Don’t Believe the Hype

“The fourth branch of the government, want us to settle/A bandana full of glittering, generality/Fighting for freedom and fighting terror, but what's reality?/Read about the history of the place that we live in/And stop letting corporate news tell lies to your children”- Immortal Technique

By now there is no way you haven’t heard about it. A mosque on Ground Zero? No way, how could they be so insensitive? We’re not going to stand for this, this is America. This IS America…right? The media so fervently projects the opposition view that I felt it my duty to share with you some counter information.

Before we get into the moral issue, let’s delve deeper into the building and the proposal of where and what is to be built. Not only is it four blocks from Ground Zero, but it will not be visible from the future 9/11 WTC Memorial. Although many have only known this site as the “Ground Zero Mosque,” the actual name is Park51 because of its location, 51 Park Place. The sponsors have called the movement the Cordoba Initiative. The name Cordoba was meant to invoke 8th–11th century Córdoba, Spain, which sponsors have called a model of peaceful coexistence between Muslims, Christians, and Jews.



Prior to 9/11 there had been at least two mosques in the area, including one that remains which is the same distance (4 blocks) from Ground Zero as this proposed structure. That mosque was actually built before the World Trade Center. On 9/11 part of United Airlines Flight 175’s plane went through the edifice in question and compromised its structure. The building had been abandoned and for sale ever since. At one time the asking price was $18 million, but was ultimately sold in July of 2009 for $4.85 million. If you have been there you know this is one of the most desolate areas on Manhattan. After 9/11, businesses deserted the vicinity leaving most structures boarded up and dilapidated. Nobody wants the land, but the specific location was a primary selling point for the Muslims who bought the building. The initiative’s leader, Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, said their intentions "send(s) the opposite statement to what happened on 9/11" and "We want to push back against the extremists." He has also stated that America's sweeping constitutional rights are more in line with Islamic principles than the limits imposed by some Muslim nations.

“Ground Zero Mosque” is a great propagandist title for an opponent, while in truth, it is a misnomer. The Initiative's official blog portrayed it as a community center with prayer space, making comparisons to the YMCA or Jewish Community Center. Their formal vision is:

Park51 will be dedicated to pluralism, service, arts and culture, education and empowerment, appreciation for our city and a deep respect for our planet. Park51 will join New York to the world, offering a welcoming community center with multiple points of entry. With world-class facilities, a global scope and strong local roots, Park 51 will offer a friendly and accessible platform for conversations across our identities.

Besides the mosque, the Initiative's plan includes a 500-seat auditorium, theater, performing arts center, fitness center, swimming pool, basketball court, childcare services, art exhibitions, bookstore, culinary school, and a food court. How dare they bring such a horrible place into sacred land? Sense the sarcasm? I hope so because just reading that makes me want to go there right now.

Opposition to the Park51 community center has been strong as majority of people in the United States are against the initiative. Much like many issues that our country faces though, I constantly wonder if people were actually educated on both sides of the issue would they truly feel the same way? While people who oppose have used the families of 9/11 victims as the reasoning for their resistance, protests were initially sparked by a campaign launched by blogger Pamela Geller, a critic of Islam and co-founder of the group Stop Islamization of America. Before Geller's campaign, response to the Park 51 project was not pronounced, and even conservative commentators provided largely positive coverage.

Although many 9/11 victim family members have followed Geller’s suit and opposed the building there are many victim family members in favor of Park51. Judith Keane, whose husband was killed on 9/11, says "To punish a group of Americans who live in peace for the acts of a few is wrong. The worst atrocities in history found their base in fear of those who were different." The anti-war group September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows, released a statement in support of the center, saying "we believe that welcoming the Center, which is intended to promote interfaith tolerance and respect, is consistent with fundamental American values of freedom and justice for all," adding it will be "an emblem for the rest of the world that Americans stand against violence, intolerance, and overt acts of racism and that we recognize that the evil acts of a few must never damn the innocent". Terry Rockefeller, whose sister was killed, said: "this doesn't insult her at all. This celebrates the city she loved living in. It is what makes America what we are." Sue Rosenblum, of Coral Springs, Florida, whose son Josh was killed in the WTC attacks on 9/11, said in reference to the planned community center: "What are we teaching if we say you can't build here? That it's OK to hate? This is a country based on freedom of religion."

This is the problem with the opposition. There is no leg to stand on that cannot be construed as prejudice or racist. I’ve heard many people compare this situation to a Hitler or German memorial built on location of a concentration camp. First of all Hitler was a person, Germany a country not a religion, no comparison. My grandfather, God rest his soul, was born in Germany, but fought in World War II for the United States. Should he have been lumped in as a Nazi because he was German? We have all heard the story of Anne Frank and numerous other stories of Germans protecting Jews during the Holocaust. All Germans were not Nazis, just like all Muslims are not terrorists. Opposing Park51 is condemning an entire religion for the acts of a few of their followers. Eric Robert Rudolph, better known as the Olympic Park Bomber (most famous bombing), is an American responsible for a series of bombings across the southern United States between 1996 and 1998, which killed two people and injured at least 150 others. He is widely known as a Christian fundamentalist. If there were to be a church built on one of the numerous sites that he bombed would there be opposition?

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

That is the O.G. original gangster of amendments, my favorite of all of the amendments, the first amendment my friends. The first amendment basically gives us our rights as the human race. It gives us our freedom; it is what makes this country great, this was our founding basis. It cannot be given to some and not to others. America is either free or it is not. George W. Bush constantly told us the terrorists “hate us for our freedom.” We all support our troops but it’s times like these that we have to wonder what are they fighting for? Constantly we are told that our soldiers are fighting to make the world a better place, fighting to keep us free, for our liberties. However, if the United States prevents this community center from being built we are becoming less tolerant, less free. In essence, we would be fulfilling the ideals that we are supposedly fighting against. Quick tangent: notice how I say we? How come when people are trying to oppose something in this country they start saying you and I, like they are not a part of the same country? I digress. Let me put it in simple terms; in a sound bite (much like the misnomer “Ground Zero Mosque”) so those who do not choose to delve deeper can understand. If we prevent this community center from being built, the terrorists win.

The actual place that is equivalent to the paranoid dream contained in the phrase “Ground Zero Mosque“ has been up and running since before there was a World Trade Center, and for the nine years since there has been a World Trade Center. Running, without controversy, without incident, without terrorism, without protest. Because this is America, dammit, and in America when somebody comes for your neighbor, or his bible, or his Torah, or his atheist manifesto, or his Koran, you and I do what our fathers did, and our grandmothers did, and our founders did. You and I speak up!!! – Keith Olbermann (full commentary linked below)

Shout Out to the Sources:
Keith Olbermann of MSNBC
Park51.org
Salon.com
Wikipedia