Reflections

I'm a Vietnam vet. War is war, but this isn't war: It's cowardly; it's out-and-out murder.

At our state AFL-CIO convention, the day after the attack, I put a resolution on the floor to make a collection right away. In 10 minutes, right on the floor, we raised over $7,000. And at Local 387, we had had a benefit breakfast in the pouring rain on Friday of the following week. We raised over $2,100. No matter what you ask anybody to do [for the disaster-relief effort], it gets done, no questions asked.

— Ray Soucy, Local 387 (Connecticut Council 4)

Every time we talk about the attack, we break down in tears. It really hurts. I'm so glad AFSCME sent the donation request. It gives us something we can do to help.

— Daynette Morikawa, Hawaii Government Employees Association/AFSCME Local 152

When I hear a plane go over the building [now], I jump up and catch myself looking out the window to see if it's coming down here. I don't know what to expect now. I don't feel safe.

— Trina Woods, president of Local 3027 (Virginia Council 27)

We're very close to the Pacific Coast, and we're afraid that they can bring a ship in 300 miles from here and bomb us. ... The government should stop just reacting, it should handle things. Don't just threaten – do it. If these countries want to declare war on the United States, we can take care of them. We should have done it when we went into Iraq. We should have finished the job.

— Nancy Severtson, Local 809 (California Council 36)

Pearl Harbor, President Kennedy's assassination, the attack on the World Trade Center — they all just paralyzed me. And when I watched the plane flying into the trade center, it brought back memories of Pearl Harbor:

On Dec. 7, I was bringing my parents home from church when suddenly there were shots. I was called to work [at an emergency station], where we cared for the civilian injured and registered the dead who were brought to us. My parents were Japanese, and my father said, 'We are aliens. If we are sent back to Japan, will you come with us?' I replied, 'I am an American citizen. This is my country. I will stay here.'

— Margaret Ozaki, Hawaii Government Employees Association/AFSCME Local 152 retiree

I didn't have anyone who was personally affected by this tragedy, but if there are AFSCME members involved, to me they are my brothers and sisters.

When Martin Luther King Jr. was murdered here in Memphis, many people who were involved in his cause felt the murder might mean the end of it. But his cause has lived on and grown stronger. No one thought that America could be attacked. But although it — like Dr. King's murder — has been a devastating blow, I know we can go on and become a stronger country.

— Percy Banks, vice president of Local 1733

I have six grandchildren. How do you explain to them what is real and not real? Now they see this horrible picture on the screen, and it's as real as the air you breathe. I can try to help make things better, but I can't promise my grandchildren it's not going to happen again.

There's a bright side, too. When it comes to people, everybody cares. All over, everywhere. I work in a nursing home. Nobody there has much to give, but they give you the shirt off their back if they can.

— Mary Von Ruden, Local 1947 (Wisconsin Council 40)

Because of our own history as a country, I was not particularly shocked at the terrorist attack — which is not a popular view around here. But I know we'll react and recover and come out of this tragedy a stronger people. President Bush has certainly done what needed to be done to the best of his ability; he has responded to the challenges of the moment.

— Jerry D. Gladden, president of Local 1810 (Missouri Council 72)

I'm loving a lot more people nowadays, whereas before it was easy just to walk by people. Now I want to take time to look at people, I try to smile at them.

To see them firefighters running into the building when everyone else was trying to get out of it – I mean, I was watching the news and crying, just thinking about how much they gave up so that somebody could have a chance [to survive]. It made me proud to be a public employee. I'm not a fireman, I am just a lab technician. But I'm a public employee. I'm with them.

— Charlesetta Bynes, president of Local 1761 (New Jersey Council 52)

I am certainly not a George Bush fan. But no matter what your political affiliation is, I think it's important for the people of the United States to stand 100 percent behind our President at this time.

For so long people said public employees are selfish, overpaid, do nothing. I think it's terrible that it took an awful tragedy like this for people to see what public employees actually do — because we do! We're working in public buildings, so when there are terrorists, we're on the front line.

— Carol Barrett, president of Local 3440 (New Jersey Council 73)

Salt Lake City is hosting the Winter Olympics next year, and a lot of people who thought our security operations were a joke are now taking things very seriously. We're going ahead with our plans, and public employees will beright on the front lines.

— Cory Young, vice president of Utah Local 1004

Working in any government facility, you wonder about being a target of an attack. You worry about your co-workers and about your clients.

— Karen Girch, Nebraska Association of Public Employees/AFSCME Local 61

This is just one local in one small town [Watertown, S.D.], we all feel the pain. A message to all our brothers and sisters who have made such super-human efforts: As union members, we all grieve and send our condolences. We will rally, and pursue this evil and wipe it out, so that we can go forward in security, with our freedoms intact.

— Kevon Graslie, president of Local 2488 (Council 59)