Monumental Debate

Billy Shields arrived at Ground Zero in New York as soon as the FAA allowed planes to fly again after the 9/11 attack in 2001. The Phoenix firefighter president was one of 90 PFD men and women who spent weeks helping in any way they could as this country was reeling from an assault that left nearly 3,000 Americans dead.

Because of his firsthand experience, it was no surprise when Republican Governor Jane Hull asked the well-respected Shields to head a commission to create an Arizona memorial to 9/11. Hull appointed half the members of the commission, while the other half were appointed by her successor, Democrat Janet Napolitano – Napolitano’s first bill as governor was to set aside space on the Government Mall for the memorial.

Shields and his 30-member commission worked tirelessly on the project for almost four years, intent on unveiling the memorial on the fifth anniversary of the attack.

That anniversary was last September 11 – a day of national mourning that also happened to be just weeks from the November election.

Shields remembers how proud he was that day; how happy he was that so many Arizonans had had a say in what this memorial would be and what it would express; how pleased that all the hard work had turned out so well.

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As planes from Luke Air Force Base flew over to mark the unveiling, he didn’t even try to hide the tears in his eyes.

Two weeks later, Shields was flabbergasted when Republican gubernatorial candidate Len Munsil held a press conference to denounce the memorial – as well as his opponent, Democratic Governor Napolitano – and vow that if he were elected, he would tear the memorial down.

“I was almost speechless,” Shields says now. “I was offended that anyone would use 9/11 as a political ploy. I really thought people would see through that – that they’d see it was a campaign stunt – but it got legs.”

And that’s how Billy Shields, a highly respected community leader, and his commissioners, who had devoted years of their free time to create a fitting memorial, became right-wing “bogeymen” and daily fixtures on the talk shows of KFYI radio.

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“These political activists were crawling around like ants, harassing employers of people on the commission and sending nasty e-mails and voice mails,” Shields notes. “They were trying to get people fired. They were trying to defame them, and in a couple incidents, there were death threats.”

He pauses after the last two words to let them sink in. And then he repeats them with incredulity. “Death. Threats.”

“The meanness was unbelievable,” he adds. “As Americans, we can disagree and state our opinions, but these people got so mean and nasty they were really out of bounds.”

“I was called a liar and they said I kept people off the commission so it could be a left-wing thing,” he continues. “This drumbeat went on for months. Everything I said was twisted; everything turned into a conspiracy.”

Beating the drum the loudest were KFYI’s Mike Broomhead and Bruce Jacobs. While trashing the commission – and ignoring everything that had been done during the previous years to create the memorial – KFYI gave a voice to anyone who had any beef.

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The radio shows blasted some of the inscriptions on the memorial as “un-American” and “unpatriotic.” They also provided a pulpit for folks who had lost loved ones in Iraq and wanted their names on the memorial, insinuating that the memorial was insensitive to military heroes.

But all that bluster ignored the fact that the only names on the memorial are those of the two Arizonans killed as a result of 9/11. (Gary Bird, who died in the World Trade Center, and whose final words to his wife are part of the memorial – “I’ll be home for dinner Tuesday night”; and Balbir Singh Sodhi, who was killed in Mesa on September 15, 2001, by a deranged man seeking revenge for 9/11 – he apparently mistook the head-wrapped Sikh for an Arab.)

“This isn’t the Iraq Memorial,” Shields notes. “One is being planned. But this memorial, very specifically, is to commemorate 9/11. Our charge from Governor Hull was to remember those lost, how it affected Arizonans, and Arizona’s response. Governor Napolitano expanded that charge to include an educational factor, so future generations of children could come to understand what happened. And a lesson plan has been developed around the memorial.”

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None of this was news to the 30,000 Arizonans who had participated in creating the memorial. Shields is particularly proud of how far his commission reached to come up with the final product. Here’s what he’s most proud of:

• The commission met publicly every month for almost four years, always asking, “What do we want this memorial to be?”
• It took the five design finalists to public hearings in Flagstaff, Tucson and Phoenix.
• It created a website that updated commission activities every step of the way.
• It hired the history department at ASU to document Arizona’s response to and experience with 9/11, which resulted in a three-volume document.
• It raised the money to build the memorial.
• It designed and sold a pin in the shape of Arizona with the words “Never Forget” to raise money for the memorial.
• It held a truck-pull contest in a Bashas’ parking lot to raise money, pitting police, firefighters, media and the Marines against one another.
• It sent out 3 million e-mails to people around the state who were interested in the commission’s work.
• It sponsored a “dinner and movie with the Governor” that raised $350,000.
• It chose the inscriptions for the final design – a sweeping steel band inscribed with 54 quotations, events and phrases. All came from the ASU history department’s document, as well as the official 9/11 Commission Report from Washington. Every cutout in the memorial represents someone who died on 9/11.

We went through all the phrases in a collaborative and democratic way,” Shields remembers. “If anyone said ‘no,’ that phrase was withdrawn. Every one we selected either had a ‘yes’ or ‘I’m OK with it.’”

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“We were listening to family members more than anyone on the commission,” Shields remembers. It was an obvious sensitivity. Gary Bird’s wife, Donna, was a member of the commission. So was Steve Speisman, who lost a brother when the Pentagon was attacked. So was Phil Manning, who lost a brother in the World Trade Center.

The rest of the commission consisted of people from around the state, some of whom have had years of public service (like former Arts Commission Director Shelley Cohn) and others whose families are household names in this state (like Johnny Basha).

Despite the opposition, attempts to paint the commission as some kind of left-wing mob fell apart the instant you looked at what they had done and who they were.

But facts don’t deter fanatics, and there were some unbelievably fanatical complaints being thrown around.
The focus was on a couple of the statements on the memorial, especially this quote: “You Don’t Win Battles of Terrorism With More Battles.” People screaming over those words conveniently forgot to mention that they’re printed immediately under this quote: “Must Bomb Back.”

Both of those sentiments were heard loud and often in Arizona following 9/11. Here’s the other inscription that raised so much ire: “Erroneous U.S. Air Strike kills 46 Uruzgan Civilians.”

Shields says this is the one citation on the memorial that should be changed – since the controversy, the commission has been contacted by an Air Force officer who says he personally investigated that air strike and claims it was justified.

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As it turned out, the months of controversy didn’t help Len Munsil much – Governor Napolitano trounced him in one of the most lopsided elections in Arizona history. And all the bluster on KFYI didn’t come to much, either.

But Shields and his commission decided that, even if they weren’t being treated fairly, they’d play fair. So, last December they held another public hearing to solicit ideas on how to “change or improve” the 9/11 Memorial.

Fifty-four people attended the meeting. Only eight of them opposed the memorial.

Len Munsil didn’t attend, and if either of the KFYI talk-show hosts were there, they didn’t speak up. “We had some speakers who told us the most controversial quotes were exactly how they felt, and if they weren’t there, it wouldn’t be ‘their’ memorial,” Shields says. “So many people told us they were ‘moved’ by the memorial.”

If you haven’t been there, you owe yourself a trip to the Government Mall between Washington and Jefferson streets and 17th and 19th avenues.

You’ve been reading many of the inscriptions on the memorial throughout this column. But words alone don’t do it justice.

“This has been the hardest thing I’ve ever done in public service,” Shields says. “But I’d do it again – that’s how important it is.”

Personally, if I had my way, I’d throw a big party to thank the commission and Billy Shields. And I’d add a sentiment to the memorial that reflects what they went through in the last excruciating months of 2006: “Some don’t respect what America is all about.”