After weeks of vile racism and religious bigotry directed by reactionary forces at the first Muslim mayor of New York City for daring to attend the annual 9/11 memorial ceremony where the nearly 3,000 victims' names are read at Ground Zero, a son of a man killed on September 11 called for an end to the hatred.
Michael Massaroli, whose father was one of the 658 Cantor Fitzgerald employees killed on 9/11, was the very last person to speak at this morning's hourslong ceremony.
"This is an unusual position being the last one to go here, I got to admit," he began. "I think the one parting thing I want to leave everyone with is that: You do my dad's legacy and the legacy of all these victims no honor by using this tragedy to spread hate."
"We've seen a medley of people come up today, of all races, all religions, all creeds, and this tragedy is just that—it's a tragedy. And it shouldn't be—I've had to grow up and spend the past 25 years seeing people use it to hate on our Muslim brothers and sisters, to hate on people who don't look like them, and that's wrong, and that does no honor to the victims here. And I want to use the little platform I have to ask for that. Please stop.
"I want to thank everyone who's come. I want to thank all the dignitaries that are here and the families that have stayed till the end, because every one of these names matters. And yeah, thank you all for coming."
Michael Massaroli Jr. was the last to read names at the 9/11 ceremony: "You do my dad's legacy and the legacy of all these victims no honor by using this tragedy to spread hate." Mayor Mamdani was the only senior elected official to stay after it ended. He spoke with Massaroli. pic.twitter.com/A6ItMpwaUJ
— Steve Kastenbaum (@SKastenbaum) September 11, 2026