Filed under: News, Politics, Race and Civil Rights
The subject of the Ground Zero mosque proposal has fueled angry Internet talk, incendiary blather from politicians, and sparked protest rallies in New York that nearly exploded into violence.
So should anyone really be surprised that the planners of the Park 51 proposal have received death threats?
It is sad that cowards opposed to the questionable mosque project resort to the promise of violence against Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf (pictured above) and his wife Daisy Khan.
I mean, isn't the violence perpetrated by radical Islam on 9/11 the root of much of this acrimony and pain connected to the mosque proposal?
It should be clear that more violence is exactly the wrong answer. But the threats to the Imam and his wife should come as a surprise to no one.
The scars inflicted on this nation by the 9/11 attack are still fresh, especially in New York City. And the idea of building a mosque and Islamic cultural center a few blocks from the Ground Zero site is tantamount to hitting a hornets' nest with a stick and expecting to avoid getting stung.
Abdul Rauf has been offered other tracts of city land to build Park 51 by state leaders.
Wouldn't it have been wise to take the offer of another piece of land and build a proposal that wouldn't be so roundly criticized by the public?
Park 51 developers say any possible groundbreaking is at least two years away. So maybe the planners are waiting for a better offer of alternate land for the project. It's not too late to let common sense take over and move the project.
I just hope that any delay in moving the project doesn't give some crazy person the sad and misguided idea of attacking the Imam or his wife. More violence around Ground Zero will accomplish nothing.