This tribute is part of a series of reflections from HLS faculty, staff and alumni on the 15th anniversary of 9/11. View all tributes.
Contributor: Jonathan Nomamiukor ’14
Jonathan Nomamiukor ’14 is a co-founder of WealthEquality.org, an institution dedicated to combating income inequality around the globe, and a fellow at the Equal Justice Initiative. A 2014 Harvard Law School Public Service Venture Fund Fellow, he interned at Reprieve, Texas Rio Grande Legal Aid, and Texas Defender Service during law school, and he clerked for the Federal Public Defender for the Southern District of Texas.
“The reality that over one million people have died during the War on Terror, including over 10,000 Americans, is often lost on folks like me who don’t have to face the byproducts of war.”
I’m twenty-eight years old and my country has been at war for over half my life.
The reality that over one million people have died during the War on Terror, including over 10,000 Americans, is often lost on folks like me who don’t have to face the byproducts of war.That isn’t so for people like my mom. Shortly after she dropped me off at school on September 11th, 2001, she joined the Dallas Veterans Affairs Hospital as a nurse. My mom, who in 1980 immigrated to this country from Nigeria, is responsible for nursing U.S. soldiers back to health. Over the last fifteen years, she has helped thousands of women and men who chose to sacrifice their bodies and mental health because they wanted to serve our country. Although I’m no proponent of war, I am grateful to her and I am grateful to them for that sacrifice.