Shocked and stricken by the recent attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, politicians in the United States struggled to implement measures that would make the United States safe. However, one politician, Representative Jim Turner of Texas, took it upon himself to introduce a measure that would not only honor those that had died in the horrific attacks of 911, but also those that had died at the hands of terrorists elsewhere – including tragic incidents that had transpired overseas in years prior to 911. Turner is no longer a Congressman, but at the time he was a well-placed Democrat, eventually becoming the Ranking Member of the U.S. House Homeland Security Committee. On October 2, 2001, scarcely one month after the horrors of 911, Turner introduced H. R. 2982 to the House of Representatives, calling for “the establishment of a memorial to victims who died as a result of terrorist acts against the United States or its people, at home or abroad.” The resolution was amended by the Committee on Resources in June of 2002 and eventually approved on September 25, 2002 on a “motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill.” It was sent to the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, but it has languished there ever since – in effect dead and going nowhere. In 2008, this Senate Committee considered making Dark Elegy, the work of a New York sculptor who lost a son in the bombing of Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, as the monument called for in H. R. 2982. However, the committee turned down the touching and thought-provoking sculptures of Suse Ellen Lowenstein – on the grounds that “…as compelling and impressive a proposal as has been made for the memorial in question, that we believe that, for the time being, that it relates to a very specific incident and should be treated as such rather than as a generic monument to victims of terrorism for all time.” Today the resolution seems forgotten, and it is the purpose of this website to promote a petition to the House of Representatives and the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, requesting that H. R. 2982 be reconsidered and revisited.

You can help promote the establishment of a monument dedicated to all American victims of terrorism, whether they died at home or abroad, by clicking the link above and signing the petition. Nothing is asked but your signature for a good cause.

Representative Jim Turner of Texas