Leland McGee: Reflecting on that unforgettable day in September 2001

Tuesday, September 11, 2018  

By Leland McGee

It was seventeen years ago, but I remember that day as if it were yesterday. I remember hearing my children’s voices on the other end of the cell phone, crying and scared, worried about their dad.

I remember the late Sen. Daniel M. Inouye (D-Hawaii), crumpling into a chair beside me upon learning that a second plane had hit the twin towers in New York City, knowing that we were under a terrorist attack.

Those moments and the one’s that followed will forever be etched in my mind. Yet, out of that chaos, came a resurgence of respect and commitment to our elected leaders, both tribal and national, which I will never forget.

As the Director of Government Affairs for a national Indian law firm in Washington, D.C., I was part of the planning and organizing committee kicking off a two-day legislative and administrative summit in our nation’s capitol. The issues were similar to those we face today, lack of funding, lack of focus and lack of respect from Congress and the Administration.

However, we had several members of Congress and the Administration with us downtown that morning at the Grand Hyatt on 7th and G Streets, NW.

We had a scheduled agenda start time of 8:30 am. Many dignitaries were there much earlier to attend breakfast meetings with the 250+ Tribal leaders in attendance and engage with them on a more informal basis prior to the summit’s kick off.

Standing just outside the coffee bar, ironically watching the CNN news feed that morning, all focus turned to the monitors as the news of a plane crash in New York city had just occurred. The grainy amateur videos shot of the first impact to the World Trade Center were being played over and over.

Some of us immediately went downstairs to the ballroom and relayed the news to those already gathering there that something terrible had just occurred.

By the time we made it back up the escalators to street-level, the second plane had hit the World Trade Center. At that point, we knew we were under attack.

Secret Service agents and D.C. Metro Police swarmed the hotel. Senators, Congressmen, Cabinet Secretaries and other high-ranking officials were whisked away to secret tunnels under the hotel that connected to bunkers and other safe shelters, which also connected to the Capital building, the White House and other Federal buildings throughout the city.

Word quickly spread that two additional planes were in the air and presumed hijacked. One was reportedly headed to the U.S. Capitol, just a few blocks away from us. It would eventually find the U.S. Pentagon as it’s final target.

The moments between then and the Pentagon attack seems like a blur now. Everyone was worried, glued to the TV monitors and hoping against hope that the worst was over. We were all under lock down. We couldn’t even leave the hotel lobby.

By the time the news filtered in on Flight 97’s fate in Pennsylvania, we were all just devastated. Yet, we had a tremendous share of Tribal leaders from throughout Indian Country to now concern ourselves with.

What happened next, however, was nothing short of phenomenal. Our Tribal leaders immediately joined together and collectively began to pray, calming people down and reassuring them that all would be OK. Even though they themselves had no idea what fate still had to deal to us all that day.

I remember some of my mentors coming over to me and stating that I and others like me needed to assign ourselves each a group of Tribal dignitaries and arrange for their accommodations and eventual safe return home; that their people at home would be worried and would need their leaders back on their reservations to help calm those around the country who were all as devastated by the attacks as we were.

My phone would not stop ringing. I was getting calls from all over the country wanting information, concerned for all of us and what they could do to help. It was truly an outpouring of the best in human nature at a time when we were experiencing the worst.

My children’s fear and concerns were the hardest on me that day. I still feel guilty for putting them through that, even though I was just a dad at work doing his job. In the days to follow, we all pulled together and got everyone home safe.

I even drove one Tribal leader over 500 miles so he could rendezvous with his tribal delegation from an upper mid-west state. They had driven all night just to collect him and bring him back to his tribal headquarters because there were no planes yet cleared to fly out of D.C.

Mostly though, I remember the calm and reassurance the Tribal Leaders projected that day to the masses in D.C, be they Indian or non-Indian. People who had lost so much that day, including friends and loved ones, seemed to gravitate towards our Tribal Leaders and took comfort in their words, their prayers and their acts of kindness and leadership, at a time when such humble leadership was so desperately needed.

I was devastated that day, as were many other Americans by the cowardly acts of those who violated us, but also recharged by our Native people and their rise above the chaos to help us all accept the unacceptable of 9/11.

Many of those who helped us all overcome that day are no longer with us, but many others still are and I thank them, once again, for their wisdom and guidance during the worst of times.

So please, take a moment to remember September 11, 2001 in your own special way and remember the strength our Tribal Leaders provided us all when it was most needed.

Lest we never forget. A-ho!

Leland McGee is a citizen of the Cherokee Nation, who for the past thirty years, has served Indian Country in various capacities throughout the United States. He is currently the CEO of The Sequoyah Group, LLC, a Native-owned economic development consulting firm, based in Los Angeles, California.