by Clyde Haberman, New York Times
Showing the colors on the Fourth of July used to be a simple matter. Red, white and blue. What else did you need to know?
Now you have to think red, orange, yellow, blue and green. We are not talking about a Benetton commercial or a poster for the gay pride parade. They represent the color-coded terrorism rankings from the Office of Homeland Security.
Not that you can be blamed for failing to recognize what each signifies. Similarly clueless were a dozen people questioned randomly yesterday as they stood along Church Street, gazing sadly at the enormous hole in the ground that used to be the World Trade Center. None knew the color of the day, which was yellow, as it has been for months.
It means that the federal authorities judge the threat of new terrorist attacks to be “significant.” Yellow may not be nearly as reassuring as green, meaning “low,” but it is definitely better than the “severe” risk indicated by a red alert.
People at ground zero yesterday said that of course they knew about the heightened security concerns for Independence Day. Only someone stuck for months on a remote island could have been unaware. But the details of the color scheme were lost on them, as they are on many other Americans who wish the government would spell things out plainly instead of using semaphores more fitting for a naval exercise.
Besides, a man visiting from Ohio said, whatever the official color may have been, it meant nothing to him. “I’m thinking green,” he said.
In other words, he was living his life as if the terrorism risk were deemed at its lowest level. And that seems to be how most New Yorkers reacted to the holiday, doing whatever they had planned and silently telling the terrorists to take a hike.
How much of this was the chin-up, don’t-mess-with-me swagger that New York fancies as its style, and how much a result of threat fatigue, was hard to say. It would certainly be no surprise if some people have started to pay about as much attention to the terror warnings as they do to the safety tips posted on subway trains.
Since Sept. 11, they have been bombarded with warnings about evildoers misusing ambulances, police cars, fuel tankers and charter planes. Politicians and news organizations have kept up a tattoo of alarm about apartment buildings becoming targets, about water supplies not being secure, about chemical plants being at risk — not to mention food supplies, nuclear plants, harbors, landmarks, electrical grids and, for sure, airports.
Each week, sometimes each day, brings a new alert. Almost inevitably, people tune out after a while, despite occasional reminders of vulnerability like the murderous attack yesterday on an El Al ticket desk at Los Angeles International Airport.
And so on this Fourth of July many New Yorkers thought green even as they waved the red, white and blue.
In Lower Manhattan, the irresistible attraction was ground zero. Relatively few of those who went there then walked several blocks east to take a look at Federal Hall. That was a shame. As important as the trade center site is, it is where America was briefly brought to its knees. Federal Hall, at 26 Wall Street, is where this country stood tall.
ON that site, American principles of a free press were established in 1735, at the libel trial of John Peter Zenger. It is where, 54 years later, George Washington was sworn in as president and the first Congress adopted the Bill of Rights. It is where the present Congress will meet on Sept. 6 in a ceremonial display of solidarity with New York City.
Federal Hall embodies some of the country’s most cherished ideals. And if it was a shame that few people went there yesterday, it was arguably even more lamentable that those who did go could not get in. On the day when the nation celebrated independence, this important symbol of American freedom was closed by the National Park Service.
A hot-dog vendor at the corner didn’t get it. Granted, he was speaking as much out of self-interest as patriotism. Business yesterday was tortoise slow. Still, he had a point as he flicked his head toward Federal Hall and said: “That’s why people come here. They don’t come to see me.”
Instead of going to Federal Hall, some visitors to ground zero crossed Church Street and went into Century 21. Maybe they saw the store as a symbol of the new patriotism, a reflection of repeated appeals from our leaders to stand up for America by shopping, for otherwise, the terrorists will have won.