Archives September 2010

Note: This is the first of several articles about Superheroes Anonymous 4, a gathering of Real Life Superheroes being held in Portland, Oregon. This series, written by Treesong, is a collaborative project of Heroes in the Night and Song of the Trees.
I’ve arrived safe and sound in Portland, Oregon for Superheroes Anonymous 4. The conference really doesn’t get started until tomorrow, so I don’t have much to report yet. I did, however, want to write a brief entry about my arrival and first impressions.
When my bus arrived in town, I took Portland’s lovely Max Light Rail out to a spot that would be more convenient for meeting up with the others. Zetaman met me in the parking lot of the Max station, and we went together to our first event: an informal barbeque and meet-up.
I feel the night went well. We spent a little time discussing logistics for the next two days, but mostly we just socialized and got to know each other better. I’d never met any of the others in person before, so I feel that eating together, and relaxing together, and being wacky and wild and real with each other, was a good way for me to start getting to know them.
I can already tell that I’m going to enjoy this weekend and enjoy working side by side with these people. Not everyone was able to make it into town in time for the barbeque, so there are still more people for me to meet. Even so, I like the fact that we all have serious reasons for being Real Life Superheroes, yet we can all have fun together too. It’s good team bonding, and good preparation for the coming two days of very active working and learning.
With that said, I’m off to bed. Look forward to more news once the conference has officially started!
 

From Dark Guardian
It was a beautiful April Night. It was clear and warm. A perfect spring night, possibly the nicest day of the year.  On this great night I decided to take on the drug dealers of Washington Square Park. I had been going up against them for some time now.  I had been calling and reporting them to the police and even taking it to the level of direct confrontation.  I was going up to them and kicking them out of the park.  When doing so I would make sure to have at least a small group of people with me and some lights and cameras to deter violence.
This night I was going to make a big statement, not only to the drug dealers, but to my community and the public at large.  I was going to take the park back from the dealers and let everyone around know the dealign will not be tolerated anymore.  This is something I could not do alone, so I got a whole group of real life superheroes together for it.  Many real life superheroes traveled in to back me up and help out.

Every time I go in and do something against the dealers I make sure they are selling.  I send in someone undercover to make sure they are dealers and to find out what exactly they are selling.  This night we sent someone in and they got them offering to sell them eight balls of coke.  A pretty big order to be selling outside in a park.  We scope out the operation they have out there and we were looking at a twenty plus person operation that night.  We know they are dealing and we know who they are.  A group of us gather together getting ready to swarm the park, take it back from the dealers, and kick them out.
As we get ready to go in I hear someone say, “hey you we want to talk to you”.  Two police officers are walking over to me.  I say yes officer, they say they want to speak with me.  I explain to them that I do not break any laws and they tell me that I am not in any trouble, but the Lieutenant wants to speak to me.  They asked that Cameraman and I come down to the precinct.  I comply with the officers request.  We get in their car and drive off to the precinct.  We chat with the officers about the dealers and the problem in the park.  They explain that that they try hard to get the dealers out.  They arrest them constantly and have undercover ops in there.  They say they appreciate what I am doing but don’t want to things to get violent out there and do not want me or anyone else to get hurt.  They tell us they can’t just go in and pat the dealers down or just tell them to leave.  We had a good conversation with the officers.

We arrived at the precinct. It is the special operations precinct.  We walk in and everyone in the precinct knows who we are.  I get various comments like “look who it is”, “Superhero”, and a female officer says “I thought you were taller”.  Cameraman and I sit down in the office and we talked with an officer and the lieutenant.  They know who I am, they have seen videos of me, and know what I do. We talk about the park and the dealers.  There main concern is for my safety. They explain that they have arrested some of these guys 50-60 times and they are back out there.  The one big dealer Carmello who I had been up against was shot in the head before and is still out there.  He talked about how many of them carry weapons and guns.  We talk for a a bit about things.  I explained what I do and why I do it.  They respected what I was trying to do, but did not want to see me or anyone else get hurt.  They said I can contact them if I had any information.  I left them my information and got the lieutenants card.
Cameraman and I left the precinct and had to take a cab back to meet with the rest of the team.  I was a little shaken up after getting picked up by the police and brought in.  I was a little hesitant to get back out there.  I had all these people out here to get my back and help me out.  These dealers were out of control and brazen.  I knew I had to do it and still take on the dealers.  The team gets together and we head out to the park.

We first get in and confront the dealer.  We actually have a conversation about the drug problem out there.  I get on my bull horn and start calling out over it “NO MORE DRUGS IN THE PARK”, “THIS IS NOT YOUR PARK”.  We work our way to the center area of where the dealers were selling.  They back away from us, some start yelling and cursing at us. One dealers starts yelling at us in Jamaican.  We force the dealers out of the park and onto the streets.  Some leave and walk away, many hang out at the outskirts of the park talking with each other, looking over at us, and threatening us.
We took their spot and were out there with cameras, lights, and a bullhorn.  We were messing up their business on a real good night to sell.  We probably cost them thousands of dollars that night.  It got so bad for them that we witnessed their leadership come out.  A man came out and started yelling at the dealers who were forced out of the park.  He was yelling “What the f**k is going on out here”, “You going to let these people bitch you like this”.  He looked over at us yelling threats. We held steady control over our area of the park. A dealer from afar lifts up his shirt flashing a gun at us.  We do not move and he walks away.  We were out there for hours locking down the park and hurting their business.  Most the dealers had left the area. We decided after while to leave.  We had made a big statement and hurt their business bad that night.  We cautiously exited the park as a group.  We walked through the city for a while making sure we were not being followed.

A couple of us hung out for a while after.  This was one of the craziest nights for me in being a real life superhero.  We took a stand against against the dealers and hurt their business bad for the night.  We also called attention to the problem in the park. I’m happy to report that those dealers are not in the park anymore.  I am thankful to everyone who helped out that night. They had my back, put themselves in danger, risked serious injury, and even death to come out and make a difference.

Razorhawk is organizing a massive homeless outreach event at Comic Con 2011 in San Diego

This will hopefully be the most massive outreach to homeless people in Southern California on the weekend of ComiCon 2011. We hope to get 50-100 heroes and hero support together to reach out to the homeless with food, water and supplies. hopefully making an impact that will be felt everywhere!
Updated information can be found at-
http://www.therlsh.net/upcoming-events-f10/homeless-outreach-358-days-away-t4824.htm
The event will go from 10PM July 22,2011 until 12 or 1 am and will recommence on Saturday afternoon July 23,2011 at Noon and run for 4-6 hours. We are also acceting donations and sponsorship that will help us get more supplies so we can help the maximum number of people.

Further Information
From Atavistik
“Hope alone gets nothing accomplished… you must have the will to make that hope a reality.”
July 23rd (Saturday) 2011 is a day that members of this community will meet at the San Diego Con to both attend the Con and to participate in a joint outreach effort to aid those in need in that area. while the odds are that a large group will be in attendance, many community members will not be able to participate. as such, we kinda figured that it would be cool to supplement the group effort in SD with as many other such handouts as possible anywhere and everywhere we can. anyone interested (I’m even leaning towards non-RLSH and non-gimmick people here) could take the 8-9 months until getting ready to do as much good as they can….. that doesn’t mean you have to save it all up til then either. think about the prime package possibilities people! {sorry, couldn’t help it} and what’s the point? because alone, at best you are seen as a costumed eccentric (not in most instances though ) at the Con, Raz and those guys will be people in costumes…. at a Comic Convention ……. that do some outreach. in costume. if we hit on the same day from the west coast all the way to Lady Liberty, from Tenochtitlan to Barrow and anywhere else that you couldn’t possibly walk from here (okay. so the Statue of Liberty is on an island and most people think Montezuma is a tequila} but you get my point) doing outreach with a flier about the HOPE meet (okay, so I’m not sure HOPE is all caps…. but I like it that way) and a simple explanation thereof, well…… then all you need is contact info and informational links.
since Raz said he’d work up a pdf flier and I have a bigger mouth than my little brother, I’m posting the sign-up sheet. I say “sign up sheet” because people could be interested in helping out, if there’s someone from here already doing this in their area we can direct that help in their direction. if there isn’t, maybe that interested person could get something going anyways…..
in short; outreach/handout, July 23rd 2011, in your town (it’s up to you)……. interested??
More information at: http://www.therlsh.net/bulletin-board-f23/hope-2011-homeless-handout-t6234.htm
 

I first encountered Tea Krulo’s work in an article he wrote almost a year ago in The Boston Phoenix spotlighting Real Life Superheroes in New England. It didn’t take long for me to contact him and ask him to joinForces of Geek.Fortunately, he accepted and his column on both this site and his own, are fascinating looks at a real life phenomenon. Tea is currently using Kickstarter to help generate financial support for his book, Heroes In The Night and shared some details about the project with FOG!

What are real life superheroes?
Explaining what real life superheroes (RLSHs) are can be a complicated thing, since there are a number of different approaches. Generally speaking, they are people who invent their own costumed persona and then use that persona to do something in the real world- doing safety patrols looking for crime, detective work, charity events and fundraising, handing out supplies to the homeless, in general trying to do small scale superheroics to try to improve their neighborhoods.
I use the term “movement” because simply defined a movement is a “group of people working toward a common goal.” In this case the common goal is trying to improve quality of life by helping those in need.
Are these people crazy? Do they think they have superpowers?
Well, I think that the people who sit on their ass and watch TV all day and whine about how terrible everything is- those are the crazy people. I will admit I’ve run into some wild characters in the RLSH world, I don’t think anyone will deny they exist. There are a small few who claim to have some psychic, “magick,” or metaphysical capabilities. Every group has “crazy uncles” though, and the more interesting story to me was that most of these people are pretty normal, have regular jobs, families, are going to school, some are military, and they are fully aware that they are human beings and face the same limitations we all do.
What approach does your book take? How is it different than potential other books about real life superheroes being worked on?
My book, Heroes in the Night, is based on three strong points- research, extensive interviewing, and field work. I’ve tried to find people doing something similar to this as far back as I can, interviewed well over a hundred RLSHs and associates by phone and e-mail, and traveled to meet RLSHs in Minneapolis and Rochester, MN, New Bedford, MA, New York City, Seattle, WA, and Vancouver. I’ve also spent a lot of time with the local RLSHs here in my home town of Milwaukee, WI.

Although I do appear in the book to share in my adventures, I appear more as a narrator than a central character. For most of the book I remain objective- I am presenting these people’s stories and the reader will walk away with any number of impressions depending on how the story resonates with them personally. Some will probably shrug their shoulders and be apathetic, others will think it’s a joke, and I think some will start wondering what color spandex will look best on them.
Who are your favorite real life superheroes?
I don’t really have a favorite. Real life superheroes are like snowflakes- all unique in their own way. Everyone I’ve gotten to meet in person has been really great. I’ve spent the most time with my local RLSHs, The Watchman and Blackbird, patrolling my own neighborhood. I’ve had them over to my house many times and gotten to know them pretty well. I will continue to support them long after my book is on shelves. I’ve met about 25-30 RLSHs in person and my experiences with all of them have been good.
Is there such a thing as real life supervillains?
Ha! There are, but you don’t need to fear for your safety. I think it’s inevitable that not everyone is a RLSH fan, for whatever reasons, so “real life supervillains” began to appear, mocking the heroes online via blogs and YouTube videos. For some I think it is just goofing around making fun of people, others like to try and find hypocritical or unheroic behavior to attack them with.
I am in regular contact with some of them. I don’t always agree with what they say, but I don’t necessarily agree with everything heroes say either- in my experience surrounding yourself with people that only agree with you is very limiting.

Have you thought of becoming a real life superhero yourself?
Yes, indeed. I remember like ten years ago, a friend of mine was viciously mugged on her way to meet her friends at a bar. I had sort of a day dream of myself dressed up like Batman, jumping out of the shadows to save her. So I can see the appeal- creating a mysterious alter ego seems adventurous and fun. I think that is something these guys don’t mention always- it’s fun. I don’t really have the right abs to pull off spandex, but definitely I’ve found myself thinking “alright- this guy’s mask with this guy’s armor, maybe in a darker shade of blue…”
Why are you trying to raise money through Kickstarter?
I’d really like to do it myself and have creative control over it. I know enough qualified people to help me make it happen. There is a substantial amount of cost to make it happen the right way, so I decided to raise funds via the site Kickstarter. At one of the most basic levels this allows people to pre-order a signed copy of the book for $35 dollars, and other levels allow people to get a preview of the book and even a custom ordered mask of their own from Hero-Gear. Jack of Hero-Gear has designed countless RLSH masks and suits.
Being in control also lets me do whatever I want with the books and the money made on them. For instance, I have committed to donating a proceed of the books and related merchandise to charity.
You can find out more about the Kickstarter and preorder a book HERE!

Note: This is the first of several articles about Superheroes Anonymous 4, a gathering of Real Life Superheroes being held in Portland, Oregon. This series, written by Treesong, is a collaborative project of Heroes in the Night and Song of the Trees.
In a few hours, I’ll be boarding a Greyhound bus here in Carbondale, Southern Illinois. After two days on the road, I’ll arrive in Portland, Oregon for a conference called Superheroes Anonymous 4, where I’ll be spending about two days in the company of fellow Real Life Superheroes. Considering the amount of time, energy, and support that has gone into making my trip to this conference a reality, I thought I’d take a few moments to reflect on what it is and why I’m going.
A Real Life Superhero is just what it sounds like: someone who wears a special costume or uniform, adopts a special name, and goes around providing various forms of community service.
Some of us are self-appointed urban guardians, conducting neighborhood patrols to prevent crime and ensure the safety of people in our communities. Some of us are charitable volunteers, offering our time and energy and money to people in need and the community organizations that serve them. Some of us are activists or advocates, choosing one or more social or environmental causes to organize around in our community. Many of us are some combination of the above, or choose our own way that is hard for others to define. At the end of the day, we are people of conscience who love our communities and have chosen a bold new way to serve and protect them.
When I first heard about Real Life Superheroes online, I knew immediately that it was right for me. It was what I had been trying to do with my life for years without fully understanding how to put a name to it. However, I definitely understand the initial skeptical response of some people. Why superheroes? What’s the point of adopting a superhero name and dressing up in a costume or uniform?
Really, I can only speak for myself. Some people’s approaches are very different than mine, and some don’t even like to be called Real Life Superheroes. For me, though, what it comes down to is the difference between despair and hope.
For about ten years, I was what most people would call an activist. It started when I was a college student and continued well after graduation as I decided to stay in the Carbondale for the long haul. I would join community groups, organize community events, and speak out about political causes that were near and dear to my heart.
This was an intense way of life. At first, it felt very empowering and rewarding. I learned more about the world, I met wonderful people, and I felt like I was starting to make a difference. But as time went on, it started to seem more and more like an endless struggle. There were so many problems in our community, and even more in the world beyond it. I had a growing sense of urgency about what needed to be done, but a diminishing sense of what I or anyone else could do about it.
For a few years, I sank into a rut of despair, without the time or energy or hope necessary to do much in my community. But then, I came across this Real Life Superhero movement, and something clicked.
Superheroes are archetypal figures of inspiration, empowerment, and hope. Most efforts to increase community involvement focus on some combination of guilt (“If you don’t help this cause, you’re not a good person!”), anger (“Look at what they did to that forest!”), or fear (“The world will end if you don’t help this cause!”). This may work in the short term, but it leaves people feeling guilty, frustrated, afraid, and ultimately powerless. It emphasizes the idea that we’re surrounded by troubles, and that we’re constantly in danger of being overwhelmed by these troubles.
The Real Life Superhero approach to community involvement, on the other hand, is rooted in the idea that each of us can become a beacon of hope and an agent of change in an otherwise bleak and apathetic society. Real Life Superheroes are everyday citizens just like you who have simply chosen to go the extra mile and do some good in our community. We have no superpowers, and some of us don’t even have any fancy gear or special martial arts training. We also don’t have all of the answers to the problems facing our community. What each of us does have, though, is our own unique set of skills, experience, and passion that we bring to our work. We see some problem or need in our community, and we take simple and direct action to resolve it. It’s that simple for us — and it can be that simple for you, too.
Learning about and talking to Real Life Superheroes from around the world has been an amazing experience. Embracing the superhero archetype and becoming a Real Life Superhero myself has given me the renewed energy and vision that I needed to start being active again in my community. Taking action, in turn, has been the antidote to my despair, leaving me with a sense of hope for the future. Now, instead of seeing community service as a “chore,” I look at it as an adventure.
And THAT is why I’m going to Superheroes Anonymous 4. I feel inspired again, and I want to follow that inspiration wherever it leads me. I also want to meet up with other people who feel the same way and see what we can do in the span of two days to learn together, to grow together, and to serve the people of Portland and beyond.
I realize that most people don’t “get it” the first time they hear about it, and some people will never “get it” at all. This approach to community service certainly isn’t for everyone, and I don’t recommend it for everyone. But I find it profoundly inspiring. Other Real Life Superheroes find it inspiring, and many people in our communities find it inspiring too. As long as we’re doing good work and inspiring others to do the same, that’s the important thing.
However this weekend’s conference goes, I hope that this spirit of inspiration will continue, and that more and more people will discover their inner superhero. Even if you don’t feel a need to adopt a new name and costume, know that you have the power within you to make a difference for the better. And stay tuned for more updates on Superheroes Anonymous 4!
 

Originally posted: http://newslite.tv/2010/09/14/real-life-super-heroes-photogr.html
You probably think costumed super heroes only exist on the pages of comic books and in Hollywood movies, don’t you? It’s an easy mistake to make.

But there are actually hundreds of ordinary people (without super-powers) who get dressed up each day to go out and fight crime or campaign for what they think is right.
And now Hollywood photographer Peter Tangen – who has shot images for Spiderman, Batman and Hellboy movie posters – is setting out to document the lives of the these anonymous costumed activists.
Along with a team of designers, he each week creates a Hollywood style movie poster for one of the real life superheroes… and to be honest most of them look more interesting than your average superhero film.
Speaking to Newslite about the origins of the project, Tangen said: “I read about a real life superhero in a magazine and the idea that he existed immediately captured my imagination.
“When I learned that there were more then a hundred of these costumed activists I knew I had to meet and photograph them.
“The idea of the Real Life Super Hero Project is to illustrate the deeper story the media had mostly missed in their limited coverage of the subject.
“Knowing they were notoriously difficult to reach I appealed to their interest in the comic book genre of movies as well as offered the opportunity to participate in a positive story about their work
“I first approached Vancouver’s Thanatos and asked him to participate in my project . Once I’d photographed him his advocacy for the project created community wide support and four weeks later I found myself on set with twenty heroes for one big photo-shoot.”
New hero profiles and other content will be added to the website every week through the end of the year and beyond, there are video interviews online so you can hear them talk about their missions.

Real Life Superheores are growing. It is becoming more popular and becoming more mainstream. The media is getting more and more interested in the idea. There are news reports, news aticles, books, photoshoots, magazine articles, talk of TV shows, and more.
I have been a real life superhero for about 8 years now. I did this when there was seriously only a handful of people doing this. I was out patrolling 3-5 times a week for the first few years. I did this for years before I did a news article.
I have spent thousands of dollars doing this of which the majority was spent on food, water, clothes, pillows, blankets, neccesities for the homeless, school supplies for underprivleged kids, donations, presents for sick children, and more. I have reported crime and faced criminals. I have had my life threatened by actual criminals. I have done the little things like picking up trash and removing grafitti. I have a long history of training. I teach martial arts as my job. I have fought amateur kickboxing. I have taken a cpr/first aid course. I have studied private investigation, surveillance, even majored in criminal justice for a while.
I’m not listing things to go wow look how cool I am. I’m showing my history and qualifications in doing this and my dedication.
I see new people coming around looking to be famous. I see people who just put on a costume and are talking about how they should be on a TV show. People doing this for a couple months and acting like they are someone special. I don’t think I’m all that special. I see people talking about fighting criminals with no real training.
I did this, just to do it. I did this to help make a difference. My own little way of trying to change the world and make up for past mistakes.
I never expected to be on TV or in the newspaper. It was the furthest thing from my mind. My focus was on helping people and making a positive impact. The TV and news stuff wound up coming because of the work I have done. I have never pursued a news story or article. In fact I turn down media all the time. The only reason I do TV or news stuff is to spread a positive and inspiring message and to hopefully get more people involved not just in being rlsh but getting everybody a little more involved and aware in their communities.
I titled this article why the hell are you doing this. And that is a question you should constantly be asking yourself as a real life superhero. If you are here to get famous or be in a newspaper, you shouldn’t be doing this. If you are doing this because you want to beat up criminals, you shouldn’t be doign this. If you are here to make a postive difference and hopefully inspire some other people to do good, you are doing the right thing. If you are doing this because it is a fun way to do some positive things, you are doing it for the right reasons.
Please constantly reevaluate why you are doing this and keep working to make a positive change.
I believe in real life superheores and the positive change this idea can bring. Let’s work together and create that change.

Originally posted: http://www.sccougar.com/features/superheroes-anonymous-1.1595742

How Costumed, Creative Altruism is Sweeping the Nation

Published: Monday, September 13, 2010
Updated: Monday, September 13, 2010 19:09
By Matthew Weitkamp
It’s late in New York City. Darkness has fallen and roaming the streets are the downtrodden and forgotten: Homeless men and women, starving and alone, cry out for hope. Their cries are being answered in the form of a masked man who stalks the streets with food and water, swooping in to help save these poor souls from a horrible fate. It’s late in New York City, and a superhero is saving the day.
A new wave of charity is sweeping across the landscape of our Nation. Costumed, creative altruism has set its roots. There is no ‘Justice League’ or ‘Avengers’ group, however. There is no centralized organization where the heroes meet to plan their war on crime. Across the country there are as many as 300 costumed heroes, all unconnected with one another. But individually they are still pushing past a skeptical society; one that is wary of their intentions.
New York is home to one such hero, “Life”, who walks the streets with determination to make the world better, and leave it better than how he found it. Born into a Hasidic Jewish family, Chaim (which is Hebrew for Life) took the teachings of his father, a Rabbi, to heart. When a person has something to give, regardless of how little, you must give to those who need it more than you.
“My family taught me that charity and helping other people isn’t optional. There are horrible, horrible injustices in the world and if you can do something, even a little, to make things better then you should.” Chaim has taken a piece of his Jewish faith, that charity is compulsory, and turned that into one of the code of ethics for Real Life Superheroes.
Life, a co-founding member of the Not-For-Profit organization, Superheroes Anonymous, is not the same kind of hero you’ll find in the pages of Batman or Spider-man. He doesn’t beat up thugs or commit vigilante justice. Instead, Life uses his time to help the homeless and inspire others through his actions. “I’m a realist. I’m a grounded person, as much as a man who wears a mask is a realist.”
Every night Life takes a backpack filled with necessity items with him out onto the streets. He gives bottled water, candy bars, tooth brushes, and a listening ear to all the homeless he meets. Everything Life gives he buys himself; a personal investment financially in his own desire to change the world. An expensive proposition, when you think about it.  But for Life, that investment is worth it.
Life says he’s often asked why he wears a costume. Plenty of people can perform charity without dressing up or wearing a mask – so why does he? “Like a police officer, firemen […] even a business man: It’s a uniform … [you] feel like you stand for something. You wear the costume and you feel like a superhero”
“A costume draws attention to yourself,” explains Life, on why the costume is necessary, “and gets people to notice you.”
People can be inspired to do charity, Life says, when they see a mask or a cape. “You don’t have to be Batman and take down huge criminals or stop a war.” He says it’s all about what each of us can do, today, to make a difference.
“Start small, start realistically. What do you have the time and resources to do? … I get (emails for advice) all the time. They always have big goals. ‘I want to do this and that – I want to clean up my city of crime’. And I go ‘ok, but you don’t have the power to do that right now? What can you do, now, that’s small?’ You have to start small and be realistic.”
And how long will Life continue to be a Superhero? He admits that, while he won’t hang up his mask anytime soon, his role as a superhero might change over time. “I see Superheroes Anonymous becoming a Not-For-Profit organization that supports real life superheroes […] I won’t ever stop doing charity work. If it means being behind a desk instead of on the street, then charities will need that too.”
His outfit, like his attitude, shows just how adult Life is. Chaim doesn’t wear a cape or a cowl – he wears a tie and a Fedora. He’s a professional, working on the streets of New York City, presenting himself as a man who takes that one step further. Should Life ever need to take on a new role of heroism, like that of an executive for his organization, he feels all he would have to do is take the mask off. The rest of his outfit is professional.
The choice to become a superhero is not exclusive to Life in this country, but his is an example of creative altruism at its finest. Like-minded citizens all across the country are doing their part, too. Heroes like Citizen Prime, from Florida, who works to establish more homes for orphaned youths, stand as beacons for men and women looking to take on a new role in the protection of American’s from social injustice. These superheroes are real, walking the streets as an Iconic symbol for a better world. Life stresses that even though they might look odd or different, they’re a necessity.
“As long as you find people in need, you’ll have a need for superheroes.”

I was a Naval Reservist Sept. 11th, 2001. This fact alone speaks to my commitment to civic duty despite agreeing with few foreign policy decisions of late.
I wasn’t surprised by the attack per se because those in security circles had long felt Islamist ideologues would eventually mount another high profile attack against a symbolic American target. America’s Mid East alliances and first Iraqi invasion virtually assured payback here at home.
We still have a dangerously under defended homeland in my opinion with its largest protective force, the public, as de-mobilized today as then.
United 93’s passengers are a text book example of what mobilized citizens may have to do in critical situations. It’s obviously far more risky than simply pressing 9-1-1 on your cell phone.
As a former local Red Cross Disaster Action Team ( DAT ) member I know first hand the services a trained citizenry can provide during emergencies.
Eternal kudos to the two Times Square vendors this year who foiled a car bomb attempt by practicing something which once was a popular concept: civil defense.
” Civil Defense ” is an old school, Cold war Era method where the population was given basic training in how to respond to enemy attacks. Skeptics ( correctly ) questioned the long term effectiveness of ducking beneath furniture or backyard bomb shelters during nuclear attack but alot of valuable information was spread among millions and used when natural disasters and other major events struck.
Fast forward to the 21st century and President Carter’s lingering Emergency Management doctrine ( embodied in FEMA and his statewide emergency management agency system ) provides dispassionate experts ordering clueless civilians around with comic and sadly, tragic consequences. A relative handful of trained professionals verses a mass of uninformed people does not make a homeland more secure!!!
We need to train Americans in basic civil defense doctrine beyond even the current Community Emergency Response Team model organized in various cities for search and rescue.
The ” first responders ” to an attack will be Joe and Jane American caught in the middle of something erupting around them. What they see and do in those chaotic moments with materially contribute to identifying perpetrators and more immediately, saving lives on scene.
The same holds true for area law enforcement and related personnel. Training these two groups are vital for providing real homeland security.
I practice Civil Defense for one reason: it preaches the great truth that there are no spectators in homeland security. It shows you don’t have to be a police officer; fire fighter; EMT; service member or federal agent to help keep America safe.
You do need a commitment to be prepared and willing to risk your safety on behalf of others. It sounds corny but that is  what civil defense boils down to.
” Let’s go shopping! ” was essentially the homeland security battle cry last Administration, urging us to venture out in defiance of unseen assailants.
Comparatively, a renewed Civil Defense culture seems the better option.
NADRA ENZI AKA CAPT. BLACK promotes crime prevention and self-development. http://www.captblack.info .
 

By Mr. Jack
The word “Islam” is derived from the Arabic root word of “salema.” For those unfamiliar with this beautiful tongue, it means peace in the most general sense. Like all words, it has multiple definitions, which include purity, submission, and obedience. We hear these words in English, and we think power, we think control. This is not, however, the same thing. Submission and obedience in Arabic are more akin to the English words of humbleness and respect. In essence, the word Islam seeks to embody the ideal relationship that a person should have with god: that of reverent service and loving piety and peace.
Islam is founded on the Five Pillars of faith. Shahadah, which means to witness roughly as in the way Christians only witness one god above all others, Zakat, alms giving, Salah, which is prayer, Sawm, which is fasting to show devotion, and the Hajj, or the pilgrimage to the holy land. Together these five hallmarks embody the two ultimate beliefs in Arabic: love of god, and love of neighbor and family.
When viewed in conjunction with Christianity, which is what the majority of Americans believe in, it is quite simple to see the connections. Both share a devotion to god, a respect and honoring of neighbor, and a love of family and charity. In fact, Islam and Christianity are almost one and the same, having both gone off of the Torah with their own further interpretations. They are both Semitic in origin, and their cultures are inexorably tied together.
I point out these definitions because it is through a terrible great many traumas and issues which we as Americans have come to view the Islamic world as a world of hate, violence and control, which is rather what the Islamic world tends to also say about America. The most recent agitation of the feud concerns the actions of 19 men.
19 men. Radicals of a religion which few others would ever take to the same extremes. Vigilantes, who saw widespread injustice and sought to destroy it. Just a dozen and a half men who decided that enough was enough, and that they would make the ultimate sacrifice to prove that their faith, their countries, and their world would not be subjugated under might and power.
And then the towers fell.
And then the other radicals began to talk. Radicals of a politic which few others would ever take to the same extremes. Crusaders, who saw widespread injustice and sought to destroy it. Just a dozen and a half men who decided that enough was enough, and that they would send others to make the ultimate sacrifice to prove that their faith, their country, and their world would not be threatened by inferiors rebels and terrorists.
People forgot about the hundreds of Arab Americans who also died when the towers fell, who had come to this country peacefully with the same promise we all ultimately have. They forgot about the thousands of Muslim families in America who watched in horror as their beloved nation was attacked, and then turned on them with hate and blame. They forgot how both faiths, brothers in belief, had been born of the same love of god, man, and peace.
And suddenly, Islam meant hate. There was no understanding, no time to even think. There was only action, and anger, and pain, and suffering, and a terrible outcry about things which people could not quite define but had known to be for thousands of years. And then there was war.
Nine years after that attack we still have not healed. People of Islamic faith in America are looked down upon with derision and suspicion. Our brothers and sisters, who suffered as the Japanese Americans did in World War II for the same sort of incident, still suffer today. We look upon them as aliens, as conspirators, as terrorists. We do not recognize that they too are victims of an attack. An attack which struck their honor and the very hallmarks of all they believe. They are as us, and we are all still in pain and pieces.
And it is not right.
Today is a day of remembrance for the fallen, but it should also be a remembrance of those who still live on. We all live with a burden, of guilt, of loss, and of misunderstanding.
If we are ever to understand peace, we must understand our own hate first. We must conquer that general loathing we harbor wantonly, and realize that this was not just an attack on white, Christian America, but an attack on everything Islam stands for, everything the Arab world has tried to accomplish, and everything we have today. It was an attack on all of us.
As people who are attempting to be exemplars of society, we must not give in, no matter how deep our hate and no matter how great our pain is, to our desire to relieve that pain but dealing it out to those we feel have wronged us. The violence we deliver never heals. It will always leave a wound and always leave somebody else who then thinks they can relieve it with putting it on to something else. If we ever are to live in peace, we must bring the pieces of our wild anger into bounds. And we must love.
This day is a day of mourning. For today people still die because of that attack. People still burn books because of it. And people still cry for war because of it. Until that stops, and until we as progressing humans attempt to help our own hate and hurt end, there can never be healing.