Take Back The Memorial

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Take Back The Memorial is an organization which advocates keeping the memorial site of the World Trade Center in New York City focused on the memory of the victims who died there in the attacks of September 11, 2001. The group was part of a successful effort to defeat the International Freedom Center proposal.

The group was started by blogger Robert Shurbet and inspired by Debra Burlingame, sister of Charles "Chic" Burlingame III, captain of American Airlines Flight 77 which was crashed into the Pentagon. TBTM's mission is to monitor and to protest distractions of the proposed World Trade Center and 9/11 memorials from the events of that particular place and time.

[edit] Protest of the International Freedom Center

The principal target of Take Back the Memorial was the International Freedom Center (IFC) which was to have been located at the World Trade Center site. The group argued that the proposed historical exhibits, including some critical of previous American policies, could have been viewed by visitors as justification for the attacks. IFC backers defended the historical exhibits on the basis of what it called balance. [1] TBTM believed that the memorial should not include any precursor events to the attacks. Burlingame wrote an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal entitled The Great Ground-Zero Heist protesting the IFC on June 8, 2005. [2]

On September 28, 2005 Governor George Pataki ended plans to include the IFC at the World Trade Center site.