TPMDC
Pro-Mosque Mom Who Lost Pregnant Daughter In Trade Center: 9/11 Families 'Not Monolithic'
Sign at the World Trade Center site in Lower Manhattan
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As plans to build an Islamic cultural center near Ground Zero in New York City become political fodder for the fall elections on a national scale, it's become shorthand to imply that all 9/11 families oppose the erection of the mosque two blocks from the site where terrorists downed the World Trade Center nearly nine years ago.
But in fact, no cohesive position has emerged from the thousands of 9/11 families who have been politically influential on many issues in the past. One group which has opposed war has come out strongly in favor of the mosque project, known as Cordoba House. Others have avoided even addressing the issue.
"There is no simple, singular 9/11 group who really should or could speak for all 9/11 family members," said Donna Marsh O'Connor of September Eleventh Families for Peaceful Tomorrows, a coalition of more than 250 families which recently endorsed the mosque. Since the endorsement, the membership numbers have grown, she said.
[TPM SLIDESHOW: Welcome To The Neighborhood? A Look At The Area Around The 'Ground Zero Mosque']
O'Connor told TPM in an interview that it's unfair for groups like Debra Burlingame's 9/11 Families for a Safe and Strong America to act as if they are representing everyone who lost loved ones in the attacks. O'Connor's 29-year-old daughter Vanessa, pregnant at the time, was killed working on the 93rd floor of one of the twin towers.
"This is not a small issue, this is what America has always been -- a place where people come to escape religious persecution," O'Connor (pictured at left) said. "I can understand people saying that this is a slap. This does hurt. But we don't change fundamentally what our nation is about because it will hurt people."
"We're a family who is forever changed, certainly forever scarred, but we're not the victims of 9/11. Our daughter was the victim of 9/11 and we don't want to see our nation fold," she said.
There are multiple groups of families of the victims of the attacks with varying prominence on the national scene. TPMDC has put out interview requests to several and spent time scanning their Web sites.
As Josh noted last night, Burlingame has gotten the lion's share of the attention, in part because she's affiliated with Liz Cheney. Peter Gadiel's organization 9/11 Families for a Secure America also opposes the Islamic center. But, former TPMer Justin Elliott noted over at Salon that few of the people who originated the fight were actually affiliated with the 9/11 families.
Despite there being no unified voice, a meme has emerged that the families of the victims of 9/11 are unified in being hurt by the plans. In this piece, a rabbi speaks broadly about 9/11 families:
First, a pastoral voice. To some of those who lost loved ones in the 9/11 attacks, Cordoba House is a slap in the face that generates anger and disgust. In their mind, Muslims perpetrated 9/11, and now Muslims are building a shrine at Ground Zero.These 9/11 families understand intellectually that the progressive American Muslims advocating for Cordoba House have no connection, theologically or personally, to the terror-thirsty, militant strand of Islam associated with the 9/11 attackers. Yet, for them, these two diametrically opposed groups are still connected in some way. In an honest moment, most Americans would admit that we share this feeling that all Muslims are connected.
Of note in delving into the 9/11 families reaction to the Islamic center is the lack of press attention to the failure last month of a measure that would have provided for $7.4 billion in health care funding for emergency responders and others who were sickened by the World Trade Center dust. Just 12 Republicans joined Democrats in voting for the measure, which needed a two-thirds majority to pass.
Rep. Anthony Weiner threw a fit on the House floor last month over this very issue, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) noted the lack of Republican support noted the same in his statement today that developers should just move the project. But for all the political griping over the mosque, you'd think there would be more fuss made over sick firefighters who need medical attention.
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midnight rambler
August 16, 2010 4:12 PM
Rabbi, most people understand intellectually that the nice Jewish family living down the street has no connection, theologically or personally, to the bloodsucking bankers who control a disproportionate amount of wealth in the country. Yet, for them, these two diametrically opposed groups are still connected in some way. In an honest moment, most Americans would admit that we share this feeling that all Jews are connected.
WTF is the matter with these people?
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Ray Hicks
August 16, 2010 6:37 PM in reply to midnight rambler
I thought that what the Rabbi said was pretty honest, actually. I can't and won't for a moment wonder what it's like to walk in an American Jew's or Muslim's shoes, or how theyre brought up in such disconnect. But to make that statement about the connection of Jews to money/bloodsucking bankers doesnt serve the argument.
"In an honest moment, most Americans would admit that we share this feeling that all Muslims are connected." That is probably one of the most deckplate statements a person, an American, of whatever stripe can make. If you never felt that, after 9-11, or having visited Ground Zero, then you must be next in line to be the Dalai Lama. My 1st Amendment rights are sacrosanct, but it has crossed my mind that yea, fuck them all, because my Aunt in Brooklyn told me Arabs were celebrating outside Al Aksa jewelers in Bay Ridge. That's an honest statement.
Maybe your honest statement is that you connect Jews to what you describe as "...theologically or personally, to the bloodsucking bankers who control a disproportionate amount of wealth in the country." Honestly?
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midnight rambler
August 16, 2010 7:15 PM in reply to Ray Hicks
I don't, but a lot of people do, and it was the root of a lot of anti-Semitism. And no, I've never felt that all Muslims are connected. Maybe you've never known any, and known that they're not all like al-Qaeda?
I do say fuck 'em all, to all religions. Sick of all this crap.
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Ray Hicks
August 17, 2010 7:44 AM in reply to midnight rambler
Thanks for your reply. I admire your honesty.
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Commie Dearest
August 16, 2010 7:26 PM in reply to Ray Hicks
I have relatives who are Muslim, so, no, I don't think they are monolithic, any more than Christians, USAians, or left-handed people are.
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SqueakyRat
August 16, 2010 8:40 PM in reply to Ray Hicks
"In an honest moment, most Americans would admit that we share this feeling that all Muslims are connected."
Well, they're all Muslims. Is that what you mean?
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Ray Hicks
August 17, 2010 7:55 AM in reply to SqueakyRat
Yes, they all are, and I would be a liar if i didnt admit that in my mind, after 9/11 I was thinking, well, fuck them 'all', but that's a reflection on what I think was a collective feeling in the country. I'm not the shop steward for how Americans think and I represent only myself, but when reading the Rabbi's comments, it was honest. Midnight Rambler stating that Americans are wrapping themselves around the old 'Protocols of Zion' fears of Jews as bloodsucking bankers/lenders, etc. is I dont think true. Yea, there's anti-semitism alive and well, but I dont think it is in the forefront as much as anti-Muslim feelings. Again, the caveat is 'I think.'
Everyone has their own interpretation of parsing Al-queda from mainstream Islam. I dont see them as monolithic either, but as stated before, I have, in anger, lumped them all together. A wise old saying is 'don't shoot all dogs if a few have fleas'and I have at times not taken that advice.
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boyoboy
August 17, 2010 10:00 AM in reply to SqueakyRat
I certainly can't connect the people responsible for 9/11 with the parents I wait with at the school bus stop, the kids my kids ride the bus with, nor the women I grocery shop with.
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slb
August 17, 2010 3:46 AM in reply to Ray Hicks
No, I cannot say that I have ever felt that all Muslims are one and the same. It was al-Qaeda that attacked the Pentagon and the World Trade Center, it was not Islam, it was not all Muslims, it was not Iraq or Iran or Libya. It was al-Qaeda.
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bpollen
August 17, 2010 8:16 PM in reply to Ray Hicks
I don't judge all Christians by the actions of the Westboro Baptist Church, I don't judge all Jews by the actions of Israel, I don't judge all Germans by the actions of the Nazis, I don't judge all white people by the actions of the Ku Klux Klan, I don't judge all Muslims by the actions of terrorists. To do so fits the very definition of bigotry. To say that expressing bigotry is a "honest statement" is itself bigotry. You say: "it has crossed my mind that yea, fuck them all, because my Aunt in Brooklyn told me Arabs were celebrating outside Al Aksa jewelers in Bay Ridge." Condemning over a billion Muslims because your "Aunt told you" that "Arabs were celebrating" shows your bigotry.... Do you realize that most Muslims are NOT Arabs and not all Arabs are Muslim? And that "Arab" is not an ethnicity, but is essentially just a name for those who speak some form of Arabic as their normal language?
So, Ray, you and the Rabbi both have the right to your own opinion, and the right to express that opinion, but, by the same token, others have the right to point out the bigotry inherent in that opinion.
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Ray Hicks
August 17, 2010 9:15 PM in reply to bpollen
I think I made it pretty plain that yes, I had grouped them all together. Bigoted, yes. Honest, yes. Angry, yes.Do I live by that creedo, no. I also think my aunt who watched it all from Brooklyn has a little more credibility with me than you. If you have a chip on your shoulder, or need to project, run it by someone else. Your prologue was just a little too long. You made you point in your first 'judgement' example, almost like the need to explain that 'some of your best friends are...' Don't keep flogging a dead horse, it's redundant. And thanks for outing my racist rant. You seem overly qualified.
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bpollen
August 17, 2010 9:54 PM in reply to Ray Hicks
"Your prologue was just a little too long."
Sorry to make you actually have to read...
"You made you point in your first 'judgement' example, almost like the need to explain that 'some of your best friends are...'
Speaking of projecting....
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Ray Hicks
August 18, 2010 5:59 AM in reply to bpollen
'Yawn'....
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minniemouse
August 19, 2010 5:23 PM in reply to Ray Hicks
...So, should we also assume all Catholic priests are pedophiles? How ignorant is it to assume every person associated with a particular faith is connected to the same evil practiced by others of that faith? Muslims are obviously building a house of worship, not a terrorist boot camp. Building a mosque does not support terrorism and should not be seen as an insensitive act against 9/11 victims any more than building a Catholic church in a neighborhood where little boys were molested should be seen as a slap in the face to parents. What's important is - not our sensitivity to events while prohibiting other human rights every time we're reminded of our nightmares - but that Americans acknowledge for once in our embarrassing history, that 9/11 was not the only terrorist attack on American soil, and that sensitivity to horrific events of terrorism should not be limited to only 9/11 victims. What about the act of terrorism that included burning Blacks alive and hanging them from trees after their ancestors were kidnapped and forced into slavery? What about the injustice to Native Americans? What about the aftermath of prejudice that still (to this day) has churches and schools segregated legally so that minorities continue to do poorly in life? The message Americans are sending out nowadays is that you are unfit to be called "All-American" if you're not a White Christian. That's why illegal immigrants from Canada will never be asked for their papers in Arizona. That's why when Obama was running for president, republicans couldn't make up their minds whether they wanted to bash him for attending Christian worship services with a bad pastor, or bash him for supposedly being Muslim, (as though it's a crime in this country to be Muslim). That's why too many Americans will always get away with being prejudice toward minority groups, because they're too narrow-minded to understand that this is a diverse nation - a melting pot of people who practice all religions and have ancestry that isn't just European.
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Ray Hicks
August 19, 2010 9:09 PM in reply to minniemouse
I dont see your point as it relates to what I wrote. Take a step back: I was admitting that at one point in space post 9/11, yes, I did feel that way. I think that feeling was a very palpable and real thing. For some it has never ceased, and for some it was a transient anger. I wont apologize for that nor dissect it for you. I dont know where your argument about the priests/pedophiles came in. I wont shoot all dogs because a few have fleas. My small disagreement with MR was about his assertion that people are reverting or growing in number insisting upon old stereotypes of Jews.
Being born in the 50's and living in an asian centric place in America, I knew many kids who's folks were interned in WW2. One of the reasons my anger faded was that reality of what a possible next step could be in this country, and what many are calling for now in the case of muslims. So, if you want to make hay of what I said, stay in the context of what was being said. No more, no less. Thanks for your comment.
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minniemouse
August 19, 2010 10:05 PM in reply to Ray Hicks
What I was arguing most certainly does relate to the context of your statements, since bigotry is bigotry across the board, and generalizing people based off actions of another group they have something in common with holds the same narrow-mindedness as believing all Catholic priests are pedophiles simply because some of them were guilty of molesting children. You're ranting about your anger toward a particular group, in this case Muslims, as though they have no human rights and should give up their freedom of religion to keep other Americans happy (even if some of the 9/11 victims were also Muslims). My examples were simply to allow you to see how prejudice this line of thinking is, that one group is better than another group supposedly. There's a much bigger picture to see here, friend: History repeats itself in many ways.
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Ray Hicks
August 19, 2010 10:22 PM in reply to minniemouse
Whoa...in no way was I 'ranting'. again, I am talking about a transient anger that related to how I will describe being pissed off at all dogs because a few have fleas. That isnt something I practice, yet will admit it was a real and strong anger, in the context of immediate post 9-11. and it wasnt a feeling isolated to myself. That said, you need to back off the claim of bigotry and ranting. I wont apologize for that, as it was something that as an American, regardless of my ethnicity (you seem to be hung up on the white christian label), as that had nothing to do with it, but recognizing a 'group' as an enemy, again in a contextual way. I dont know how I can make it any plainer to you, or else you see something else and have an axe to grind. If youre not satisfied with this final offering, can't help you. I'm done unless you want to discuss something on an even keel, and stop putting words in my mouth. And know I am not angry as tone is hard to surmise at times in posts.
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ronspri
August 16, 2010 7:58 PM in reply to midnight rambler
Rabbi, most people understand intellectually that the nice Jewish family living down the street has no connection, theologically or personally, to the bloodsucking bankers who control a disproportionate amount of wealth in the country. Yet, for them, these two diametrically opposed groups are still connected in some way. In an honest moment, most Americans would admit that we share this feeling that all Jews are connected.
WTF is the matter with these people?
Midnight rambler,Wow did you nail it right up front. If I could give you a prize for that I would. Golden.
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ronspri
August 16, 2010 8:20 PM in reply to ronspri
What I ment was you pointed out well the Americanized version of general bigotry that knows no particular group. Insightful
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Ugot2bkidnme
August 16, 2010 4:50 PM
My reaction to this contrived issue is one of shame. This is another example of victory for those who wish us ill. When we as Americans are willing to sacrifice one of our fundemental founding principles to xenophobic hysteria, the terrorist win. Those who flew planes into the towers had one intent. Change America for the worse. As I watch this spectacle, I realize they have. Wish I was Canadian!!!!!!!!!
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mythbuster
August 16, 2010 5:34 PM in reply to Ugot2bkidnme
Whatever happened to, "I may not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"?
Now the position is, "Muslims, please sacrifice your First Amendment Rights because it's politically inconvenient to defennd you."
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Clarance Vine
August 16, 2010 6:22 PM in reply to Ugot2bkidnme
Just get in your car and drive North. See ya.
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Ugot2bkidnme
August 17, 2010 2:23 AM in reply to Clarance Vine
Clarice - I see you're still a dipshit. Does your Mommy know how much time you're spending on her computer???
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Clarance Vine
August 17, 2010 7:06 AM in reply to Ugot2bkidnme
yes I'm still a dipshit, and yes, you're still a fraud.
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slb
August 16, 2010 5:39 PM
But for all the political griping over the mosque, you'd think there would be more fuss made over sick firefighters who need medical attention.
You would think so, but that is the rationalist position. There is no real rationality behind right wing other than a determination to demagogue every issue that can be used to stoke the fires of fear and prejudice. It has been their primary issue ever since 9/11.
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ronik
August 16, 2010 6:02 PM
It has been their primary issue ever since Reagan...no, ever since Roe V Wade...no, ever since Civil Rights...no since....ever?
That's because they've got nothing that's good for people, so the only thing they can do is strike fear into people's hearts and claim they can "keep us safe". Just bs.
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ahumbleopinion
August 16, 2010 9:43 PM in reply to ronik
Yes, another "stir up a little hate" gimmick to hide the fact they want to explode the deficit with tax cuts for the rich, want to deny access to health care to millions of Americans, want to jeopardize retirement security for our senior citizens, want to let Wall Street gamble with our money, want to stall the recovery for political purposes . . . it's just another Republican card trick to fool the voters.
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bodie1
August 16, 2010 6:08 PM
Has anyone actually called the 911 families? Afterall, this bigotry and intolerance is being waged in their names.
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mlwjones
August 16, 2010 6:21 PM
Among other things that are likely withing spitting distance of the former WTC - souvenir shops that hawk cheap tawdry patriotic 9/11 crap (much of which is likely made in China), fetishizing tragedy and the deaths of thousands for personal profit.
Yet that's OK somehow.
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MyMy
August 16, 2010 6:38 PM
Shame on the media for balooning up this disguised excuse for anti-Semitic ranting by the right. Oh yes, they're supposedly on the side of Israel, blah blah blah. But the nasty rhetoric, the dep ignorance and the hateful impulses are precisely the same as have fueled anti-Semitism throughout Western history.
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Marquis de SeaToShiningSea
August 16, 2010 6:53 PM
Dear America,
We saw thousands of people, walking like zombies as the streamed north from lower Manhattan. You sat at home and watched the TV, already ginning up for an unnecessary war with Afghanistan. We said no, not in our name. But, did you listen?
You reelected-well, technically, elected as before it was a coup-that idiot who,as much as anyone, was responsible for the shame that day. Check the voting tally, we didn't want him, never can you blame that mess on us.
You came to our town and gawked at the place that was this atrocity. In droves. We were appalled. We still don't go there. It isn't a place to gawk. Your boorishness amazed us. We didn't want your tourist money for coming to gape at our pain.
And now? AND NOW. You think you can tell us how to live? What to locate where? F**k off. Thank you.
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Commie Dearest
August 16, 2010 7:27 PM in reply to Marquis de SeaToShiningSea
+1
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Ugg the Repug
August 16, 2010 7:53 PM in reply to Marquis de SeaToShiningSea
Ugg been New York 3 times since. Can't go to site. Not feel right.
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August 16, 2010 8:05 PM in reply to Marquis de SeaToShiningSea
Marquis:
I agree with all of your comments save one. 9/11 was not just an NYC phenomenon. I can't speak for others, but I went to the site to pay my respects, not to gawk.
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August 28, 2010 3:34 AM in reply to Ortho
I'm sorry I have to disagree. This WAS a uniquely NYC phenomenon. WE were the ones running through the haze that was downtown Manhattan that day in stark, blind terror not knowing what the hell was going on, WE were the ones that had to walk home over the bridges to Queens, Brooklyn etc, still terrified, not knowing if they would collapse beneath us as well. WE were the ones that couldn't attend school downtown for almost 2 months after the fact and WE were the ones that either had to wear masks or inhale the soot, dust and the stench that got into your throat, nose, eyes, hair and seemed to cling to your clothes no matter how much they were washed, WE were the ones that while attending classes/work everyday had to pass by what was for all intents and purposes one massive open air grave, I couldn't walk on that side of the street for a full year after because of the knowledge that bodies lay a scant 5 feet away from me, and I haven't been to Tribeca since I graduated. So fuck you very much, this was a very uniquely NYC phenomenon. And since YOU weren't here, YOU don't get to own it or tell US that it wasn't uniquely NYC. Or for that matter tell us what we should put where.
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NHBob
August 16, 2010 7:31 PM
The Republicans try to triangulate this by saying - "of course we believe in religious freedom - but...."
I guess the poor right wingers never realized that freedom would ever involve actual - freedom.
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ronspri
August 16, 2010 8:13 PM
but they think it is inappropriate...or something similar.
Why, unless one blames Muslims in general for the attacks. If you do then why do you support our policy of arms sales and arming and training of Muslims all over the middle east?
They don't have any rational opinion on this or anything else. Its all a competitive fear based daily drama for them, that's it.
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August 16, 2010 8:40 PM
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Joseph Calling
August 16, 2010 9:31 PM
Two words: Stockholm Syndrome.
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Jimtoday3034
August 16, 2010 9:48 PM
I'm getting real tired of those professional victims, the 9/11 families demanding special rights. They were all paid millions of dollars for their losses, unlike crime victims anywhere else in our country. Are they too dumb to realize that the money was to make them go away, STFU, and quit demanding special treatment?
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Sagebrush
August 16, 2010 10:05 PM
(1) The Cordoba Center should not be built in lower Manhattan
because
(2) all Muslims everywhere - especially American Muslims who live or work in lower Manhattan - are collectively guilty of the attack that utterly deveatated lower Manhattan.
If you can't get behind the second part of that sentence, then you have no business advocating the first part of it.
And if you really, truly believe the second part, then why would you want to stop at preventing the building of this center?
Shouldn't Muslims be barred from working on the reconstruction of the World Trade Center?
Shouldn't we prevent Muslims from visiting the World Trade Center complex once it's rebuilt?
Even if Muslims are allowed to work in the new towers, shouldn't they be prevented from praying there?
And while we're at it, what business do Muslims have even walking around in that neighborhood?
(Why should we care if they're American citizens? They're Muslims, right?)
Doesn't Muslims' presence anywere near there violate the memory of those who died in the attack and potentially upset the survivors?
Shouldn't Muslims be barred from living in lower Manhattan?
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davidfarrar
August 16, 2010 10:47 PM
The people behind the Cordoba Center are jihadist terrorist every bit as much as the 9/11 terrorists. I say this because they want to build their mosque a few block from "Ground Zero" for the very same reason the 9/11 terrorist flew into the World Trade Centers and the Pentagon. They want to raise the hatred between American muslims and Americans. They want to bring their jihad to American shores and they need American muslims as their cannon fodder.
But I say, if there is no legal way to stop the project, we should suck up, place our faith in our laws and our American muslim brothers and sisters and deal with it.
ex animo
davidfarrar
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Hobbes83
August 16, 2010 11:48 PM in reply to davidfarrar
The same can be said for the right wing terrorist in this country such as the hutaree. The Muslims are just the "hate this group" of choice to get your voters mobilized for November. The GOP can't offer any substantive remedies for the problems that they have primarily caused, so they are using the Muslims Center and the New Black Panthers to rile up the racist, xenophobic base of their party because "the coloreds and fags are gonna take your rights, the illegals are gonna take your jobs, and the Muslims are gonna convert you to islam and institute sharia law."
I used to feel sorry people like you, noting more than lemmings meant to be led off of the cliff by the malevolent leader, but my sympathy has dried up. There is no pity that I can give to a person who is so willfully ignorant.
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chameleon
August 17, 2010 9:49 AM in reply to Hobbes83
Hey Hobbes. Good to see you. Lars was asking about you. Hope all is well. Is it true you are starting LSU in the fall????
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gharlane
August 17, 2010 12:40 AM in reply to davidfarrar
That's weird. Who knew that President George W. Bush picked a jihadist terrorist to go on a worldwide tour to speak on perceptions of Islam in America? Maybe Bush is a secret Moooooozlim jihadi himself. Like I said, who knew?
God, the stupid. It burns.
To put a fine point on it, David, you have absolutely no fucking idea what you are talking about. Nothing but bigotry and wild conspiracy theories.
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slb
August 17, 2010 3:57 AM in reply to gharlane
To put a fine point on it, David, you have absolutely no fucking idea what you are talking about. Nothing but bigotry and wild conspiracy theories.
To which I say: Amen.
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davidfarrar
August 17, 2010 8:18 AM in reply to gharlane
Ah, the personal attacks again. And here I was willing to accept your point of view so we could both move forward on this issue. But I see, it's not necessary. You think your points so weak you feel the need of add a diversion.
So I will dismiss your points of view, sir; with only this comment: If the benevolent motives behind the Cordoba group were -- are genuine -- once the 9/11 objections arose, they should have been more than willing to honor them. But what have they done? They have chosen to dishonor the dead of 9/11 at the hands of the 9/11 jihadist terrorists for their own selfish personal reasons.
ex animo
davidfarrar
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gharlane
August 17, 2010 3:57 PM in reply to davidfarrar
Shorter David Farrar: I can't actually dispute or refute your documented (and linked) facts, which do in fact demonstrate that I don't know what I'm talking about and that I'm peddling baseless conspiracy theories, so I'll evade them instead and fall back on faux outrage over illusory "personal attacks" and then repeat the same conspiracy theory I posted in my first comment. Nice try, dude, but we're on to ya.
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gharlane
August 17, 2010 6:58 PM in reply to davidfarrar
As a postscript -- I fully subscribe to everything Hobbes83 posted above, and I highlight this part:
Exactly.
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sherifffruitfly
August 16, 2010 10:49 PM
Fuck you, bigot Rabbi.
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gharlane
August 17, 2010 12:23 AM
Luckily, many rabbis aren't as bigoted as this one apparently is.
In addition to the headline signatories, a number of rabbis signed on in the "comments" (for lack of a better word).
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MikeW67
August 17, 2010 12:36 AM
Known GOP offender Ed Rollins, was on "Face The Nation" Sunday, claiming exactly how the "9/11 families" are opposed to the mosque. As in, monolithically.
Attn: Ed - Simple 1st Amendment freedom, which you can learn up on by Googling. Not hard, not changing. Your ignorance is astounding, and you insult the intelligence of the 9/11 families by implying that they aren't able to understand the Amendment either...
- Balkingpoints / www
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juicy couture
August 17, 2010 2:14 AM
This is a good article! Thanks for sharing!
Juicy Couture
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slb
August 17, 2010 3:55 AM
Keith Olbermann had a fantastic commentary on this at the end of his Monday night show:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677/#38731398
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August 17, 2010 5:00 PM
When I moved to Wilkinsburg, PA, some years ago, the first thing I noticed was the number of blacks dressed as Muslims. Struck by this, I immediately thought to myself that it seemed a natural development, given the track record "Christians" have had in their relationship with African-Americans historically (up to the very, very recent past). It would make sense that they have sought spiritual comfort and identify in a religion that has never discriminated against people of color.
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