“The Path” to A Warped Collective Memory

The Path to 9/11 is not the path to 9/11.  It's the path to a warped collective memory of recent events.

"Are you gonna watch it?" I asked my friend.  "The Path to 9/11 says it's based on the 9/11 Commission Report.  It should be accurate."

That was about a week ago.  Report after report has since confimed The Path to 9/11 is a sham.  It's not the path to 9/11.  It's the path to a warped collective memory of recent events. 

I'm a playwright.  When I wrote my play, An' Push da Wind Down, as an MFA Playwriting student at the University of Southern California, I learned my lesson about the responsible portrayal of history.

An' Push da Wind Down (inspired by my family's story) is about the shared history of Blacks and Cherokees in the 10 years leading up to the Cherokee Trail of Tears.  

At the first rehearsal, the president of the Native American Student Association at USC showed up and informed me she would be sitting in on rehearsals to monitor how I'm telling the Cherokees' story.  If I didn't comply they would protest the opening of my play.

Well, this was outrageous to me.  I mean, what about freedom of speech!?  What about creative license as a playwright?!

She put me in touch with a Cherokee elder in Southern California who explained… The story of the Cherokee people has rarely been told.  When it has, it's usually told inaccurately.   Lies dishonor our people by warping the country's collective memory.  To honor the dead, it is important to tell the truth.

It is especially important to tell the truth in a medium like TV where 10s of millions will watch at a single time.  And it's important when telling a story like the story of 9/11 that has the ability to honor or dishonor the recently deceased.  Most people have not read – and will never read – the 9/11 Commission Report.  They will watch the miniseries and it will become a part of the American public's collective memory (just like the televised myth of "the cowboys and indians").

The Path to 9/11 was directed by David L. Cunningham, son of Youth With A Mission (YWAM) founder Loren Cunningham.  David is an evangelical Christian who has received major support and encouragement from the Religious Right.  It's unfortunate.  One of the surest ways to corrupt God's redemptive work in the world is to perpetuate lies… even in the name of "creative license."

Interestingly, according to a recent report on Think Progress.com, it seems that a number of conservative media-types agree:  Bill O'Reilly, Chris Wallace, John Podhoretz (all from Fox News), and others came out in opposition to the film.

Yahoo News reported on Friday, a group of top historians sent an open letter to Disney Exec., Robert Iger, saying:   "The claim by the show’s producers, broadcaster, and defenders, that
these falsehoods are permissible because the show is merely a
dramatization, is disingenuous and dangerous given their assertions
that the show is also based on authoritative historical evidence."

I wrote An' Push da Wind Down with the help of several Cherokee elders and consultants.  In the end, the play won the award for Best New Student Play at the 1996 Kennedy Center / American College Theater Festival. 

But more important than that… my friend, the president of the Native American Student Association, reported to her elders "The play honors our story." 

If only "The Path to 9/11" honored the truth.  I, for one, won't be watching tonight.