Question 1: Everyone who experienced the attacks on the World Trade Center remembers where they were and how they felt at that moment. Is that the same or different for the COVID-19 pandemic? When did you hear that we were going into lockdown? What was your first reaction?

Question 2: On September 11, 2001, 2,997 people were killed in a coordinated terrorist attack on the United States. Since January 2020, over 4.5 million people worldwide have perished from COVID-19, including over 33,000 in New York City. It is difficult to conceive the enormity of those losses. How did the pandemic personally affect you? Would you like to share a memory about your experience?

Question 3: Many LaGuardians remembered the outpouring of love from neighbors and friends in the days after the September 11 attacks. Did you witness similar acts of camaraderie during the COVID-19 pandemic? How did you find ways of creating community? How did you cope?

Question 4: Despite what many LaGuardians remember as a time of unity, that was not the experience for everyone. There was simultaneously a hateful and violent backlash against our Muslim communities. Likewise, during COVID-19 anti-Asian hate speech and violence increased dramatically in New York City. If you could say something to the Muslim student who stood up for her family in the face of her classmate’s hateful stereotyping, what would it be? What meaningful action might you be able to take to fight anti-Asian hate today?

Question 5: In the wake of the September 11 attacks many people were asking, “How will the world change after this?” Given how the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted so many of the injustices in our society, our question is, “How should the world change after this?” How do you hope “the makeup of human thought” will change after COVID-19?