Take Back The Memorial

Take Back The Memorial is an organization which advocates keeping the memorial site of the World Trade Center in New York City focused on the memory of the victims who died there in the attacks of September 11, 2001. In 2005, the group was part of a successful effort to cancel the International Freedom Center as part of the World Trade Center Memorial.

The group was started by Robert Shurbet and inspired by Debra Burlingame, sister of Charles "Chic" Burlingame III, captain of American Airlines Flight 77 which was crashed into the Pentagon. TBTM's mission is to monitor and to protest distractions of the proposed World Trade Center and 9/11 memorials from the events of that particular place and time.

2005 Protest of the International Freedom Center

Take Back the Memorial protested the placement of the International Freedom Center (IFC) at the World Trade Center site. The group argued that the proposed historical exhibits, including some critical of previous American policies, could have been viewed by visitors as justification for the attacks. IFC backers defended the historical exhibits on the basis of what it called balance. [cite web|url=http://www.ifcwtc.org/june2005_article6.html|publisher=New York Daily News|title=The Battle Over Ground Zero] TBTM believed that the memorial should not include any precursor events to the attacks. Burlingame wrote an op-ed in the "Wall Street Journal" entitled "The Great Ground-Zero Heist" advocating this. [cite web|title=The Great Ground Zero Heist|last=Burlingame|first=Debra|authorlink=Debra Burlingame|url=http://www.opinionjournal.com/extra/?id=110006791|publisher=Wall Street Journal|date=June 8, 2005]

On September 28, 2005 Governor George Pataki ended plans to include the IFC at the World Trade Center site.

2007 Format of the names listed in the memorial

In 2007 when the proposed format of the names of the victims was made public, Take Back the Memorial along with the unions of the uniformed services of New York City objected. They seek to have the memorial list the name, age, and employer, and if relevant, the rank and assignment of the victim. [cite web|title=Save the 9-11 Memorial|url=http://www.savethe911memorial.com/]

Other 9/11 memorials

* Flight 93 National Memorial, Shanksville, Pennsylvania (under development)
* Pentagon Memorial, Pentagon (under development)

Notes

External links

* [http://takebackthememorial.org/ Take Back The Memorial website]
* [http://takebackthememorial.org/?page_id=46 About Take Back the Memorial]
* [http://opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110007346 Westchester Housewife, WSJ Story on Debra Burlingame and the struggle over the IFC, October 1 2005]