Editor's note: Oklahoma City Mayor David Holt spoke April 19 at the 29th annual Remembrance Ceremony to honor the lives of those lost in the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building 29 years ago. Here are his remarks, minus welcoming comments and introductions.
On behalf of the people of Oklahoma City, my deepest condolences to those who lost a loved one on April 19, 1995. My empathy for those who survived and were forever changed. And our city’s eternal gratitude to our first responders as well as those who came to our aid from around the nation and the world.
On seven occasions, I have stood at this podium, or at the pulpit across the street, or in front of the cameras precipitated by a pandemic. Each time, I have explored a common theme. We gather here to remember and honor. But we also gather here to learn and to teach. This has weighed heavy on my heart each of these seven years, because this is a place where Americans killed Americans, and my time as mayor of this city has coincided with national political vitriol the likes of which our country has rarely seen. The lessons of April 19, 1995, were written for such a time.
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The mission statement of this Memorial says, “May all who leave here know the impact of violence.” Indeed, violence is what gave us this scar in our downtown. This pool, these chairs, this place, are peaceful and beautiful. But we know that a building and a street are supposed to be here. It is a scar that will never fully heal, because 29 years ago, a truck pulled up, just a few feet from where I stand. Inside were about a dozen plastic barrels filled with an explosive combination of ammonium nitrate, nitromethane and diesel fuel. Riding alongside those barrels were invisible barrels that have always been present at such moments. Those barrels were filled with hate, intolerance, ignorance, bigotry, conspiracy theories, misinformation and dehumanization. Inside those barrels was an explosive combination of extreme political views and an arrogant and stubborn unwillingness to accept pluralism, democracy and compromise.
You see, the violence that occurred on this day 29 years ago did not just appear out of thin air. It was not just a chemical reaction. It was the natural and logical byproduct of certain human behaviors. It was the inevitable end of a dark path, and it is a story humans have repeated for centuries.
The barrels that carried that toxic stew of human behaviors sat outside the gas chambers at Auschwitz. They rode in the cargo hold on 9/11. They have stowed-away with humanity since time began. We cannot seem to lose them. And so we must reckon with them, and this place reminds us to do that. This place and this day reminds us of our obligations ― as humans, as residents of Oklahoma City.
This year is a national election year. That is the ultimate expression of our country’s democratic experiment. Our founders knew our flaws as humans and the Constitution was their antidote, their attempt to provide us a way to settle our differences without violence, through better conversations that lead to non-violent outcomes. Elections provide us our outlet. Our American democracy is a unique gift in human history. And yet, we still feel the presence of those invisible barrels, on our TV screens, in the comments, at the dinner table. Words of hate and division and dehumanization. The barrels are creeping closer.
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This place reminds us that those barrels should be buried like toxic waste. And as mayor of this scarred city, I ask you to bring a shovel. You can’t be passive. You didn’t ask for this obligation. It was given to you, but it is ours nonetheless. We must each be ambassadors of kindness, peace, love and understanding, emissaries of better conversations. We must be willing and able to challenge words of dehumanization, words that cast fellow Americans as enemies. The path to violence is paved with such words, and I ask you to step into and repair the breach. I ask this knowing full well it is not always comfortable. Important things are often hard. Standing against division can sometimes be an act of division itself. But between loved ones and friends, that division can be healed. This place reminds us that temporary discomfort is worth it. And sometimes, it is not someone else but we ourselves who need the course correction. Sometimes this reflecting pool acts as a mirror and we must not look away from its gaze.
Why must we do these things, this year and every year? Because we come here to remember the alternative to unity and love and respect. The alternative is this. And we don’t want more places and more days of remembrance. This should be enough.
May Americans pay heed to the lessons of April 19, 1995, and may we as the people of Oklahoma City always be the first to carry that message.
David Holt, a member of the Osage Nation, is the 38th mayor of Oklahoma City and dean of the Oklahoma City University School of Law.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: We must learn the lessons of April 19, 1995, when Americans killed Americans | OKC mayor
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