[Music]
good evening from New York many
colonists like those who settled in
Jamestown in Virginia traveled in search
of Fortune betting that the cultivation
of cash crops such as tobacco would
allow them to realize the promise in a
Promised Land but others like those who
landed at Plymouth Rock hope for a
different reward sailing to the new
world on the Mayflower to escape
religious persecution our fifth Story
put aside the ginned up faux controversy
surrounding the building of an Islamic
community center somewhere near Ground
Zero the non- news that Republicans want
you to talk about instead of focusing
upon unemployment the gulf oil disaster
healthc care the real actual controversy
might be this the threat to Religious
Freedom a threat already being faced by
other Muslim Americans Nationwide and a
freedom upon which this nation was
founded those who oppose the Islamic
community center near Ground Zero being
many of the same people who love to wrap
themselves in the yellow parchment of
our founding documents with little to
know apparent understanding of what
those documents represent Muslim and
Interfaith leaders today expressing
concern that the question of religious
freedom is not contained to lower
Manhattan calling for the protection of
community centers of mosques of other
houses of worship of Muslim Americans
and of other worshippers around around
the country their fears not unfounded
recent weeks and months witnessing an
alarming rise in incidents mosques now
facing zoning challenges in Tennessee in
California in Georgia in Kentucky in
Wisconsin and in Illinois standing room
only at a courthouse house when a
proposed facility in Murphy's Boro
Tennessee was discussed as well as only
miles from Ground Zero itself in Midland
Beach and Staten Island and sheep's head
Bay in Brooklyn then there is the
unmasked hatred and violence last week
Christian protesters confronting
worshippers outside a mosque in
bridgport Connecticut before Friday
evening prayer services during Ramadan
just because screaming among other
things Jesus hates Muslims and calling
the children murderers in Jacksonville
in Florida in May the pipe bombing of
the mosque the FBI investigating it is a
possible domestic terrorist incident in
the San Francisco Bay area in California
a Muslim man beaten in broad daylight by
attackers who called him a terrorist and
mother and son reported assaulted after
a softball game in Cedar Rapids Iowa why
the Iraqi immigrant who moved her family
here to escape violence tried to defend
her adult son when he was called ragad
terrorist and camel jockey by members of
the opposing team also the man's jaw
broken now wired shut police saying the
incident seems to be just trash talking
that got out of hand the attackers in
these cases calling their victims
terrorists the attackers meanwhile
claiming they themselves oppose violence
while they were assaulting others by the
same logic The Man Behind the Islamic
community center near Ground Zero fisal
Abdul rou has been called a radical
Muslim a militant islamist and the enemy
when in point of fact reporting The
Huffington Post today he has spent the
past decade helping the FBI as it tried
to crack down on domestic security
threats a portrait do does does not meet
the manufactured reality of how fisal
Abdul R is now being painted just as the
manufactured outrage against his
community center does not address the
lack of outrage over the two prayer
centers the masjids won a dozen blocks
from Ground Zero the other one shown
here four blocks away and in operation
without incident since 1970 or the Halal
carts that have been serving what New
Yorkers adoringly refer to as street
meat to New Yorkers both before the N9
attacks and then in the decade since at
today's news conference in Washington
Muslim and Interfaith leaders decrying
how the gend up controversy has been
used for cheap political
purposes they are good citizens they are
good Muslims and they're good human
beings and to see them demonized and
dragged through the mud the way some
people are willing to do for political
gain or for their own political uh uh
issues and and and agendas is really
reprehensible let's turn first to Cory
sailor the National legislative director
of care the Council on American Islamic
relations Mr sailor thanks for your time
tonight thanks for having me on Keith is
uh uh Ground Zero and park 51 is that a
deak is it a faint is it an attempt to
obscure this larger pattern of of
discrimination and of hatred and
violence you know sometimes you have to
wonder if somebody thinks it might be a
good way to obscure other more mey
issues like the economy and what's going
on in the Gulf but realistically you
know it's not just this mosque and laowa
Manhattan that's being attacked it's
just just about every Islamic Center
that's trying to do any kind of
construction or expansion across the
country and that has to just strike
everyone as deeply troubling when any
one faith can be subjected to attacks
like this with people calling for all
Muslims to leave this country other
people calling for all the mo no more
mosque building that can at any point in
time be applied to other faiths in this
country so right now is the time for
everyone to stand up and say no the
Constitution is not subject to opinion
polling the con is our founding document
we must stand by it freedom for all
religions does this take you by surprise
after the the say the first seven years
after 911 when it was not perfect by any
means there was blowback against the
Muslim Community and the and the Arab
communities in this country but there
was nothing that had this sort of
undertone of connection to it like this
seems to were you surprised by it
unfortunately no but I think the
visceral anger that we see is I I don't
want to call it surprises but what
disturbs me the most uh I mean you had
in your opening segment a man placing a
bomb outside of a mosque had he placed
it in the right position it would have
killed or injured up to the 60 people
inside and this almost gets no news
whatsoever and there are still elements
that want to say that you know Muslims
are the extremist Muslims are terrorists
And yet when Joe stack flies an airplane
into a building in Texas that's not
called terrorism so it seems like the
label is definitely unfairly applied
yeah if there were if if the if the
Muslim Americans were the committers of
these attacks rather than being the
victims would there be any doubt what
the charges would be no unfortunately
not at all the way you smear Muslims in
this country right now is you call them
terrorists and unfortunately anytime
someone lifts their finger they're
accused of a terrorist act I mean look
at Imam fisel Abdul Ru The Man Behind
the initiative in New York this is a guy
who's been Consulting with the FBI the
Bush Administration sent him overseas to
try to win hearts and Minds in the
Muslim world uh this man is rowned
Jewish Christian leaders in New York
saying this is a man of peace and yet
now he's under attack and being called
an extremist um the project with which
he is uh involved is there any doubt
that that that project in lower
Manhattan is on firm legal footing I
think I I think the vote last week shows
it you have an unanimous vote in favor
of the mosque believe me if there was
any legal question about their right to
go forward with this initiative it would
have been brought up and dealt with them
and is there not some irony to the fact
that the federal law that would prevent
New York from changing its zoning
requirements or not going along with
with what is legal there was passed uh
by Republican houses of House of
Representatives and Republican Senate in
2000 something of an irony to that don't
you think well I think that
unfortunately the repu many people in
the Republican party I don't think the
Republican party as a whole because you
haven't heard from the RNC or Michael
steel but the Republican Party People in
Republican party as a whole have been
leading this anti-muslim charge uh
senator re the Democrat being the one
lone stand out on the Democratic side
and it is troubling I'd like the
Republican party to remember its own
Roots they were the ones who they are
the party of Abraham Lincoln they led
the way in pushing slavery aside moving
our country forward uh I think it's time
for them to lead lead the way and help
push aside the kind of bigotry that's
being focused at American Muslims right
now Cory sailor of the Council on
American Islamic relations great thanks
for your time tonight sir appreciate it
Keith