September 11th was a beautiful day. >> I got to work and I was working my normal day. >> I was asleep. >> I was eating my cereal >> and I was walking just down Fifth Avenue. I was standing there on the corner of uh Third Street and First Avenue. I could hear the sound of a jet coming down. It sounded like a jet falling. >> We could almost count the rivets on [snorts] the underbelly of the fuselage. >> There was an explosion. My hands were shaking like crazy. I was watching TV and >> I live about a block from the Hudson River. >> I guess you could say the World Trade Center was my neighbor. >> Minutes ago, I was walking down Chamber Street. I saw the plane from the sky pass right into it. >> I've been living in Tribeca since 1986, and it really is my hometown. What happened? >> I live in Brooklyn and that's my view. Seeing it through the camera, it just didn't register. I mean, it just wasn't sinking in. I saw the plane come into my viewfinder. >> Holy [ __ ] >> Holy [ __ ] >> Oh my god. That was the other building, wasn't it? >> I couldn't tell. >> As soon as the second plane went in, it was certain this is deliberate. >> I was all alone up on the roof, but I didn't feel alone. I felt that every single person all around me downtown was with me. We were all together in this. >> The police want everybody off the roof. >> Hurry up. Hurry up because there's been another explosion. Everybody out of the building the building. >> Oh lord. >> Did you wait for that guy? >> This is terror. This got to be a terrorist. >> You think it is? >> Sure. Yeah. >> The two planes. One right here. >> There were two. >> Another one just hit it. >> Yeah. Two. >> I did not know that. >> This another aircraft hit it. >> Um I'm here. Apparently a second uh airplane hit the trade center. They are evacuating our building. The police has asked all of us to get out of these tall buildings. So, this is my last recording here at River Terrace. >> They're evacuating the whole building. >> You bet. It's better because our building is really high. >> Yeah. >> Was the British Airways? >> Was it Was the British Airways? >> It was a commercial a >> Yeah, I saw that one. But a second one hit, too. >> Someone said it was the British Airways hit the Second World Trade right in the middle. >> You're kidding. All of these tall buildings are being evacuated. >> The smell of burning wire and metal is unbelievable. Looks as if there's people hanging from the windows. There was debris flying after the second one came in. All the papers were glistening. The whole sky was sparkling. They flew like way deep [music] into Brooklyn. It became even more real whenever I actually like picked up the papers was like this came from over there. >> As a professional camera [music] person, my instincts is get the shot. So, I went to get the shot. All of a sudden, I realized that what I was seeing coming out of the building was not [music] debris falling, that it was people. I had no interest in shooting that footage. If a [music] family member or a child or a friend even thinks that person could be the person, then they know that's not something they want to see. Let's go. You should get out of here. >> This is not the time to be standing around. We got the active pain. If you get any type of gas, folks, listen. Come on, sir. Keep moving. >> What's going on? It's going to fall. >> It's going to explode. >> Jesus Christ. [cheering] [cheering] >> Oh [ __ ] Oh my god. The whole building crashed. >> The whole building crashed. >> Go everybody. I had never seen anything like this smoke wave. [music] As you remember the newscast, people running from the uh the smoke coming through the streets. Well, that was me. >> [music] >> I was saying to myself, "This is the end. New York is gone. That's it. This place is going to be a ghost town. [music] [music] Come on. Come on. >> Safest bet right now to be in this building >> just [clears throat] in case something else happens. You got concrete around you. You got concrete above you. This is not a target building. There's no federal in here. There's no big offices in here. It's not a target building. You're safe in here. >> A water machine. Something get some of these people water. >> Yeah. Here's one of the guys. He can tell you I'm okay. All right. Here. Hold on. >> You want to call You want to call your mother or something? supposed to be right now. >> You got to get back from here. >> I know that you got to get back. >> Don't worry about me. We need to make calls right now. >> All right, let's go. >> You want here? I got to use this card, man. And a large plume of black smoke going up here on West Broadway and Chamber Street. >> Oh my god. I have an inner sense of where my line of safety is and I thought that I still had a couple more seconds to stay there. >> Come on, miss. Get in here. [ __ ] that [ __ ] >> Don't move. >> Get behind. >> Oh my god. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. >> Oh my god. >> Oh my god. >> Oh my god. >> You're right. Oh my god. You saved my life. >> You saved my life. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> Oh my god. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> When I went outside, it was covered with ash. And God only knows what that ash is made out of. He just got to get out. I'm getting him out of here. He was in the collapse. He got buried. >> It's like zombies. You see these people walking just covered head to foot in dust. >> I was in it 22nd floor one center. We have to make sure that the people are out also. Almost all the people were out. But after the second blast, everything was so dark. We decided we have to go out and I was waiting outside to make sure that our team workers are okay. >> Did you already go in? >> What >> did you go in? >> I was there. Yeah. >> Are you going back? >> Good job. >> Good luck. >> For God's sake. by >> Where did you get all the >> You're more than welcome. >> Somebody help him up. All right. All right. All right. >> One, two, two, three. >> All right. >> Um, I don't know. I got off from the subway. It all filled with smoke and they let us out. It is. You can't even see outside. It just everything is filled with smoke. It was And anyway, I'm in a building lobby that's filled with smoke. But at least there's What? I I You can't walk. I can't see anything to watch. Did did the the trade center collapse? >> If it wasn't cuz that storm man over here that found me. I I gave up. >> I gave up. >> The dust is so thick you can't see. You can't breathe. So you just give up. >> Don't walk this way, guys. >> We want to go to the bridge. No. >> What? The bridge. Brooklyn Bridge. You want to walk the Brooklyn Bridge. Go down. Go down as far as you can and then go across over here. All right, we'll lock up everything. Don't worry about it. Be careful. Be safe. All right. >> You could walk across the Brooklyn Bridge. >> If you want to go to Brooklyn, >> swim. >> Yeah. >> Stay out of Manhattan. >> It was a huge exodus. Everybody was so shocked. Most people didn't even talk. Nothing's safe anymore. Well, I think there's like 30,000 workers in each. Not to mention the rescue workers who were already there after the first plane and all the people around it. >> I'll tell you, if the people in the Middle East think this is going to help their view, they're wrong. >> Yeah, you tell them. >> They're wrong. We're coming to get you in Baghdad. We're coming to get you in Afghanistan. We're coming to get you. He was just acting spontaneously out of anger, out of frustration, out of fear, sheer fear. [laughter] Just draw a line here. Show these people back. >> Stay behind the line, please. Everybody just flocked to the radio and it was dead silence. Everybody was just listening to the news reports and watching the images of the towers burning. >> We are now getting a report from that American Airlines says that one of its flights is down or at least they've lost contact. 1010 Winds News Now has over Mayor Giuliani has something to say. >> We're going to be moving a large number of ambulances and uh emergency personnel in and out of there all day. I've talked to the governor. He is putting the National Guard It's tough. This is beyond, >> you know, we can handle just about everything. This is beyond really is. They were trying to put the fire out down there with towel at us, but uh >> it was on the fourth floor. We were trying >> Well, we got all kinds of water problems. The the the uh two trade buildings took out the mains. There's no way to put the fire out. [music] >> This is rush hour. Completely empty. All cars have stopped. >> [music] >> I went out about 9:00 at night. There were police barricades everywhere. Jesus. This is a street that I walked down many times. The firefighters had looks on their faces like they had seen something pretty horrific. >> Thousand thousands of people buried down there. Couple hundred firemen, couple hundred cops. >> Something right there. That was the World Trade Center straight up. This is five and seven. I don't know where it is. >> [music] >> I remember I was shooting a group of firemen [music] heading down there and obviously they had been there. >> Take care guys. >> It was clear [music] they knew where they were going. On September 12th, the next day, [music] I I went to Washington Square Park. I saw people just forming this huge circle around the fountain. Nobody had decided to do that. People were just holding hands, speechless, saying nothing. You knew what happened and you acknowledged it. [applause] There were couple of times where I captured some people who were just singing. [singing] >> On September 12th, [music] I went to the river where the most incredible thing out of this tragedy happened was was Point You right on the Hudson River. And it was there that a whole bunch of people assembled to uh to cheer on the rescue workers and the firemen and the cops and everyone else [music] who were traveling back and forth between ground zero and Chelsea Piers, which was their base of operations. I'd say the feeling was very patriotic [music] that evening, [applause] >> but more so of of uh New Yorkers coming together. [music] >> If I would come across someone um you know who might have been Muslim or Indian or anyone who really wasn't white, it was just immediate sense of panic from them that they were going to be mislabeled. >> I love America now. He immediately thought I was filming him just because he was an ethnic man and he immediately got afraid. >> I'm from India, man. >> I'm a best friend of America. I'm from India. He's always best friend of America. [music] >> On September 12th, it was pretty quiet. I was looking for comfort, something that I could use to to think that it's okay to be in New York after all. >> Thank you. I think that people were tired from watching the news all day and they thought, "Well, I got to go and find somebody that can um give me some hope. [music] [music] [music] is give peace a chance. A lot of Arabs around the world feel like they are disrespected. Also, we are we are not we are we treat them like secondass citizens. We have stereotypes of them and we are even now American brothers and sisters are going into places where Muslims live and and firing off weapons and pulling people hardworking people out of taxi cabs. We don't have the right to do that. We we also have to do some reflection. >> [music] >> If New Yorkers are taking it with such strength, I mean, I only could draw comfort from that. And they came out to a park to do that. [music] The second day I was there, I just walked through my bicycle, [music] my camera. The combination of no lights to no humans makes any [music] city spooky, bad, especially in New York. I do have a friend that has an apartment a block away from the Twin Towers. Then I end up going upstairs and [music] filming You had the smoke rising and then you see the remaining skeletons of [music] the twin towers. Reminded me very much like the coliseum, you know, it's like the ancient coliseum, you know, just a skeleton of it and just just such a statement. >> [music] [music] [music] >> I think as close as New York has ever been to a nuclear disaster. That's right. On Thursday, I went down to Lexington Avenue and 26th Street, which is where the armory is, where families were going to try to find information about their loved ones who were in the tower. So it was sort of a focal point for a few days of grieving. At the [music] time we were starting to see all the posters with photographs and names and phone numbers that became a wallpaper of New York [music] City for about a week, two weeks after [music] [music] There was a lot of hope. A [music] lot of hope. >> Wesley is a um 25 year veteran of the of the army. And I I because he was the security offer security vice president for Morgan Stenley. I know that he was one of the last people to try to get out of the building because he got most of his employees out. They have called me and have been calling to see if he made it home all day Tuesday. [music] >> I was glad for the hope. It also made me sad for me. That was really where I began to feel through these individuals the enormity of what was going on. There's a feeling in the crowd that people were glad that Bill Clinton was there. >> This is still two days later. Just two days. >> But there's a need to see someone with that stature out on the street. >> Mr. Clinton, should we invade Afghanistan? >> We should wait till the president tells us what the what the investigation says and then what should be done. We should Thank you. [music] As an industrial designer, I was like, well, what can I how how can I help? How can I serve my country? What [music] can I do to help? What can I design? and to those who carried it out. >> But then my girlfriend's a pastry chef [music] >> relief York. >> Two days afterwards [music] we >> made a cake um to donate um [music] and to sort of show our support. [music] At Pier 40, they sort [music] of established a a great network of support of packing goods, [music] unpacking goods, setting it up, getting it ready to give to people to go down to the World Trade Center. Before we knew it, [music] we had spent 2 hours working, helping, cleaning, organizing this area. And [music] it felt like 5 minutes >> just to give of ourselves [music] in the smallest way. Really felt good to do something like that. Keep the area clear. >> Need food, clothing, medical supplies. >> In the southern corner of Union Square, there was this tremendous beehive of activity of people yelling out. >> Anyone looking to make a donation, step right here, please. >> Everybody wanted to [music] do something. >> Hot food and cold food. Separate. >> Toiletries. Toiletries. Toothbrush. Toothpaste, deodorant, soap, medical supplies. Wonderful. Batteries. Batteries. Batteries. Batteries. Batteries. >> Yep. We got We're all set. Thank you so much. >> The thing that hit me the most as a long-standing New Yorker, you don't see this behavior a lot. What people were willing to do and willing to bring [music] and everybody just saying, "How can I help?" >> Flashlights and batteries. >> Who's taking down? We're just >> We're pulling them random cars. >> FedEx truck just pulled up. Filled up. Went off. >> Pick it up. >> You got a van. >> Yeah. >> Okay, great. We have a truck. >> We have a truck here. >> I think New York showed its true colors that week in a way that hopefully it will never have to again, but has made this city much stronger. A woman wrote on the ground, "The American flag propagates violence." >> This is char. We can get rid of this. Yeah. It's not that, you know, >> right there. >> It's not that bad. This is char. >> There goes the first amendment of the United States. >> Yeah. But you know what? If you in the United States, you don't talk like this. Now, if you don't like the United States, you go home. That was the part where I witnessed an hour-long confrontation in the middle of Union Square between the peoples of New York. >> I want the threat to be neutralized. And if that means erasing them off the face of the globe so my family can be safe, that's what I want done. >> I don't like to wait until the like the Gulf War, until the bombs are going and then it's too late and then it's too late to stand with candles and say we don't like to have a war. will always be with us. There are military targets and there are not military target. That is not a military target. >> We're defending an ideal that is better than bombing against bombing against bombing against bombing. >> We are the most perfect nation that's ever been created as flawed as we are. And I'll be damned if I'm going to stand by and let people bomb us. >> Then get out of the country. >> That's not our country. >> This European pantheism is is got to go. It's got to go. >> But the Bible says if you have if you get a slam on one cheek, give your other cheek. And >> God gave us this country. I will stand to my death and defend it. >> God didn't give you anything. Okay? He didn't say the United States is yours. Cuz you know what? There were people here before. It's God has nothing to do with it. And that's exactly how the Antichrist is going to rise. I'm not going to fault anyone for what they said that day or for how long they fought for because it was really just the frustration of being attacked, feeling unsafe, being unsure, your city being compromised, your life being compromised because it was emotion. It was just raw gutted emotion. And >> I want you all to [ __ ] stop and shut the [ __ ] up right now. I'm a local 580 lion worker. I was down there in the first two days and I want silence. I will. I will. I was pulling body parts. >> Don't was I on the first night. >> Then what are we arguing about? >> Arguing. We're trying to >> You came here. We're going to shut up. >> Chill. >> I don't know. I am in [ __ ] pain. Cuz I have never seen heads, body parts, and anything like that. >> You can't act out in pain. >> Then what is one side arguing the other? Let it be to our leaders. >> Changing ideas. >> Listen, change ideas. I'm not trying to fight. I don't know how to process this. >> None. None of us do. We all have so much rage inside. >> And where is it? What do we do with it? What do we do? >> We want to prevent the rage. We have to work through the rage. >> I'm sorry. I don't want to. >> I know. I know. But what do we do with it? We have There's so much emotion. It can't be needs to be channeled somewhere. >> Or we're all going to kill each other. I mean, it's true. >> Why don't we stop arguing and start reflecting? That's what this >> No, we're arguing and then we're hugging. See, argue, hug. At night they went to Jersey City, the candle [music] lighting on the Hudson River. I don't know how many people was there. 300 people, 500 people in a little spot just to see what's happened there. It was so beautiful. What's that for? >> To the dogs in the building. >> The people in the building. Yeah. Hold it up. Good boy. on the 15th. [music] There was no easy place to walk. Once you got in there, you had to climb over window frames to [music] get outside. With that destruction, the likelihood of pulling somebody out there alive is going to [music] be slim. You never said that. You never said it to your friends, to your partners, to a civilian. You never said it. There was a golden rule, and we were told this before you entered the building. They said that if you find a New York firefighter or New York police officer, you don't touch [music] the body. You don't move it. You stay with the body. You You call one of the command staff. They come over and [music] New York City firefighters remove their own. That's the gold rule. A lot of anger. A lot of anger in the firefighters. The anger was why did this happen? We did our normal job. [music] We came to work at 7 a.m. like we normally do. Why are we the ones losing 343 firefighters? Why are we the ones that, you know, [music] our friends and family aren't going to come home? [music] This is my apartment. And this is the dust in my apartment. Even if [music] a tiny bit of one person was in a part of that dust, it was sacred. I still have it. One block up from where I lived, the wreckage [music] of trucks and cars were sitting. Each [music] one was like a little shrine. >> [music] [music] [music] >> The man with a hat. All right. >> [music] >> We're feeding all the workers, the uh cops, everybody. >> Well over a thousand hamburgers, hot dogs, >> ribs, >> ribs, chicken. Anybody that's coming by? >> Okay, here you are. >> All right. Thank you. >> You're welcome. Just wash your napkins. And you want another water? >> All right. >> Thank you. >> Okay. You're welcome. Thank you. >> You guys want some burgers? Hot dogs. >> Take a burger. >> Water. Guys, water. Take care, buddy. >> Thank you, guys. >> We didn't have any rain gear. I didn't have any all day. Uh, somebody gave me some stuff at the end of the day to keep dry with. The firemen in particular were the hardest ones to talk to because they knew more than any of us who were civilians how bad it was. [snorts] >> 60 and 80 foot steel beams that that that they're like missiles. They sink 30 and 40 feet into the earth. It's unbelievable. There's going to have to be an international set of ten commandments by which if you break it and your head comes up then you then you'll lose it. And this is the rules that all of us are going to have to live by. We're we're going to end up being one world or we're going to [ __ ] go down. We're going to go down. >> At some point, I was interested in in seeing this through eyes of children. I think they really wear everything right there on their faces. >> What does this one? >> This one goes here and here. And there was a a young man, young boy and and his father. So I asked them I I asked them if they wanted to comment and what's going on or said would they care to say anything. I think it's it's really horrible, you know, that thousands of people just ended, you know, suddenly ended and that fuels anger and hatred and I I you know, I just very about to cry now. But I'm just, you know, very sad and angry that this happened and so many people had to die. You know, >> they didn't have to die. >> They didn't have to die. I mean, there's no need for this. When he started talking, I was very surprised how fluent he was and how well spoken he was. And I was I knew when I was filming it that I was filming something special. >> You can just like, you know, say goodbye to the world because one nuke gets fired, then everybody else breaks nuclear treaties and then, you know, it's like a quote from Albert Einstein who, you know, was talking about, you know, what I used to say to my old friends about how humans will destroy. He said the first world war was fought in the trenches. The second world war was fought in the air. I don't know how the third world war will be fought, but the fourth world war will be fought using stones, clubs, and bows and arrows. Just saying how, you know, we'll probably, you know, just, you know, it's very scary to think nukes in the wrong hands like Osama bin Laden or Saddam Hussein. You know, it's just very scary. just community board members and officials and people with pertinent information over here. >> There was a community meeting of residents that I had to attend and since I was attending it, I shot that. >> We're going to give you information of what we can and then we're going to break up into groups. There'll be plenty of time. When I was leaving, there was um small parade of young people who were volunteering in an organization that was involved with cleaning up. Everybody had been through a tremendously traumatizing event and they [music] had very strong feelings and opinions and they needed to express them. And so all kinds of things were happening. And one of the first things I saw was this parade. Maybe that was the beginning when people decided they were ready to live again. >> Yeah. Help yourself as many as you want. >> Yeah. Take as many as you want. >> Don't Don't worry about it. Just take as >> take as many as you need. Policeman, are you kidding me? Take the whole box. >> Yeah, you take the whole box. Come on. You guys are doing an incredible job. >> Thank you. >> I came and got some. And um I went back to the precinct. I picked up some paperwork. Anybody like, "Where'd you get the ribbons from?" I was like, "I'll be >> That's so cool. The ribbons are like at the precinct." How great is that? >> Everybody went nuts. >> They're made by the Columbia Business School. >> Yeah. Columbia Business School. >> Take the Columbia Business School. Absolutely. All right. Thanks, guys. >> No problem. Keep up the good work. >> Thank you. I've never felt like I've loved the city so much as like when you see it start falling apart. [music] [music] [music] On Monday, I took my video camera and I went to the Wall Street area. I I believe we should go back to work even though today nobody's really doing much business. Everybody's just really trying to get back to the way things were. Like uh right now the business is dead. There's no phones. So, it's kind of hard. >> Military people clearly had their instructions. They're not weren't going to let anybody through and they didn't. And uh nobody even tried to get through. >> Can I get through? Hold it up a minute. >> Come on. Come on. Oh, I'm sorry. Sorry. I'm sorry. >> This block is packed. We need you to move on. Start with the camera. I ask you to move on. ask you to >> that military presence on the Wall Street area was very threatening. I didn't feel reassured at all >> in your hometown having military, you know, guarding streets and preventing you from walking freely to where you're going. Very scary. Tomorrow may bring you may not make it tomorrow. You may die a night before the day is over with. I want to beg you. I want to plead with you. I want to ask you to accept the Lord Jesus Christ as your savior. I want to ask you if you'd bow down and ask him to save you. >> Slow down. >> The smell was everywhere. >> You could probably scoop it with a spoon. It was so thick. How are you guys? >> In the distance, I could see my apartment building still standing. Um, we weren't sure if it was damaged or if it had burned. We Nobody knew. >> Do you see any blown windows? So, I think we're okay. >> I was able to go back to my apartment for a few minutes. >> That is the remains of the trade center. These great towers still smoldering just right outside my living room. that was standing virtually in the same spot um that I was shooting from that morning of September 11th. >> That shell is all that's left. >> That fire burned for weeks and weeks and weeks. This apartment building right over here, uh a lot of people have vacated already and aren't ever coming back. >> I struggled with the idea of staying just four blocks from, you know, one of the world's greatest disasters. But it's my home. I can't turn my back on New York [music] a crazy way. I think 9/11 uh enhanced [music] all the good qualities of New Yorkers and New York. There was a mood for every day. [music] It was almost a change that was so visible. >> As horrible and as awful as it was, you could look at a stranger in the eye and know they were feeling the same pain, [music] the same anguish that you were. And there's something pretty amazing about that. I don't think I could live any place else. I mean, even after all this happening, [music] I don't think I want to live anywhere else but here. [music] [music] >> [music] [music]