Braving the Future
“After Pearl Harbor, we didn’t go after people from Nairobi, we went after the Japanese. Now idiots like this can’t distinguish between a towelhead and a sandmonkey. And what is stupider than blind, bigoted rage directed against the wrong people?”
--HOOD QA’IM - MAQAMI, New York City (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
The Los Angeles Times magazine examines how Americans are redefining their lives in the aftermath of September 11.
Of L.A.’s King Fahad Mosque: “This mosque is a United Nations.”
--IMAM SHUAIB TAJUDDIN, Culver City (Clarence Williams / Los Angeles Times)
“You do things differently now. You drive differently; you try not to attract attention to yourself. When you are walking, you look around all the time. It’s hard to explain.”
--SONDOS KHOLOKI, Irvine (Clarence Williams / Los Angeles Times)
There is a gaping wound in the New York skyline. And now New Yorkers see things they didn’t see before. (Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times)
“This is a firefighter from upstate New York who came to a vigil at Union Square. He was one of the rescue guys who came in, and someone had given him one of those little flags. These guys were put through so much and did so much, I wanted a symbol of what they stood for.”
--Kirk McKoy (Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times)
“It was at Union Square, where the local people were getting together every day to comfort each other. I was surprised to see the parks department had started to clean up the shrines. It struck me as a little early. The people at Union Square were saddened by everything and didn’t want to see any more bloodshed.”
--Robert Gauthier (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
“I was shooting the first day Wall Street reopened and was looking for people reacting to the market taking a dive. I saw this man sleeping. This photo shows that even though he may think the government hasn’t helped him, he still loves his country.”
--Wally Skalij (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
“This was shot in the heart of Harlem. It’s a very simple picture with a very complex meaning. What particularly caught my eye is the replacement of the stars and stripes with 911. The artist who did this is extremely creative. It’s just tragic it had to happen this way.”
--Gary Friedman (Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times)
“Ground zero was more shocking than I could ever imagine. Weeks later, I still can’t believe it’s true. New Yorkers around me were commenting, and I heard more than once in the muffled conversations, that the remaining skeleton of the World Trade Center looked like a sculpture. I, too, felt that there was a certain dignity to what was left standing.”
--Rick Loomis (Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times)