Niece of 9/11 victim takes one step forward, two steps back with tweet

Citizens of New York formed a silent congregation Wednesday on the corner of Vesey and North on the cloudless autumn morning, not unlike the one that greeted some New Yorkers for the last time on Sept. 11, 2001, 12 years prior.

For some, the annual memorial service serves as a spiritual event. For others, it’s an act of duty.

For 15 year-old Brittney Cofresi, niece of an attack victim and selected reader of the casualties’ names at this year’s ceremony, it was a chance to make a statement.

“President Obama, please don’t bring us to another war,” Cofresi said after reading aloud her uncle’s name.

Upon hearing this, one might think to themselves, “Way to go, Brittney. If there’s anybody who’s got a right to express their political beliefs on war, it’s somebody who’s been directly affected by one.”

You might have also thought that she’s a 15 year old girl who has no way of knowing the implications of our nation’s international affairs, but that’s neither here nor there.

Then there was a tweet.

“I’m famous, guys. Go look up 15-year-old girl asks Obama not to go to war while speaking at the 9/11 memorial,” she tweeted soon after the ceremony, according to The New York Post.

In fewer than 140 characters, Cofresi hammered the nail in the coffin of her being taken seriously as an agent for political discourse.

Before the tweet was sent, she had already placed herself in hot water. By being selected as one of the ceremony’s key constituents, Cofresi had assumed the responsibility to pay homage to those who most deserve it. Her role was to remind us of victims as the people they were prior to the attack.

Regardless of political views, the ceremony was not the place to express them.

By violating this pact with the victims’ families, Cofresi definitely placed herself in a perilous position. Honestly, though, one can assume that some political dialogue would have ensued.

Thanks to Cofresi’s reaction, however, that dialogue will never occur, as it was swiftly executed by a tweet that brought her credibility, intentions and motivations into question.

At the end of the day, though, it’s Cofresi who’s being talked about, not the attack victims. That in itself might be the most tragic outcome of her half-baked — or carefully calculated — political interjection.

Senior staff columnist Cara Smith is a communications junior and may be reached at [email protected]