The Ebro, Laura, Rosenberg Show - 177.) We Remember: Looking Back At 9/11 25 Years Later (9/11/26)

Episode Date: September 11, 2026

Today on Ebro, Laura, and Rosenberg - with Ebro on assignment, Laura Stylez & Rosenberg discuss 25 years post-9/11 tragedy, FOTS call-in, Family Matters and so much more! (9/11/26) Hear more of today's show on Patreon: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.patreon.com/c/ELRShow Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Just don't call in a podcast. The Ibrough-Lora Rosenberg shows. Hello, hello. Happy buddy, y'all. Good, grand, wonderful. We finished off the week. Today's a heavy day for a lot of people. For everyone, really.

Yeah, I mean, well, this is the big one. 25. I can't believe it. 25 crept up. I know. 25. 25 years. My brain cannot really wrap its head around 25 years.

I feel the same. I remember, I do remember really early on saying that I'm never, I remember pretty early being like, I'm never going to be able to like turn away when I see stuff about 9-11. I remember thinking that back then. Yeah. And I still am that way. 25 years, I still cannot turn away. If there's a documentary all this week when new.

videos have been popping up on social media. Yeah. I generally cannot turn away from it. And it's, I have been hearing a little bit about that for younger people, people like much younger than us, their level of understanding of it is like a mixed bag. Right. And some of them don't. They're used to the world now seeming so crazy that they can't quite grasp how crazy it

was. Yeah. I think for a lot of people they know it happened and they've seen the photos. they've seen some footage, but they just don't grasp how much impact it had on everybody's lives, like how insane it was. Yeah. That day was such a horrible day. And as we continue to hear all these stories, like, you know, Mom Dani released, you know,

some information that really, I was really surprised by it that, you know, officials lied to the public on how toxic those areas still were. Yep. So many people, including Ricardo's mother, were down there working and cleaning up and saving people and doing everything they could long after it happened and were being poisoned. Yeah. And the people who were supposed to be taking care of them were lying to them and bearing the story. Yeah. So the effects of 9-11 just, you know, it's a domino effect.

There's so much. There's so many people affected by it directly, indirectly. It was a horrible day. I know we touched on it when we spoke, you know, with the mayor. We talked about where we were when it happened. Like I said, I was going to school. I was going to be MCC. And I was living in Inwood.

So I used to catch the one train all the way down to chambers. And I just remember going to the train. And everybody was like crying on the platform. And I was like, what the hell is going on? Like I just couldn't understand. But how are, I'm questioning your story. Story Laura Trump. Why?

I'm just kidding. No, no, no. Because why would they be, been crying on the platform? Like, how would people have even been aware of it? It had just happened, people. How would they have understood what was going on? I don't know.

I don't know. I just remember leaving, going back home and turning on the news. And everybody was like, you don't haven't seen the news? You know what I mean? I'm like, no, I don't know what's happening. There was like confusion.

And I remember trying to use my phone to call people and my phone wasn't working. There was no signal. Well, that, no, that I very much remember trying to get a hold of my brother in New York. Yeah. It was very, it took hours. Signals were coming in and out. I just, I'm not doubting you're actually, but I am a little bit.

I don't know why. But not that, no, it's not that. It's a way our brain scrambles history. Something happened. I'm just trying to understand how would we have known. Maybe, well, maybe if it was shortly after, they'd already seen it on TV and then left their house anyway. And people are probably telling everyone. no internet to have seen it.

You only could have seen it on TV or heard it on the radio. People could have been listening on the radio and then telling people. Yes. And remember, then the trains were shut down. So people are asking, why are the trains shut down? So something happened. So that's how, you know, word starts getting around. But the trains were definitely shut down because everybody that was waiting for the train,

like obviously never got on the train. Right. So, but yeah, it was. It was such a different, well, the point I'm trying to make is it was such a different time. You can't even quite put into words. what it was like because we live in a completely different society. Yeah. In ways that it's just wild and I was watching a thing the other day.

Maybe it was the Netflix doc, I forget, but it was talking about how like, in some ways, we were still like bizarrely innocent as a society because between planes one and two, people thought it was an accident. Yeah. No one would think that anymore. Yeah.

No one would, like everyone was like, wow, I guess like a commuter jet, just hit the World Trade Center. No one could really conceive of how big the plane was, first of all. It didn't make sense, like a whole jet fit inside the World Trade Center. Like that didn't make sense

because it just didn't add up. Right, right, right. And our innocence like kind of disappeared when the second tower was hit. You were like, oh, oh, people hate us. Like, oh, our country is not just what we. And then over time, obviously, everyone went on their own different journey. You know, and a lot of people, a lot of people went on the like, just super hardcore pro-America.

And they're, you know, let's go to war, F them up. You know, the rumor is, of course, that like, before the second plane even hit, Bush was like, we're going back to Iraq. Yeah. You know, and Cheney and them were like, we know exactly what we're doing. Like, we're going to war. Now, I don't go as far as the only real, like, because, you know, because, you know, conspiracy piece of it ever I got caught up in was the other tower was it six or seven seven seven it's the tower seven crumbling later in the day I've never been able to like wrap my head around yeah

the one that has like all these files in it and stuff I've net my brain has never been like but I don't understand but like why and they're like well if you think about the heat from that I'm like no no nothing else just that so I am not someone who believes like the entire thing you know I'm not full Jada kiss why to Bush knocked down the towers but I am like there was cover up and there was stuff going on and there was excuses to go to war

and some people really got caught up in that but I at that time was big deep in my Coleman McCarthy peace studies class and you know I remember when everyone in class would say to Coleman they'd be like it was in the college version and they were like so what should America do now after 9-11 and Coleman was like

apologize guys and people could not like even hear what he was saying but he's like we've been doing horrible things around the world that has led to this like this is now an evil that's been perpetrated to us but it was fostered by policy for decades and decades and decades and it was a realization of like oh my god like yes the united states has done a lot of great things around the world but we've also done some things that really made people hate our guns Yeah. And listen, I, you know, we've mentioned it before on the show, but if you've never been to the museum, the 9-11 museum, I suggest you go. It's like, I remember my friend who was visiting because, you know, sometimes we don't like, we don't go to the Statue of Liberty. We don't go to all these things because it's like, we live here. But she was like, can you come with me? I really want to go. So at first I was like, yeah, sure, I'll go. And as soon as you step foot in the museum, you feel it. Like you feel the heaviness. And as soon as you start like, Like looking at all of, you know, the pieces that they have, the stories, the recordings, like, you will break.

Like, I didn't think I was going to cry as much as I did. And you see everybody else. It's very quiet as people walk through it, wiping tears. There's people who were there to remember family members, friends. Like, it is heavy. But I think it's necessary. I think, you know. I'd like to go.

I'm going to wait, obviously, for things to calm down. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But I've never been. I'd like to go. It was a weird mix, though, because while I was, like, horrified, but, like, a lot of the, like, blind ignorance and violent retribution that people wanted, while I did not like that, I did feel a closeness to being American in terms of my love of just fellow people. Like, I did definitely feel it was a weird, it's a weird mix because, like, from a political

standpoint, I was aware of like sort of the circumstances, but I also love being American and love the people here. Like I love my people. So you're like looking around it like, I remember I went to the Jefferson Memorial a couple of days after 9-11 and just sort of like sat there and like took it. It felt like very emotional. I was with my girlfriend at the time and felt very emotional. It was a, it was a wild, It was a wild experience. And it's just crazy because it really, it made you feel like people can come together in a moment. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

And, you know, and now in retrospect, you look back and go, except the racism towards Middle Eastern and Muslim Americans. Right. Except for that whole part that we weren't fully privy to. But it did feel like for a lot of people, it was like, hey, let's put our political stuff aside for a second, let's all mourn something horrifying.

and it took something that jarring and that awful and the images of these people fall into their death and like I just couldn't I kept having the image of my head of like other like young people who worked in the towers who like maybe that morning went early like right like or late that night when at midnight to Tower Records to get Blueprint when it dropped at midnight

and then we're like listening about to pop on Blueprint for the first time when they got to their desk when the first plane hit. You know? Yeah. Also, another thing that people should remember is there was a plane that crashed

in Rockaway like three weeks earlier. Mm. Or was it three weeks later? Hold on. I don't remember this. Yeah. Yeah.

The Rock, because it was a few blocks from my grandmother's house. And why you looked that up and just, you know, I just remember having so much love and respect and like the true heroes, like our first. responders. Sorry, it was November. It came after. And then people like, oh my God, is it happening again? Because a plane crashed and rock away November 12th, 2001. Sorry, you were saying. No, no, no. I just remember just,

you know, like, just watching first responders just drop everything to just serve and just help. And then all those people who were just, you know what I mean, selfishly, because you're going into something, not knowing if you're going to come out, just for the pure purpose of helping others. No, no, they, and I've watched these videos again this week of these people making their decisions of like, hey, so we're going to go get these people, we're going to try to go up to X floor. Yeah. And you know they were deciding they knew perfectly well, good chance I'm not coming out. Yeah. But it's what they signed up to do and that's what they do.

Yeah. And that's why like the firefighters in general. It's just that that's what their job is. Yeah. This was just one where so many were required. But this is what they agreed to do. Yeah. And that's an insane, like, it's just an incredible sacrifice.

It's not something as a human I can understand. No, shout to my friend Chris and one of my best friends I ran. He's a firefighter. And it's like, that is your job every night to save people. Like talk about real life heroes. Like every day, you are going to work knowing that there's going to be a horrible emergency. And your job is to save people. Like, that's a wild thought.

And when you go past like a firehouse, and you see like all the names of all the, you know, firefighters that they lost. That's another one that gets me all the time. Yeah, a lot of houses and a lot of people who. And EMT workers, too, and we can never forget them because they also were there just trying to save people. So, yeah, today is, you know, a heavy day, but, you know, sending love to anybody who lost a friend, a family member because it's something that will change you forever.

And the way that people's stories came out and they were waiting and then and then remember, the days and weeks and month I mean do you remember how long people continue to look yes and the signs and like people would be there like holding up signs with names and I remember like not understanding it right like I was like well what are they doing because like aren't these people just gone because I didn't understand obviously like what that situation like that would feel like how could anyone but you're like oh they they didn't know how to process it so they're still just like hoping against hope yeah that like someone would be found in the the rubble. Yeah. And for a couple days, people were occasionally, but then people still

continued to be down there every day. And now, as we know, risking their own health, while just being down there with, you know, signs and praying and waiting and hoping that more people would get out. Today on ELR News with Kevin Ortega Rojas, one of the things that we're going to talk about is like, he brought this up to me. And I was like, I never even thought of this. Like, he's going to do a report on all the undocumented folks that have been forgotten. All the undocumented folks who were just, you know, were never named or recognized that died that day. But what, you mean they weren't officially on records of being in buildings and stuff? Yes.

And something that never crossed my mind. You know what I mean? So, yeah, well, we're going to take a little. How do you even know about finding them? Is there like, did someone try to do the work? Yeah, I believe so. Yeah, I believe so. So through a series of interviews and, you know,

finding people who were trusted enough for them to tell their stories, you know, the story of a lot of undocumented folks that they're scared to talk, you know, because they don't want a spotlight here. They don't want anybody to target them. Because they have built a new life here. So it's always that fear.

It could be a family member, but the rest of the family went on and lived their lives here, but they were all undocumented. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So we'll cover that today later on on ELR news. But yeah,

it's, you know, every day I feel like, Do you remember how beautiful the weather was that day? Like, is that a memory you have? No, no. Really? It's just something I just never thought of.

Oh, that's like such a thing people say is that everyone's like, oh, in New York, it was the most perfect fall day of all time, right? Louis, do you remember that? Yes, it was perfect. It was perfect, like 74 degree day, blue skies, like literally no clouds were up there. Like, I remember the day like it was yesterday. Where were you, Louis? Oh, I was at home down.

Highland Park, New Jersey You weren't at school? Yeah, you weren't at school? Well, I was on my way to school, so it happened to 846, I probably had school at that point. So then when we found out, I think we found out early

homeroom or first period, and then everybody's just kind of like, okay, turn the TV on. Won't turn the TV on. No teachers turned to TV on. I remember one, I think it was in Spanish class or something like that. She had turned the TV on for two minutes.

They brought her out to the hallway, talk to her and she had to turn the TV off. Oh. Mm-hmm. But didn't, do you, do you remember having, like, friends whose parents, like, worked? Yeah, so then they put us in an auditorium at some point where the people, kids were waiting for their, for their parents to pick them up. And so, like, every once in a while, one by one, hey, your parent is here to pick you out. Like, there were some students that were waiting at that time.

We have people running through the hallways crying. Madi, can you get close to the mic so you can tell your story? People running through the hallways crying. So we were, we had block scheduling. We were in first block. And they made the announcement when the first tower got hit. And we were all like, why are you telling us this about this accident? Like we thought it was an accident.

By the time the second tower hit, we had students whose parents were cops in there that were firefighters over there freaking out. Like literally, I remember people running in the hallway, screaming crying because they don't know what to do. They're running to the office to try to call their parents. Nobody could get a hold. They let us out early, sent us all home. Like it was insane. and then we had a lot of students whose parents or aunts or uncles or cousins died that day. Where, where were you in school?

What grade? No, where, what school? Oh, Woodbridge, New Jersey, Woodbridge High. Woodbridge High. How far is that from here? About 45 minutes. At best, maybe less. And Louis, what about you?

About an hour. We saw the smoke. We could see the smoke from where we were at. So this is Central Jersey, essentially, about 20 minutes from where she was at. You can see the smoke all. the way down there from the sky by the end of the day at about 33 o'clock oh man yeah my my brother was in the city I was at University of Maryland I showed up at the radio station there were like some kids doing like like a punk rock show and and I you know self-important 22-year-old me I'm like I

show up like all right get out of here punk rockers we got to we got to do news like we can't just have a radio station that's not talking about this and I went on the air and and stayed on the air on the college station for a few hours and just tried to call as many people as I could to get stories and I eventually got a hold of my brother who was in Manhattan and safe. He was fine.

He was just telling me what he was seeing because obviously the air was just insane. Now, did you, you were living uptown? All the way uptown. Remember, Enwood is all the way of 207. Did you notice anything air-wise all the way up there or no? I don't remember that. You don't remember.

Yeah, I don't remember that. I don't remember. I don't know how far the feel of bad air quality went. Obviously, downtown was a disaster. Yeah, yeah. But I don't know how far it would have, like, went up. What's your story, Baskam? Similar to theirs, I remember being in school. You were in Brooklyn?

In Brooklyn. I went to Erdog Marville High School. And I remember seeing people crying in the hallways, and they told people that it didn't really quite, it didn't really quite hit me. But speaking of the air, I do remember seeing debris, like papers flying in the air. When you look out of the classroom windows, you can see it. And that was like, that's coming from the city. Like, I just, I just, I mean, that's crazy. And, yeah, everybody got out early.

Misha, my mom worked 66 streets, so she was okay. But yeah, it was a crazy day. Did you, I remember a lot of tears in the hallway. A lot of kids hugging each other and consoling each other. Did your mom say anything about her experience? Like, did she, she just, ran home from work? Yeah.

Yeah, I don't remember anything about her experience. And a lot of people walked home. Yeah. Like the blackout. They just walked home. Well, yeah, the blackout, I remember that for sure. Yeah. Yeah.

Everyone walking home or hitching rides with anyone who would give them a ride. Oh, sorry. I was trying to find this video that I saw. Oh, here it is. Yeah, I think this is it. I'm going to send it to you, Baskam. This one video I saw of, I think, I think this is it.

A lot of stuff was moving around this week, but this one was like, you see people running down the street, like, right nearby. I had never seen the debris and smoke chasing people so badly, and they all duck into this bodega, and then the camera turns, and you see the black, just like, whew. And I'm like, if you didn't get in,

like, yes, you'd survive, you survive it, but the fear of everything going black and dirt and you can't breathe. And like it's, when you see now close up videos of it, how big the whole thing is. It's just like I can't quite wrap my head around it. You have that one in already? All right. Let's watch it. Well, maybe this is just a distanced one.

I thought I also sent. Do you know the people are falling out the other side? I'll go closer and then off. Okay, good, thank you. Yeah, I guess they're in the Hudson. Why don't you know, we don't know, we can't and then like we can't even really process what was going through. And that's like, imagine you're anywhere near that, like anywhere within a few blocks of that,

how quickly all the smoke is going to spread. spread. Debris, because one chunk can kill you. Like, look how far it's blowing out past and how quickly. Yeah, and then the debris, good point. You don't know how big, a piece of big debris could go far? And I think it was I would as news, I think it's NJ Burkett, and I think that's the footage we'll see. They're in, in the debris, like, because the camera man and N.

And J. Burkett are running away, because they're so close to the towers, I think the closest to the towers at the time. And during live off the debris. on TV, they were running trying to burn away down the debris. You can see as the cloud comes over there and they're hiding behind cars, they're trying not to get hit by that debris. It's remarkable. And then we don't even really get to spend a lot of time thinking about the people on the plane.

Yeah. Like the people on the plane who, when they realized what was going on, I mean, there are phone calls from those planes? In the museum, there's some. It'll break you. Yeah, the phone calls from the planes are, you are, just. just, you know, and then of course, Flight 93, where they rushed the,

they rushed the cockpit and took out the terrorists. So they ended up just landing in the middle of nowhere because that one was also going to D.C. That was going to the Capitol. So, so like, the Capitol building. Think about it like this. You know, as bad as the images are of 9-11,

can you imagine if that fourth plane was right through the Capitol building? Yeah. And then TMZ just, put out a documentary that there was apparently a united plane which would have been the fifth plane which i believe would have been headed toward the white house and that just got discarded because the people uh somebody flagged like there was some weird things going on there and they discarded the plane but um they think that that plane would would have been headed to the white house

it is it's amazing it's also just amazing that like these frigging lunatic terrorists were to accomplish it so precisely. Like, I can't believe that the two planes hit the towers. And I can't believe that, like, it did exactly what they expected it would do. Like that. They were trained pilots, they said. No, they spent a lot of time training.

They trained for, like, a year. Like, it's, you know, it's, you know. And I was just commenting. I only feel like recently I've started to notice, like, security lines in airports starting to ease a little bit. Like literally I feel like it was, there was a good 15 years

post 9-11 or 12 years where like airport lines were just so bad. And you were like, and you were like, is this ever? And I always remember getting frustrated because I'm like, guys, we already lost this one. I don't know if God forbid the next thing isn't going to be the same thing.

I think, I don't know if you guys saw like certain airports and just announced that they're easing their restrictions, TSA restrictions. And then in certain airports, you're allowed to walk your family members, your loved ones, all the way to your gate, to your actual gate before they board. If you have precheck. If you have precheck.

If you have precheck. So they're trying to return to like the old days of airports. Yeah. Just what we need, people at the gate that have no need to be there. Well, I have such mixed feelings on it because in general, I agree. On this day, as we're discussing it, doesn't feel great. Right. But in general, when you're at the airport, like, do we need this? Is this really effective?

I've always just felt like over time, why didn't they develop a greater security point when you enter the plane? Like, why isn't the final hallway? You know, like whether it's metal detectors in there. I always feel like there's such a backup at the security line, but maybe when you're individually at the gates. Other European airports, some of them have security at the gates. Yeah, I experienced that in Colombia where they searched me like 10 times. When you were already at the plane. Yeah.

Yeah, I had that leaving Australia or I forget where I was. I think it was Australia. And I was like, oh, that you did a mild security when you got there. But then when you get to your gate, there's another thing. But like there was just a time when, I mean, we, it's everything changed. Like in one day, everything changed. It was such a, such a wild time. And we're going to move over to Patreon like we always do.

So we just wanted to make sure we, you know, we gave you guys some love and, you know, some stories. and we covered all of these horrible moments, but it's important today is a very, very heavy day. So everybody, just take care of yourselves today, take care of your loved ones, because it's a very, very emotional day. Yeah, and just spend a moment thinking about all the people who's like, it's 9-11 isn't just a phrase they say,

it's not just a thing. It's like they actually lost their person. My friend Thea Trinidad, Pete Davidson, like, and hundreds, I mean, I guess hundreds of thousands of people. who have someone that like it's not just a day for them. It's like specifically a family member who they lost that day. So we're going to go over Patreon and we'll also do our family stuff. We have some fun stuff to get to on Patreon.

So if you want to cheer things up a bit, come over with us. I'm happy to do that. I'm also going to try to get Louis to post my old college radio show from 9-11. Oh, wow. On the Patreon as well. If you want to hear the, I'm sure, brilliant thoughts of a 22-year-old Peter Rosenberg reacting to that. in real time. So go to go to patreon.com, search ELR show.

Yeah, join us. And we'll head over there now. Bye. Okay, you know what would be appropriate though, Laura? You know how we start this? Hold on. I know what to do.

See, because you think I'm going to do one thing, but I'm not going to do it. Is the iPad up? Yeah, you would think that because you're a simpleton, Bascom. Don't ever see. sleep on fabulous dropping that day too. You don't want to bang with me.

You don't want to bang with me. Yeah. Whiskey. Great record. Ghetto fabulous. Fabulous. I know. Drop that day as well.

Yep. Sure did. Sure did. Can't deny it. I feel like it doesn't get its due love. I honestly, yeah, I didn't think you were going to go there. I feel like people play Hollaback Young and more than they play Can't Deny it.

Can't Deny it doesn't get a lot of love. Yeah. I think Cantonites better than hollowback young. How about that? I like hollow back. I think that was the first single, too, no? I like Holla too. You like Hollaback Young and more?

Yeah, yeah. It's like so stupidly fast to me. I like it. It's so dumb. Hold on. Brooklyn. Listen to these lyrics. Yeah.

I swear to God, guys, I've never listened to this album in my life. Really? Never. No, for me. It's the, it's this. It's this. Fabulous. I was going to say it was the keeping a gangster remix I was going to say.

Oh, remix is not here though. Oh, yeah. Like I like to do. Oh, no, no. I didn't want to play Hollaback Younging again. I want to find Keeping a Gangster Remix. Good job, Louis. It's all about the keeping a gangster remix.

Yeah, but so those both dropped that day. I had a friend who was in a group that was signed to Atlantic. And, oh, it is a bonus track. True indeed Double up Yes true indeed Desert Storm True indeed

Shig Lou Where you at You know we Gangsta My friend was in a group called Little T and one track Mike Okay

Well that's funny Little T Yeah I don't Oh by the way Oh you weren't there Mendo Mendes was there Mendes was the only friend

Who came through to my birthday thing Oh my God Otherwise you would see Because my friend my friend was there and they were signed to Atlantic at the time

I just found their album 2001 they were booked for TRL on 9-11 oh wow never happened and that was the end

and now you meet yeah my boy I think my boy's name was I think he's this guy here who has the features his name is shank bone mystic Oh. He was the, he was the, I'm trying to see, what was that?

Oh, oh, their single was, I'm gonna remember when I said, this is their single, oh God. I can't speak to this, guys. The single's called Shinikwa. I'm worried. Ask him why you rolling your wife? His son is shaking his head.

Come on. Nah, nah, she don't live here, man. I told you. I think you need to step off, right? Just don't follow