A New Jersey city covered up the name of the Russian President Vladimir Putin on the Tear Drop 9/11 memorial and officials are making plans to permanently remove any sign of the dictator in retaliation for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The 9/11 memorial in Bayonne, New Jersey, was given as a gift by Russia to the city but officials have covered Putin’s name on it after some residents demanded that the monument come down as a gesture of support for Ukraine.
Putin visited Bayonne in 2005, to present the memorial, which is officially called “To the Struggle Against World Terrorism,” a sculpture designed by Zurab Tsereteli, a Georgian-Russian painter, sculptor and architect.
“We remain grateful to the Russian people for the memorial,” said Bayonne Mayor Jimmy Davis covering up Putin’s name on the monument. “They did not start the war. Mr. Putin did. The memorial will stay in place on our waterfront. It is not going anywhere.”
The city has decided to cover up Putin’s name so the the 10-story structure is now shown as a gift only from the Russian people.
Putin’s name will be permanently removed once it is determined how to do so without damaging the monument, which is a tribute to those who died during the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and in Pennsylvania.
Originally titled Tear of Grief and now known as the Memorial to the Struggle Against World Terrorism, the giant sculpture is located in a most unlikely spot – on the tip of a man-made peninsula in the northeast section of Bayonne, New Jersey.
“The events of September 11th, 2001 were especially heartfelt in our community,” Davis said. “The World Trade Center attack and Flight 93 crash saw our friends, relatives, and neighbors taken too soon.”
Each year, the September 11th Bayonne Remembers Committee holds an interfaith service featuring prayers, readings, reflections, and songs at the Teardrop Memorial in Bayonne.
From 1942 to 1999 the land was the home of the Military Ocean Terminal at Bayonne. Renamed The Peninsula at Bayonne Harbor, the area is currently being redeveloped into a mix of light industry, residential, and recreational space.
The Tear Drop Memorial is located in Harbor View Park, a pocket-size 2-acre green space owned by the City of Bayonne, located amidst dusty construction for a container port on Upper New York Harbor and a docking facility for Celebrity Cruises. In order to have a sense of the mixed vibes of the “neighborhood,” one must take a trip to the memorial.
“It’s definitely satisfaction, but I don’t want to take away from the monument,” said Public Works Director Tom Cotter. “It’s unfortunate Putin’s name’s on the monument, but I don’t want this to be a Putin thing. I still want this to be a 9/11 monument.”
“Basically what’s happening in Ukraine right now is like a form of terrorism, the invasion of that country,” said Cotter.
Davis rejected calls for the whole memorial to be taken down.
“Anybody who said this is tarnished because it came from Russia — not tarnished. This monument is going nowhere. We just removed Vladimir,” said Davis. “I don’t ever want to hear someone say that this monument has to come down, because they’re going to have to go through me to take this monument down.”
Residents in the city have donated three truckloads of goods for Ukrainian refugees in Poland.