US CELEBRATES EID UNDER THE SHADOW OF 9/11

Nine years ago a deadly act of terrorism, brought the world’s most powerful country to its knees.
In the weeks and months that followed, many Muslim Americans found themselves on the defensive-having to prove to their non-Muslim neighbours and friends, that Islam was a peaceful religion and that they did not subscribe, at any level, to the ideology of terrorist groups like Al-Qaida.

At the time, they received strong support from most Americans, and from across the political spectrum.
Now 9 years later, a construction plan has managed to accomplish what the 9/11 could not.
The mixed reaction to a Muslim organization’s plan to build an Islamic cultural center and mosque a few blocks from where the World Trade Center once stood has severely tested America’s ability to extend its celebrated tradition of religious freedom to Muslims. And the fact that its soldiers die fighting their non-American co-religionists around the world, is only adding more fuel to the fire.
“I will tell you right now, I did not really feel that afraid after 9/11. I felt like people were afraid and ignorant, but I think now it is not about ignorance. It is totally anti-Muslim right now, straight up racism and people are really afraid,” said Linda Sarsour, a member of the Arab American Association of New York.
Ever since plans to build the Islamic center hit the floors, sporadic instances of attacks on Muslims have been reported.
In New York, a Muslim cab driver was stabbed by a passenger after being asked what his religion was. In Tennessee, the site of a planned mosque was set on fire.
And in the most widely-publicised incident, an obscure pastor of a tiny Florida church threatened to burn a pile of Quran on September 11. The US Government, and President Obama personally, warned him that doing so could endanger US troops and Americans everywhere.
“If he’s listening, I just hope he understands that what he’s proposing to do is completely contrary to our values as Americans. This country has been built on the notions of religious freedom and religious tolerance and as a very practical matter, as commander of chief of the Armed Forces of the United States, I just want him to understand that this stunt that he is talking about pulling could greatly endanger our young men and women in uniform who are in Iraq, who are in Afghanistan. We’re already seeing protests against Americans just by the mere threat,” said Barack Obama.
Obama, New York Mayor Michael Blomberg, and others have also spoken out on the rights of Muslim Americans to build a mosque near the vicinity of Ground zero.