The Generations Project

9/11, the terrorist attack by Al-Qaeda on America on September 11, 2001, significantly changed the course of human history. Sathya Baskaran, describing how they’ve only lived in a post-9/11 world, emphasizes its significance by the fact that the term “post-9/11″ even exists. 

Joyce Fortune, in remembering the attacks, specifically remembers the difference in the French media coverage of 9/11 versus the American media coverage. While the French media took an unbiased standpoint, providing all the related facts of each side of the story, she states that the American media had a single message: “WE WILL AVENGE AMERICA, AMERICA IS UNDER ATTACK”. Returning to America from France, right after the 9/11 attacks, she describes how everyone in the country was mourning and patriotic. “I guess that’s the point of terrorism. It scared America–everyone felt vulnerable and under attack”.

Mark Carpenter remembers the 9/11 attacks with an air of disappointment in his generation, for their reaction to the attacks. He states that the attacks “could have been a galvanizing, generation-defining moment that could have changed the course of the nation for the better... and offered a time for real examination of what America’s role in the 21st century was”, but instead the U.S.A., out of fear, stumbled into a pair of wars that ultimately made things worse, leading to things like I.S.I.S. and the Syrian refugee crisis. 

The Orlando Pulse Shooting was a terrorist attack and hate crime that happened at a gay nightclub on June 12, 2016. The largest massacre in America since Wounded Knee, the Pulse Shooting shook the LGBT community, reminding them of the inherent unsafeness of their own safe spaces. 

Technology has come a long way in the past couple decades. Mark Carpenter illustrates this shift by describing how in elementary school, he only knew a couple kids with computers at home, but by high school, everyone had a computer they took to college, and in college, everyone had a dedicated internet line in their dorms. 

Sharon Nakamura, who grew up before the internet, describes her view of the internet–both good and bad. While it has made information more accessible (she specifically praises the concept of online education), one must also do more fact-checking on the internet, and there are more scams and illegal activity on the internet that one must be careful of. She expresses her frustration with online banking, because while it’s convenient, she also needs to regularly check her account to make sure her information hasn’t been stolen. 

The Civil Rights Era broadly describes a movement that happened roughly around the 1960′s, sparked by outrage against the discrimination and racism faced by black people in america. Beginning with small-scale protests organized by the African American community, the movement soon became national as people from all backgrounds joined the fight for equal rights for all Americans.

Andrew Goldenkranz, growing up in the Civil Rights era, felt drawn to the movement out of his belief that everyone deserves equal rights and that having rights means also having a responsibility to use those rights for good, and to fight against injustice. He describes a particular moment when he went to a march in Central Park, which he had to skip school for. In order to not get in trouble at school, his father told him to say that he was going to the New York Mets game instead of the march. This particular moment showed Goldenkranz how he had to “lie for the greater good”, as well as the irony in what the school saw as an acceptable and an unacceptable cause for absence. 

The Election of Donald Trump disturbed and disillusioned much of America. His popularity, despite his many ignorant, xenophobic comments, is a cause for fear for many Americans, especially those in marginalized communities. As Joyce Fortune puts it, he’s “uniquely disqualified” to be leading our country. This fear has inspired increased political action in many, however. Sathya Baskaran, for example, while politics have effectively made them bitter, jaded, and disillusioned, has come to realize that they don’t care about a career anymore, because no matter what job they’re doing, it won’t affect what they’re doing in terms of politics and activism. They’ve come to “put less stock in myself, and more stock in what I’m doing for the rest of the world”. 

Mark Carpenter, inspired by the Trump presidency, has also come to be more involved in activism. Although he states that politics hasn’t affected him in his life very much, as he’s always protected by his “white male middle class armor”, he states that the election of Donald Trump has left him “disturbed and unsettled”, and shaken him out of his complacency.