Good Talk: A Memoir in Conversations

This section of the memoir focuses on the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center in Manhattan, New York, and the way their effects rippled across time. Mira and Jed are living in New York at the time, and the event occurs the day after they move in together. Mira depicts the moment with live shots from the attack, and the smoke billowing from the buildings is pronounced behind a collage of onlookers. “People are jumping from windows” (162) and witnesses are too in shock to react with anything but a stone gaze and the occasional comment. Some people are panicking as they know they have loved ones either in or near the towers. Mira’s father worries for her safety, and when Mira assures him she is alright, he worries for her emotional health after the attacks. While racism against brown people was already prevalent in America, the attacks exacerbated it in a significant way, and it seems that in the era of Donald Trump and his fear of Muslims, the effects continue to this day.

In the weeks and months following the attacks, New York City becomes a different place. Missing Persons advertisements line subways and buildings, and Mira illustrates this with a collage of posters that together create the Twin Towers. She remembers how these posters “became their own paper city” (164) and the fragility that loomed over everyone after the attacks. Mira and an elderly lady are brought to tears as they gaze at the poster of a missing woman who looks like Mira, and people’s sensitivity increases in other ways as well: more and more people begin to see brown people as a potential threat or terrorist. Mira even experiences men using it as an excuse to threaten her into talking to them at a bar: “How do we know you aren’t plotting to kill everyone in here if you won’t even talk to us?” (171). People were looking for a scapegoat—someone to blame for the fear they felt. The attacks seem to bring out the best and worst in people, as it also causes an increase in helping behavior. Mira notices that people “wanted to fix something” (170)—anything.

The effects of the attacks lasted far beyond the weeks and months afterward and continue into the present. Mira’s son, Z, has a conversation with her that takes Mira right back to the days after the attack when prejudice against Muslims was at a high. The same trend seems to be recurring, as Donald Trump is inciting fear and hate toward Muslims by assuming they are all terrorists. Z points out that he and his mother “look like terrorists” (174), to which Mira replies that is not true. She snaps at him, telling him “nothing is wrong with Muslims” (174) but then apologizes and realizes she is triggered by the fact that it is September again, and she is vividly reminded of what occurred this month 15 years prior. It is here that Mira reveals, within her own thoughts, the true extent of her suffering as a result of hate against brown people. Z asks her if anyone has ever hurt her, and she lies and says no; however, in her mind she remembers being spat on, treated as dangerous, and sexually assaulted on a public subway and told to speak English. She distinctly remembers the way nobody helped her or even commented when she was assaulted, as if they were unsure if she deserved it or not. In a moment reminiscent of her day with Ms. Morrell, Mira clearly states to Z, “You are every bit as American as Donald Trump. This country is as much yours as it is his and you have every right to be here” (180). Z still seems doubtful, and Mira continues in her attempts to convince him of this fact.