13 April 2004

by Anai Rhoads

AnaiRhoads.org - Just as the 9-11 hearings are in full swing, symbolism runs rampant in the least likely place.

PHA Leckie Elementary School in Southwest Washington, D.C., lost a few of their own on 9-11. Two parents, eleven year old Bernard Brown, and the school's sixth grade teacher, Hilda Taylor, were aboard flight 77 when it crashed into the Twin Towers. They were among 184 passengers on their way to California.

The school decided to memorialise those killed on 9-11 in a special way. They quickly made plans to build a three-part garden with the help of volunteer architects and students.

The students were given the opportunity to place their hand prints in the wet cement pavement on the two-thousand square foot garden, located on one side of the school.

The garden itself has a heart-shape symbol to express the students' love for the school. A basketball-shape can be found on the walkway, dedicated to the student who lost his life. The third section had benches, each dedicated to the victims. The benches face two military areas.

It was these benches that one or more persons decided they did not like. Some time in the early morning hours of 13 April, the garden was dishevelled and the benches were sawed off and taken away. The principal, Clementine Homesly, was adamant during the building process that the workers place the bench posts into cement rather than into the ground. As it happens now, that would have prevented the theft.

The memorial meant so much to the students, parents and faculty members, as well as the public. The police have no leads thus far and no one can fathom the reason why the benches were stolen. This is the second year in a row that the site has been touched by vandalism.

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