ALEXANDRIA, VA — Two days before Alexandria gathered to mark the 25th anniversary of Sept. 11, Mayor Alyia Gaskins was in New York City when a familiar sight stopped her in her tracks: two blue beams of light rising into the night sky from the site of the former Twin Towers.
“I’d never seen something so powerful and so strong [that was], at the same time, something so peaceful and beautiful,” Gaskins told the crowd gathered outside Alexandria Police Headquarters on Friday morning.
In a city full of lights, noise and movement, she said, the memorial’s twin beams brought stillness—and a childhood song to mind: “This Little Light of Mine.”
That image became the heart of Gaskins’ remarks at Alexandria’s annual September 11 Remembrance Ceremony, held outside Police Headquarters at 3600 Wheeler Ave. The City’s public-safety leaders, elected officials, veterans and residents came together to remember those killed, injured and forever affected by the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, as well as the first responders who risked or gave their lives helping others…