On the 16th anniversary of the September 11th terrorist attacks, DNC Chair Tom Perez released the following statement:

“On September 11, 2001, nearly 3,000 innocent lives were taken in an act of pure evil. They were parents on their way to work and families traveling with their children. They were public servants devoted to defending our freedoms; selfless firefighters, first responders, and police officers who ran into the smoke; and ordinary heroes who sacrificed their lives to save others.

“The terrorists who carried out these attacks wanted to cause more than death and destruction. They wanted to fill us with fear and divide us through hate. But Americans did not allow terrorism to triumph. Instead, we endured, we rose again, and we came together as one nation, united by our shared values of freedom and equality. And in the sixteen years since that fateful Tuesday morning, a new generation of Americans has answered our nation’s call to service and defended those values at every turn.

“We will never forget where we were on September 11. Nor will we forget the names and the stories of those who were taken from us. On this anniversary, we must keep them and their families in our hearts, we must recommit ourselves to the values they shared, and we must ensure that hope will always outlast hatred.”