CLINTON TOWNSHIP (WXYZ) — As the nation approaches the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks, a free exhibit at Macomb Community College in Clinton Township is helping visitors remember that day — and teaching a new generation why it matters.
The exhibit is open to the public at the Lorenzo Cultural Center on the Macomb Community College campus. It features artifacts from some of the targeted sites and ceiling-tall banners wrapped around to resemble and honor the Twin Towers. The names of every 9/11 victim are displayed in blue lighting.
William Wood, the college's director for cultural affairs and community engagement, said the scope of the attacks made narrowing the exhibit's focus a challenge.
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"It's a bigger story than you can put into one exhibit, so we had to work with what we're gonna focus on," Wood said.
The exhibit centers on the names of victims and first responders. Wood said the lighting was a deliberate choice.
"The material calls for a certain somberness to the lighting; it just seemed the right thing," Wood said.
Linda Klein, a visitor from Warren, said she was at work at the Tank Automotive Command in Warren on September 11, 2001, when she began hearing coworkers talk about what was unfolding.
"As the day went on, I kept hearing people talk more and more. I was scared a terrorist might attack the Tank Automotive Command," Klein said.
She said what she heard that day — details about how planes had crashed — were the first signs of one of the deadliest days in American history.
Klein is among thousands of visitors who have walked through the exhibit since it opened.
"We should never forget what happened," Klein said.
First-year Macomb student Kyle Perrine was born 6 years after the attacks. He said the subject still carries emotional weight for his generation.
"The day I was shown the video in high school, almost my entire classroom was crying or tearing up," Perrine said.
Perrine said he supports the college's decision to host the exhibit.
"I agree with Macomb doing this because it shows how much respect people have for 9/11 — so many thousands of students here," Perrine said.
The exhibit is free and open to the public Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., at the Lorenzo Cultural Center on the Macomb Community College campus in Clinton Township.
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