One positive outcome of the outcry against what right-wingers have dubbed the "Ground Zero Mosque," an Islamic community center a couple blocks from the site of the World Trade Centerin a former Burlington Coat Factory, is that it has brought mainstream media attention to harassment and opposition faced by mosques and Islamic centers across the country.
As Laurie Goodstein writes in the New York Times, construction on mosques and Islamic centers in communities geographically far removed from the site of the 9/11 attacks have been met by protests and harassment, in locales from Tennessee to California to Wisconsin. In Temecula, CA, protesters brought dogs because they say Muslims hate the canines — but the bigger impact of this is to increase the intimidation factor against Muslims attempting to practice their faith.
In Murfreesboro, TN, a Republican primary candidate for Congress, Lou Ann Zelenik, has been using criticism against an Islamic community center to drum up support, to which Talking Point Memo's Evan McMorris-Santoro snarkily responds, "There's already a mosque in Murfreesboro, so Zelenik is stuck with being outraged over just the after-school programs and classrooms part of the equation here." Kyle on Right Wing Watch writes about protesters screaming at Muslims coming to prepare for Ramadan at a Connecticut mosque; one of the harassers shoved a placard at a group of young children and yelled, "Murderers." Police were called to intervene, and Muslim leaders are concerned about escalating attacks during the Ramadan holiday. There was also bombing of a mosque in Florida adds to such worries.
Full Article here
(posted by Zona Keo)
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