By Julie Shapiro
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Nation of Islam Minister Louis Farrakhan took the stage Thursday to defend Park51, the mosque and community center slated to rise near Ground Zero.
“Let common sense prevail,” he said. “Let righteousness prevail. Muslims are here. We are not terrorists.”
Farrakhan spoke from the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., where he stood alongside other members of the Coalition of African American Muslims to show his support for the controversial project.
Dozens of people live-tweeted his remarks, which were also Webcast.
Farrakhan first poked fun at the concept of “hallowed ground” around the World Trade Center, noting that strip clubs and a porn shop operate nearby.
But then he turned serious and said lower Manhattan is a sacred space not just because of 9/11, but because the neighborhood served as an African burial ground in New York’s early days.
“That ground is also hallowed to us,” Farrakhan said.
Farrakhan asserted the right of Park51’s sponsors to build the center, saying that those who oppose it are “defiling” and “tearing up” the Constitution.
He also said that true Muslims abhor terrorism.
“We do not allow anyone on our watch to do some silly act, to deprive an innocent human being of their life,” Farrakhan said. “If we see it, we will stop it.”
