Jon Stewart’s 9/11 monologue on The Daily Show
Stewart’s immediate response to 9/11 was an incredibly moving one. The show, filmed in New York City, returned to airwaves nine days after the deadliest terror attack ever on American soil. Stewart periodically got choked up and admitted he was terrified, but inspired viewers with his message of strength, resilience and spirit, as well as is empathy and compassion. In his monologue, Stewart noted that he would “grieve” but not “despair,” and invoked one of his earliest memories—the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, and how the country came back from that horrific incident and praised first responders. Watch his 9/11 speech below. “The reason I don’t despair is because this attack happened. It’s not a dream. But the aftermath of it, the recovery is a dream realized. And that is Martin Luther King’s dream. Whatever barriers we’ve put up are gone, even if it’s just momentary. And we’re judging people by not the color of their skin but the content of their character,” he said. “And you know, all this talk about ‘These guys are criminal masterminds. They’ve gotten together and their extraordinary guile and their wit and their skill.’ It’s a lie. Any fool can blow something up. Any fool can destroy,” he continued. “But to see these guys, these firefighters, these policemen and people from all over the country, literally, with buckets rebuilding. That is extraordinary. That’s why we’ve already won. It’s light. It’s democracy. We’ve already won. They can’t shut that down. They live in chaos, and chaos can’t sustain itself. It never could. It’s too easy and it’s too unsatisfying.” “The view from my apartment was the World Trade Center and now it’s gone. They attacked it,” he concluded. “This symbol of American ingenuity and strength and labor and imagination and commerce and it is gone. But you know what the view is now? The Statue of Liberty. The view from the south of Manhattan is now the Statue of Liberty. You can’t beat that.”
Jon Stewart’s work for 9/11 first responders and victims
Established in 2001, the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund was designed to provide health benefits to first responders and their families who aided in the 9/11 recovery and rescue efforts. The program expired in 2004 but was reauthorized in 2010. Stewart interviewed a panel of 9/11 first responders on The Daily Show in 2010 to encourage reinstatement of the program and to blast Congress for failing those who should be treated as heroes, and then-New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg largely credited Stewart for the program’s reinstatement. When the bill was at risk of expiring again in 2015, Stewart returned to The Daily Show to plead for its renewal. In June 2019, Stewart tearfully pleaded with and slammed Congress members who skipped the hearing for not providing adequate care to 9/11 first responders. “It’s an embarrassment, and you should be ashamed of yourselves,” he fumed, adding, “As I sit here today, I can’t help but think what an incredible metaphor this room is for the entire process that getting healthcare and benefits for 9/11 first responders has come to. Behind me, a filled room of 9/11 first responders, and in front of me, a nearly empty Congress.”
Jon Stewart’s 9/11 first responders documentary
Stewart will appear in a documentary about the fight for the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund. Deadlinereported in September 2020 that the film, No First Responders Left Behind, will also feature activist John Feal, who had his foot amputated following the World Trade Center attacks. Stewart told Deadline in part in a statement, “John Feal and all the first responders have done so much for me, for the community, for the city, for the country. To be able to repay some of that debt that I feel I owe them personally, that we all owe them, is the best feeling. Being a small part of this journey is the one thing I’m most proud of. I will follow John anywhere he wants to lead me next. I’m thrilled John Feal’s story is being told in the documentary, No Responders Left Behind.” Next, read everything you need to know about the Black national anthem.
