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Aug. 5, 2010 I have been following this battle over putting a Mosque at ground zero, and I am truly disturbed by the level of negativity expressed by so many people . I am a Jewish American and as such I have a unique perspective in the subject of not only Muslims and terrorism but discrimination and hatred as well. The animosity between Jews and Muslims is well documented as well is the history of discrimination the Jewish people have endured throughout or history. Based on this experience I can tell you this is how it starts, blaming a entire group for the actions of a few. We cannot risk taking a broad brush to all Muslims essentially calling them all terrorist and extremists by saying that putting a Mosque near Ground Zero is a mistake, that would be a mistake. Essentially we are saying that all Muslims are terrorist and should be punished along with the ones who perpetrated the 9/11 attack and continue to plan and execute attacks against America and Americans. By allowing this Mosque near such a revered location says to the world that we will not allow this small group of evil people change who we are. We will continue to embrace freedom and the right for everyone to worship as they please. We will not retreat into fear and suspicion, we will not run from the rights that define who we are as a people. America was founded on the idea of freedom, the freedom of speech, the freedom of expression and yes the freedom of religion, how can we say no you can't build a house of worship there because we are at war with a group of people who share your religion? Does this minority group of Muslim extremist define the values, thoughts and intentions of the whole? There has never been a more important time for Americans to stand up and believe in the values that were at the heart of the founding of this country we must not retreat into the darkness. Americans have a strong belief in fairness where is that fairness as we deny the rights of the Muslim community to build house of worship simply because we don’t like the location they have chosen? I say allow this Mosque to be built in lower Manhattan, take this opportunity to build some bridges with the Muslim community, don’t let the terrorists breed fear and hatred within our communities, don’t let them win. The idea that we as a society would choose to not allow the building of a house of worship because of the actions of a small number of people who are associated with that faith will put us on a very slippery slope of discrimination and segregation. What is next? We say you can’t build here but you can build there, isn’t that same as telling people where they can live? Many people when choosing a place to live do so based on where they can go to observe their religion, so by extension by telling the Muslim community that they cannot build their Mosque near ground zero aren’t we encouraging segregation? I understand the feeling of the people who live in the area, I understand how they feel, I also live in the NY area and I was actually on a plane at Newark airport when the attacks occurred. I saw the wreckage; I saw on a daily basis the marks on the tires of the cars in the commuter lots identifying those who would not returned. It was a very dark day and yes they are people to blame for this horrifying attack on innocent people, but we should not forget that the goal of the attack wasn’t only to kill innocent Americans, the goal was to sew fear in our communities. The goal was to make us afraid for our safety and to become suspicious of our neighbors. They want us to take out our fears on the Muslim community, because in doing so we hand them a victory, we give them the opportunity to say “See the Americas hate all Muslims, we told you so”. We are the United States of America, we believe in freedom for all, we believe in justice for all and we believe in the right for all Americans to worship in freedom. Don’t let the terrorist change that. Don’t let them make us become something we are not.
We are Americans and we will not be defeated by fear.
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