Repression, Surveillance, and Resistance: 20 Years after 9/11

Twenty years after nearly 3,000 people were killed in the September 11 attacks, we honor the victims, their families, and all of those impacted – including our own John Perry, who served on the NYCLU’s board for many years and was killed during the attacks.

Now, two decades later, countless people – particularly Black and Brown people – have seen our rights stripped away, due process rolled back, and surveillance more entrenched in our daily lives in the name of national security. America’s landscape has drastically shifted since 9/11, and New York has been at the forefront.

Below is a New York-centered timeline that catalogues the repression, surveillance, and resistance that have in many ways defined the last two decades.

It is abundantly clear 20 years later that the freedoms and rights we trade away in the midst of an emergency are exceedingly difficult to claw back once that emergency has faded from the headlines. But that doesn’t mean they aren’t worth fighting for.

In the coming 20 years and beyond, we must continue to fight against the surveillance, violence, and civil rights abuses against AMEMSA communities and all New Yorkers.