September 11: Twenty-Five Years of Remembrance and Resolve

Twenty-five years ago, al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked four passenger planes and murdered 2,977 people in an assault on the United States. They attacked Americans at work, families traveling together, and the men and women serving at the Pentagon. They sought to terrorize a nation and break its resolve.

Americans answered with extraordinary courage. Firefighters, police officers, and emergency personnel entered burning buildings to save strangers. Passengers aboard Flight 93 fought back. Citizens helped one another through smoke, wreckage, and chaos. In the years that followed, service members answered our nation’s call.

Today, ICAN honors every person murdered on September 11, the heroes who died saving others, and those who served in its aftermath. We stand with the survivors, the families who carry an irreplaceable loss, and the responders whose service came at a lasting cost to their health.

Twenty-five years later, remembrance requires a national commitment to teach the truth. A generation has grown up without a personal memory of September 11. Its understanding of that day cannot depend on fading recollections or distorted accounts.

On this anniversary, ICAN calls on schools and college and university leaders to teach the history of September 11 and terrorism accurately: what happened, who carried out the attacks, the Islamist extremist ideology that drove them, and the consequences for victims, families, and our nation. Students should also learn how Americans responded—with courage, sacrifice, service, and determination.

Rejecting the glorification of terrorism is a responsibility we all share. So is defending the freedoms the terrorists sought to destroy.

We remember the lives stolen and the futures denied. We honor those who put themselves between danger and their fellow Americans. And we renew our commitment to the country they served and the freedom they defended.

May their memory strengthen our resolve to defend freedom.