Vigil advocates peace, multiculturalism

Americans and citizens around the world gathered Monday in places of worship, schools and workplaces to reflect on the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

At VCU, students assembled at the Commons Plaza in the chilly evening for a candlelight vigil, a tradition the Student Government Association has sponsored annually since 2001.

Whereas a mood of sorrow marked past vigils, the SGA intended to rouse optimism and forward thinking among students this year, SGA President Ali Faruk said.

He said the event’s theme was one of peace at home and abroad, in light of ongoing wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The vigil’s keynote speaker, Napoleon Peoples, director of the Office of Multicultural Student Affairs, elaborated on the theme of peace before the lighting of the candles.

“Maybe I am too idealistic,” Peoples said, “but I believe that as a human being, we must at some level find ways to begin a process of creating avenues for greater dialogue and understanding across cultural differences.

“It is my hope that through tonight’s program we will continue the process of growth and understanding,” Peoples continued. “It is also my hope that we will work together to make VCU, Richmond, the Commonwealth of Virginia, America and the world a safer place for us and our children.”

After Peoples’ speech, Kaitlin Bowles, SGA director of university relations, sang an eloquent rendition of “The Star-Spangled Banner.” The crowd joined in singing as soon as she released the song’s first note, making sure to never overpower her voice.

Representatives of Hillel, ReJOYce in Jesus Campus Fellowship and the United Sikh Association of VCU lit candles as the crowd rang out the last notes of the anthem. Students in turn lit their own and clasped them by their waists as they bowed quietly for a moment of silence, prayer and meditation.

While some mouthed the words of their prayers, other students looked to the sky with their lips sealed tightly, cupping their hands around their candles to prevent the wind from relinquishing the flames.

Moments later, most blew them out and began dispersing, signifying the official end of the vigil. Others stayed around, their candles still lit.

Rebecca Dumont, a sophomore criminal justice major from Hampton, sat in the plaza with her friends long after most had left, all of their candles alight.

“I think it feels weird, honestly,” Dumont said of the fifth anniversary. “I can still remember what I was doing.”

Dumont recalled she was in ninth-grade science class the morning of the attacks. She did not hear of the news until she arrived at her JROTC class.

“The first thing that popped into my mind was, what’s going to happen to us being in ROTC?” she said. She and her fellow JROTC students were not allowed to wear their uniforms for a month afterward, she added, for fear they might attract attention.

During his speech, Peoples recognized that everyone has a Sept. 11 story.

“If asked, I am sure each of you can tell me where you were and what you were doing on 9/11,” he said. “You can tell me what you thought and you heard or learned of these tragedies. And you can also tell me what you felt when you realized that they were for real.”

Joshua Maye, a freshman political science major, said his Sept. 11 story began the night before. That night, he said, he felt “something was not going to be right the next day.”

The next day, Maye learned that two people he knew had died: Asia Cottom, a student, and Sarah Clark, a teacher at Bertie Backus Middle School in Washington, D.C. They were onboard American Airlines Flight 77 when it crashed into the Pentagon.

Maye said Monday’s vigil gave him a chance to reflect on their deaths and the deaths of thousands of other Sept. 11 victims, as well as those lives lost in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

“I’ve always been one to think that the people need to come out and express how they are,” he said. “I think this vigil showed that.

“We were all here for one purpose: to make sure those who died on that day are never forgotten.”