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On this ground, zero tolerance
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Issue
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| Contributor | DFWDem |
| Last Edited | DFWDem Aug 20, 2010 01:00pm |
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| Category | Commentary |
| Author | Mike Kelly |
| Media | Newspaper - Bergen Record |
| News Date | Friday, August 20, 2010 06:55:00 PM UTC0:0 |
| Description | NEW YORK--Richie Mitzner of Fort Lee revved up his motorcycle and headed for Ground Zero on Sunday to proudly declare himself an "American Infidel."
As a hot, humid wind blew off New York Harbor, Mitzner joined some 500 others to stir up a rhetorical whirlwind of protest against a proposal to build a mosque and Islamic cultural center near the site of America's bloodiest terror attack.
"It's the epitome of an insult," said Mitzner, 66, a retired New York City teacher, who stood on the edge of Sunday's protesters and held aloft a handmade sign that proclaimed him to be "A Proud American Infidel."
The mosque and Islamic center would not actually exist at Ground Zero. Plans call for it to be built two blocks north, on Park Place, at the site of a former Burlington Coat Factory. Perhaps ironically, the center would be located around the corner from a Roman Catholic church which displays the Ground Zero "cross" of steel beams that were left standing after the trade center fell.
But for many, having a mosque even a short walk from Ground Zero is too close.
Sunday's crowd included representatives of the conservative Tea Party movement, some of them wearing anti-tax T-shirts that had nothing to do with Ground Zero, Islam or terrorism.
"A Mosque at Ground Zero Spits on the Graves of 9/11," one placard proclaimed. Another sign depicted a toilet, with this message: "This is a Mosque. Do You Want it Built at Ground Zero?"
At one point, a portion of the crowd menacingly surrounded two Egyptian men who were speaking Arabic and were thought to be Muslims.
"Go home," several shouted from the crowd.
"Get out," others shouted.
In fact, the two men – Joseph Nassralla and Karam El Masry — were not Muslims at all. They turned out to be Egyptian Coptic Christians who work for a California-based Christian satellite TV station called "The Way." Both said they had come to protest the mosque. |
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