As we near the 20th anniversary of 9/11, Columbia offers many avenues of remembrance.

Happening in the World: For the first time in seven months, Chinese President Xi Jinping spoke with President Joe Biden on the phone. Tensions between the US and China have heightened due to issues like trade, espionage, and COVID-19. The call between the two leaders was in part due to the US’s effort to “manage the competition between the United States and the PRC,” according to the White House Statement. (CNN) 

Happening in the US: “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” a ballad known as the US Black national anthem, played at the opening game of the NFL 2021 season between the Dallas Cowboys and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Given that male professional football leagues feature many Black men, the NFL had committed to playing “Lift Every Voice and Sing” in solidarity with its players. The song itself was originally a poem written in 1900 by James Weldon Johnson, a civil rights activist, that his brother set to music. (BBC)

Happening in NYC: New York Governor Kathy Hochul pledged to review the “Less Is More Act,” given the increase in deaths at Rikers Island. This piece of criminal justice reform would stop sending people to jail who committed technical parole violations. A recent investigation from WNYC/Gothamist and The City found that rates of self-harm “exploded in city jails over the last year,” emphasizing the need for a bill like the “Less Is More Act.” (Gothamist) 

Happening in Our Community: A new exhibition from the Wallach Art Gallery entitled The Way We Remember: Fritz Koenig’s Sphere, the trauma of 9/11, and the Politics of Memory opens today. The exhibition runs through November 14, 2021, and examines 9/11 memorials and mourning through the lens of physical monuments as well as Columbia’s campus. Learn more about the exhibition here. Furthermore, Columbia University will light the two prominent columns of Low this evening and on 9/11 from dusk until midnight to mark and remember the 20th anniversary of 9/11. 

Opening Line of the Week: “The first time our father brought Andrea to the Dutch House, Sandy, our housekeeper, came to my sister’s room and told us to come downstairs.” – Ann Patchett, The Dutch House 

New York via Bwarchives