Dear Editor:
I was appalled by the recent artist renderings of the proposed Jersey City 9/11 memorial. At 100 feet high, 20 feet wide, it will dominate the waterfront. The sculpture is a grotesque reminder of victimhood. It is an image that is a cross between a scar and – dare I say it – a female sexual organ.
I was in the World Trade Center on 9/11. That does not mean I own the event or the way it is memorialized. But the sculpture’s design and size forces re-traumatization, horror, victimhood and powerlessness. The thought that I would have to see it on a daily basis is profoundly unnerving. It’s shape and size seems intended to block our view – not a view of Manhattan – but a view of the future that contains peace and hope.
You may as well build effigies of the twin towers and set them on fire nightly so those of us who lived through it are forced to live through it every day of our lives. The proposed sculpture accomplishes that many times over.
Perry Borenstein