Park 51
August 17th 2010 13:57
We’re improving. In 1692, in Massachusetts, people who were old and/or ugly were hung or burnt at the stake. In 1957 the governor issued a formal apology.
In 1942, people of Japanese descent, including American citizens, were forcibly removed from their homes and placed in internment camps. This time it only took 50 years to issue an apology.
Now, people of the Muslim faith want to open a community center on the site of the former Burlington Coat Factory retail store in New York City’s financial district. Hendrik Hertzberg described it in The New Yorker:
Ah, the “Ground Zero mosque.” Well, for a start, it won’t be at Ground Zero. It’ll be on Park Place, two blocks north of the World Trade Center site (from which it will not be visible), in a neighborhood ajumble with restaurants, shops (electronics, porn, you name it), churches, office cubes, and the rest of the New York mishmash. Park51, as it is to be called, will have a large Islamic “prayer room,” which presumably qualifies as a mosque. But the rest of the building will be devoted to classrooms, an auditorium, galleries, a restaurant, a memorial to the victims of September 11, 2001, and a swimming pool and gym. Its sponsors envision something like the 92nd Street Y—a Y.M.I.A., you might say, open to all, including persons of the C. and H. persuasions.
The New York Times, which has supported Park 51, noted that there are already two mosques in the area, and both have existed for decades, barely noticed. Masjid Manhattan is four blocks from Ground Zero, and dates from 1970. Masjid al-Farah, is 12 blocks from Ground Zero and has been there since1985. Both mosques are small, each occupying a single room, and are forced to turn away worshipers for lack of space.
There have been a number of eloquent defenses of Park 51, but perhaps the most cogent reason for building the center was given by one of its most vocal opponents, Newt Gingrich who said "There should be no mosque near Ground Zero in New York so long as there are no churches or synagogues in Saudi Arabia." This is an emotional issue, but at times like this, we should look to our highest aspirations rather than our basest instincts.
Perhaps we’ll apologize after the elections.
In 1942, people of Japanese descent, including American citizens, were forcibly removed from their homes and placed in internment camps. This time it only took 50 years to issue an apology.
Now, people of the Muslim faith want to open a community center on the site of the former Burlington Coat Factory retail store in New York City’s financial district. Hendrik Hertzberg described it in The New Yorker:
Ah, the “Ground Zero mosque.” Well, for a start, it won’t be at Ground Zero. It’ll be on Park Place, two blocks north of the World Trade Center site (from which it will not be visible), in a neighborhood ajumble with restaurants, shops (electronics, porn, you name it), churches, office cubes, and the rest of the New York mishmash. Park51, as it is to be called, will have a large Islamic “prayer room,” which presumably qualifies as a mosque. But the rest of the building will be devoted to classrooms, an auditorium, galleries, a restaurant, a memorial to the victims of September 11, 2001, and a swimming pool and gym. Its sponsors envision something like the 92nd Street Y—a Y.M.I.A., you might say, open to all, including persons of the C. and H. persuasions.
The New York Times, which has supported Park 51, noted that there are already two mosques in the area, and both have existed for decades, barely noticed. Masjid Manhattan is four blocks from Ground Zero, and dates from 1970. Masjid al-Farah, is 12 blocks from Ground Zero and has been there since1985. Both mosques are small, each occupying a single room, and are forced to turn away worshipers for lack of space.
There have been a number of eloquent defenses of Park 51, but perhaps the most cogent reason for building the center was given by one of its most vocal opponents, Newt Gingrich who said "There should be no mosque near Ground Zero in New York so long as there are no churches or synagogues in Saudi Arabia." This is an emotional issue, but at times like this, we should look to our highest aspirations rather than our basest instincts.
Perhaps we’ll apologize after the elections.
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