Oklahoma City.
I was so inspired by this city before I ever lived here.
It survived a brutal attack, years before 911 happened. At the time, it was the worst terrorist attack on U.S. soil and was committed by white American.
In fact, the city of New York called OKC officials after 911 to discuss how they planned and healed a city through this memorial site and modeled the 911 memorial in after what we have here in Oklahoma City. The photograph of a firefighter, arms draped with a tiny child’s lifeless body rocked the nation and ultimately won the Pulitzer Prize.
This tragedy happened in 1995 so many of you may not have even been alive yet or were very young. I wanted to shed some light on what happened here to help spread awareness that large scale terrorism can be home-grown.
On April 19th 1995 just after 9am, a truck loaded up with bombs, exploded outside the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City. Over 100 people were killed instantly, the north face of the 9 story building collapsed, and many were trapped in the rubble and took days to rescue. The blast ultimately killed 168 people, 19 of them being children at a daycare center in the building.
Fresh Lessons for Today
President Bill Clinton and Mayor Holt of Oklahoma City both drew comparisons between the protestors we are seeing today and the attacker on April 19th 1995… Why? Both were extreme groups prioritizing themselves over the safety of others in order to rebel against the U.S. government.
But there was more to it with Timothy McVeigh, the OKC terrorist. He was mainly mad at the U.S. government for what he perceived as not enough discrimination against people of color. He ranted against the media frequently but ultimately hated the government more because QUOTE, “what the U.S. government did at Waco and Ruby Ridge was dirty, so I gave dirty back to them at Oklahoma City.” The two events he is referencing, Waco and Ruby Ridge, were instances where extremists were killed in police shootouts. Waco was a bizarre religious cult while Ruby Ridge was white supremacists. Ultimately, he references the ban of “certain assault weapons” as the trigger for his act of violence.
McVeigh was found guilty in court and received the death penalty for his crimes. The description of McVeigh by his psychiatrist closely matches that of a mass shooter in today’s world – white, male, young, video game / comic obsessed, isolated, troubled, and ultimately came to think of himself as a hero in a world of villains.
Our Memorial
The memorial itself in OKC is extremely impactful. I visited it for the first time while in town with my Aunt Paula who has lived here for years. There are two enormous black archways, one with the time 9:01 and the second with the time 9:03. Between the two arches, is a long, rectangular infinity pool. The water is perfectly still and serene. The arches represent the minutes immediately before and immediately after the explosion. The infinity pool represents the the blast itself.
On the grassy hill beside the infinity pool, there are large metal chairs set out and some small ones. Each chair represents a person who died in the tragedy. The small ones represent the children. It is incredibly impactful to see all the chairs lined up – it hits home how many many people really died in the attack. But it also gives families and friends a place to come mourn someone they lost in the bombing. Then on the opposite side of the pool is the museum. The Museum walks the visitor through EXACTLY what happened leading up to the event, during the event, the response, and afterward. It helps the visitor to understand the details. Lastly, the survivor tree… The tree itself was NEXT TO the Murrah Building during the blast. And it survived. It is gnarly and huge, and if you’ve never been to the prairie, prairies tree survive a LOT – extreme storms, drought, tornadoes. etc. So that’s what it feels like… The biggest, gnarliest prairie tree. They nicknamed it “the survivor tree” because it survived the blast. They built a beautiful sitting area around it, where human survivors can come for peace and reflection.
I now live within walking distance of the memorial… My post office is directly across the street and I attend church across the street as well. I see the reminder of this event multiple times a week. Every year, there is a memorial marathon that the whole city seems to participate in. It snakes through my neighborhood and there is an annual crawfish boil hosted at a friends’ home. We cheer on the runners and feel the strength of our community more that day than any other. McVeigh sough to destroy society, but he ultimately strengthened it. Oklahoma City did not crumble at his act, but rallied around itself.
Regardless of motives though, there are obvious similarities to be drawn between covid and the OKC bombing – both shared experiences that the community will have to overcome together… And that will inevitably change us.
Hopefully for the better.
READ MORE ON OKLAHOMA: HERE!