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Bigotry
[VIDEO] President Obama: "Al Qaeda’s cause is not Islam – it is a gross distortion of Islam"
But let me be clear: as a citizen, and as President, I believe that Muslims have the same right to practice their religion as anyone else in this country. That includes the right to build a place of worship and a community center on private property in lower Manhattan, in accordance with local laws and ordinances. This is America, and our commitment to religious freedom must be unshakeable. The principle that people of all faiths are welcome in this country, and will not be treated differently by their government, is essential to who we are. The writ of our Founders must endure.
We must never forget those who we lost so tragically on 9/11, and we must always honor those who have led our response to that attack --from the firefighters who charged up smoke-filled staircases, to our troops who are serving in Afghanistan today. And let us always remember who we are fighting against, and what we are fighting for. Our enemies respect no freedom of religion. Al Qaeda%u2019s cause is not Islam --it is a gross distortion of Islam. These are not religious leaders --these are terrorists who murder innocent men, women and children. In fact, al Qaeda has killed more Muslims than people of any other religion --and that list of victims includes innocent Muslims who were killed on 9/11.
Full Text of the speech: read more »
Mayor Bloomberg on why Cordoba House and Religious Freedom are important to New York City
You all know that I am not a fan of Michael Bloomberg. That is not going to stop me from applauding him when he is 100% right on an issue such as the building of Córdoba House two blocks Ground Zero.
Thank you Mayor Bloomberg, for voicing your opposition to the Islamophobe bigots with such a loud and clear voice.
From Mayor Bloomberg Stands Up For Mosque »:
Our doors are open to everyone – everyone with a dream and a willingness to work hard and play by the rules. New York City was built by immigrants, and it is sustained by immigrants – by people from more than a hundred different countries speaking more than two hundred different languages and professing every faith. And whether your parents were born here, or you came yesterday, you are a New Yorker.
We may not always agree with every one of our neighbors. That's life and it's part of living in such a diverse and dense city. But we also recognize that part of being a New Yorker is living with your neighbors in mutual respect and tolerance. It was exactly that spirit of openness and acceptance that was attacked on 9/11.
No one should be asked to leave their neighborhood. This is our neighborhood and we've been part of it for 27 years. Our opponents are not from this neighborhood.
read more »
Going Muslim Part II: A Reply from John Sexton
Last week I wrote about an NYU professor who wrote a bigoted and ignorant piece on Forbes.com essentially working from the hypothesis that all Muslims are violent. Tunku Varadarajan used the phrase "Going Muslim" to describe incidents like the one at Ft. Hood, going into some detail in describing what he meant by this term:
“This phrase would describe the turn of events where a seemingly integrated Muslim-American–a friendly donut vendor in New York, say, or an officer in the U.S. Army at Fort Hood–discards his apparent integration into American society and elects to vindicate his religion in an act of messianic violence against his fellow Americans.”
I wrote a letter to NYU President John Sexton, which I also posted to Daily Gotham, to express disgust at the bigotry of Tunku Varadarajan. I should note that I suggested no specific actions in this regard other than calling on Sexton to reject the kind of bigotry expressed by Varadarajan, and suggesting that it reflects poorly on NYU. read more »
"Going Muslim"
Seems an NYU professor, Tunku Varadarajan, has written a column where he refers to "Going Muslim," meaning:
“This phrase would describe the turn of events where a seemingly integrated Muslim-American–a friendly donut vendor in New York, say, or an officer in the U.S. Army at Fort Hood–discards his apparent integration into American society and elects to vindicate his religion in an act of messianic violence against his fellow Americans.”
This implies that some how being Muslim is inherently violent and anti-American. Daily Kos has an article discussing this bigoted article and recommending writing NYU President John Sexton to express disgust at the bigotry of this NYU professor.
Since I work for the NYU medical center, and since I have published with a wonderful, brilliant and caring Muslim colleague, I feel honor bound to write a personal rejection of Tunku Varadarajan's bigotry. Here is my letter to John Sexton: read more »
The Puerto Rican Woman Of Color's Burden can win you a t-shirt!
As a Puerto Rican black woman with a graduate education and a new media platform in the form of a blog, it is my duty to rally my people into a frenzy of il-advised yet necessary reverse racist shenanigans. It is the Puerto Rican Woman Of Color's (aka, PRWOC) burden to bring meaning and a sense of purpose to the lives of oppressed white men like Newt Gingrich and Rush Limbaugh.
So please, let's make sure that we get on with the program of alienating, belittling and oppressing that most fragile of ethnic and gender groups in the United States, the disgraced former lawmaker and republican ex-speaker of the House. Let's make sure that we play our manifest destiny of bringing oppressive woe to the likes of Newt Gingrich. Or to poor drug abusing, child prostitution enabling underpriviledged chaps like Rush Limbaugh.
And if you do a funny pic like the one above, you get to win a culturekitchen FOCK t-shirt.
So here's what you need to do: read more »
