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Muslim Organizations Equate Outcry Against Ground Zero Mosque With Jim Crow Conditions

By DNAinfo Staff on September 1, 2010 3:39pm  | Updated on September 2, 2010 6:02am

By Jill Colvin

DNAinfo Reporter/Producer

CITY HALL — Leaders from more than 55 Islamic organizations citywide gathered on the steps of City Hall Wednesday where they denounced a rise in Islamophobia and equated efforts to stop the construction of a mosque near Ground Zero with the Jim Crow conditions of the segregated South.

"We are here to address the rising tide of ethnic and religious hatred and intolerance that is sweeping our city and our nation against Muslims," said Imam Al-Amin Abdul Latif, president of the newly created Majlis Ash-Shura of Metropolitan New York, an Islamic leadership council.

Last week, a Muslim cab driver was repeatedly stabbed and slashed after he allegedly revealed his religion to an intoxicated passenger. The incident is just one of several anti-Muslim incidents in recent weeks.

The groups gathered denounced efforts to halt construction of the mosque as "un-ethical, insensitive and inhumane" in a statement released after the rally.

"The current effort to prevent Muslims from erecting Mosques
throughout the country, where racist bigots exploit the pain and emotional suffering of unsuspecting citizens, seeks to resurrect the Jim Crow conditions of the segregated South," the statement read. "This is a situation that should be unacceptable to all Americans."

The statement also points to an increase in "Crusader-spirited hate-speech," which they write, "leads to lynching, pogroms, ethnic cleansing and genocide, as we have seen in American history, and recently in Bosnia, Rwanda, and elsewhere."

Congressman Charles Rangel, who attended the rally, said the growing opposition to the mosque goes against New York's long history of tolerance. He equated the anti-Muslim rhetoric to the struggles faced by African Americans, Catholics and Jews.

"We cannot allow this type of intolerance to continue," he said. "You never know when it's your turn."

"This isn’t a problem for Muslims," he added. "It’s a problem for America in doing the right thing and respecting our Constitution."

Latif and others staunchly defended the right of the developers to construct the Park51 mosque two blocks from the site and denounced critics, including conservative politicians, for what he described as "fanning the flames of hatred."

"We share their pain," Latif said of those who had lost loved ones in the attack. However, he said, "We ask you to respect that which is sacred to your fellow citizens," he said, referring to the planned community center and mosque.

Critics have said the construction of the center would be disrespectful to those who died on 9/11.

Imam Talib Abdur Rashid, vice president of the newly formed group, said he could not understand why, when innocent Muslims were among both the victims and the first-responders on 9/11, they are not considered sufficiently worthy "to build a place where we can pray right where we worked and died."

In addition to defending Park51's Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, who is scheduled to return from a trip abroad Wednesday, the leaders dismissed a recent poll that shows that about half of New Yorkers are against the construction of the mosque. Instead, they blamed faulty polling and misinformation and urged other Imams to reach out to non-Muslims to make their case.

Syed Sajid Husain, 69, who traveled from Long Island to represent the Council of Imams and Muslim Leaders at the rally said he is deeply disturbed by the recent events and fears Muslims could become second-class citizens.

"I am fighting for my rights," Husain said.