'I Want To Reclaim What It Means To Be A Patriot': 9/11 Honored

STONEHAM, MA — Jason Chen brought some Dunkin' coffee to the State Troopers assigned to keep an eye on two gatherings Friday morning. Chen, a Navy veteran, was showing his appreciation for their service.

Then he went back to the corner outside J.J. Grimsby's on the Lynn Fells Parkway, picked up his sign commemorating Black servicemen and women who have lost their lives overseas after 9/11, and stood resolute.

Chen was among a group of about 20 people who showed up to counter-protest a planned "Back The Blue" rally sponsored by the Melrose Republican City Committee — only the GOP group had rescheduled the rally the night before "due to the concern for the safety of those in attendance." Still, a few people honoring 9/11 victims and first responders stood across the intersection.

So while there wasn't much of a protest to counter, the more populous group held Black Lives Matter signs as their own way of honoring 9/11.

"The group is not a monolith, we had some people show up for different reasons," said Georgia Bowder-Newton, one of the leaders of Fighting for Black Lives in our Neighborhood, the organizers of the counter-protest.

"We've seen 9/11 be appropriated for white nationalism since it happened," she said. "It's always a good day to stand up and say 'Black Lives Matter,' and especially today we wanted to be here and counter anybody who wants to appropriate that message on 9/11. We are specifically here to honor the victims and keep that legacy from being twisted more than it already is."

Chen was among four veterans on his side of the street. When asked why he was there, he pointed to a small photo of a Black man on his sign. The man, Army Pfc. Donnell Hamilton, died at 20 years old while serving in Afghanistan. He was from Kenosha, WI.

"So imagine his family watching what's happening on their streets, and they had a son who died on a foreign shore trying to support and defend the Constitution and First Amendment rights and freedom and helping people," Chen said. "And in their own town a vigilante [Kyle Rittenhouse] thinks it's patriotic to do what he did.

"That's why I'm out here, I want to reclaim what it means to be a patriot. I feel that [President] Trump and Blue Lives Matter and these hyper-nationalistic policies — that is not what it means to be an American," he continued. "That's not why we did all these things after 9/11 to try to make the world a better place. So that's why I'm here."

Chen and Bowder-Newton at different points braved the intersection to talk to those on the other side, where at least three people showed up. One said he was supporting the firefighters and police officers who rushed to the Twin Towers on 9/11, while the other two said they were there to honor the victims of that day.

"We're three individuals here to honor 9/11 victims and our first responders," said Melrose GOP Chair Christian Hashem, who said he has family connections to the tragedy.

Hashem and Melrose resident Lynn Kelley said they were not there supporting or opposing any political movement — just respecting those who fell.

"I'm here holding an American flag on the 19th anniversary of one of the worst days in American history," Kelley said. "I'm here to celebrate being an American, just to remind people that we are the greatest nation on earth. God Bless the United States of America."