to have the extra stress, whatever they thought of the issue.

‘A lot of people might not go’

Robert and Elaine Hughes lost their youngest child, Kris, a securities trader at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods on the 89th floor of 2 World Trade Center, the south tower. He would have turned 55 last month.

They’ve attended the annual ceremony, where a bell is tolled to mark the times when the planes crashed and when the twin towers fell and where the names of the 2,977 people killed that day are read out. There were Christians, Jews, Muslims, people of other faiths and no faith. Along with so many Americans, citizens of dozens of other countries were killed too. Politicians have always been at the ceremonies, but Mamdani is making the Hugheses think again.

“This guy, I think, is just an in-your-face type of guy that — for lack of a better word — enjoys this kind of controversy. I’m just not in favor of him being around, so if he didn’t come, I’d say great, we would go. But if he’s going to come, I would venture to say a lot of people might not go,” said Hughes, who is now retired and lives on Long Island.

The grieving father said he disagrees with Mamdani’s politics and expressed anger toward the mayor. “Just the thought of him there rubs me the wrong way,” he said.

His wife, Elaine, said the controversy stirred up by an online petition calling for Mamdani to stay away – which the couple has signed – may keep them away instead.

“Between Mamdani going and the possible protesting that will ensue, I am not sure the additional stress is a good thing for us or any other 9/11 family,” she told CNN.

‘Mayor Mamdani is not a terrorist’

Liz Miller’s father Douglas was one of the 343 firefighters who died after rushing to try to save people in the burning buildings. She was just 6 years old when he died.

“There’s so many of us that there’s never going to be a unanimous thought amongst the community, which I think is a gift,” Miller said. “But I do think that it is 25 years later, it is time that there is some unity.”

She said she’s frustrated the ceremony to honor the dead — an event that has always tried to stay clear of partisanship — is now caught up with the attendance of the mayor. There are larger unresolved issues for the families, including the case against Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, considered the architect of the attack, and four co-defendants that still has not gone to trial.

Cracks became public last month, when an online petition started by Giovanni Galante, whose wife Grace Galante was killed, asked the 9/11 Memorial and Museum to consider barring Mamdani from the ceremony. “The presence of individuals whose words or associations are perceived as conflicting with the solemn purpose of the event risks detracting from that focus and causing additional pain,” he wrote on the petition, which now has nearly 80,000 signatures.

Galante told CNN, “The mayor affiliates himself on a personal, professional, and political basis with those who have minimized and justified the September 11 terrorist attacks.” His petition also lists as objectionable some of Mamdani’s associations and the academic writings of his father, as well as the mayor’s initial refusal to condemn the phrase “globalize the intifada,” which is interpreted by some as a call for Palestinian rights and by others as a threat to Israel and Jews. Mamdani has since said he would discourage use of the phrase, noting an understanding of the deep concerns surrounding antisemitism.

Miller has long been concerned with some of the actions taken after 9/11, putatively in her name, against Muslims in general. She is a member of September 11 Families For Peaceful Tomorrows, which opposes violence in the pursuit of justice. And she has a simple view on the mayor: “Mayor Mamdani is not a terrorist.”

“I’m not a naive person, but it’s naive of me to say I just wish people would be kinder to one another, and that could be done across the board in this whole situation,” she added.

Diqui LaPenta’s boyfriend Rich Guadagno was aboard Flight 93, the plane passengers managed to crash in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, before it could be used to hit Washington, DC. She said Guadagno, a biologist with the US Fish and Wildlife Service, had spent his life protecting wildlife and the environment, and it was disappointing to her more good had not come of the losses.

“Whatever it is, there’s always a scapegoat that gets picked, and right now America just cannot seem to let go of this blindered view of Islam and the Muslim people who practice that faith,” she said.

Gathering to bear witness

Mamdani himself was a schoolboy the day of the attacks. He has spoken about how the events of that day and afterward shaped his life, including the ensuing Islamophobia and the fear and sometimes illegal surveillance that targeted Arab American communities.

As he countered criticism during his campaign for mayor last year, he gave an emotional speech outside of a mosque in the Bronx, saying “to be Muslim in New York is to expect indignity.”

He became the city’s first Muslim mayor after an overwhelming election win, with enthusiastic support from younger voters.

He said last month, “I will proudly honor the families, the survivors, the first responders forever impacted by that horrific terror attack by standing alongside them at this year’s 9/11 commemoration, reaffirming that we will never forget the solemn day felt by all of us who call this city home and, frankly, by all of us who call this country home.”

Spokesperson Dora Pekec added in a statement to CNN, “The mayor — a New Yorker who was 9 years old on the day of the attack and grieved alongside this city in its aftermath — is focused on bringing New Yorkers together to honor this solemn anniversary. He will not engage in the kind of division that this city rejects.”

Mamdani has been making trips to firehouses most impacted by losses on 9/11, a spokesperson told CNN, visiting eight on Staten Island as well as FDNY Rescue 1 in Manhattan, which lost nearly half its company at the Twin Towers. The mayor was expected to make more stops in the coming days.

Chris Coffey, who served as first deputy mayor under Mayor Michael Bloomberg and worked with 9/11 families, said he was certain if Mamdani opted to skip the ceremony, there would be equal amounts of outrage.

“I am someone who does not often agree or align with the mayor,” Coffey said. “The politics have to be kept out, it’s the 25th anniversary of this bloody, terrible wound for the city of New York and it would be very bad if he’s not there as the current representative of the city.”

Every leader of the city since Mayor Rudy Giuliani became the unifying “America’s Mayor” — long before his descent into conspiracy theories and election denialism — has attended the ceremony, along with every sitting president, at least one king and many other politicians. Mamdani himself was there last year as a state assemblyman.

For the 10th anniversary of the attacks, elected officials including President Barack Obama read selected historical texts, scriptural passages, and poems, but organizers barred them from delivering speeches. A year later, some families protested after politicians were not allowed to speak during that year’s ceremony.

A spokesperson for the 9/11 Memorial and Museum said their priority is to “provide a dignified and supportive environment for the families.”

“We have intentionally worked to keep the commemoration free of politics because remembering those we lost on 9/11 should never be a partisan issue,” the spokesperson said. “Government officials from across the political spectrum … have attended the ceremony simply to bear witness — they do not deliver remarks and are asked to remain in a designated area.”

An estimated 100 million Americans now have no firsthand memory of 9/11. The public spotlight on what happened may have grown less intense, but the attention will again be turned to ground zero as people gather to read names and remember.

Mamdani says he will be there for his city. For some families, the decision still has to be made about what they will do on the morning of September 11.

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CNN’s Laura Dolan contributed to this story.