Three, Four ... Twenty Blocks? Ctd

by Chris Bodenner

A reader writes:

I just returned from visiting my 82 year old father who lives in the Sheepshead Bay section of Brooklyn.  Within minutes of arriving, my father asked me what my thoughts were on the proposal to build a mosque "ground zero". This started a big argument, with my voicing support for the construction ("We're the good guys ... what better symbol to show the world of our acceptance and tolerance of all people?") and my father expressing the standard Fox News drivel ("And where do you think they're getting the money for this project? They don't have this kind of money. It's coming from terrorist organizations!)

Several hours later, I left to find the attached flier on the windshield of my car. These fliers were placed on every car, and in every doorway, along the street. An organization calling itself "Bay People Inc." is seeking support to oppose construction of a mosque in Sheepshead Bay. The reasons include heavy traffic, loud noise, calls to prayer 5 times a day, less "or even no parking" on the street, and of course - due to the fact that it's backed by "Muslim American Society ... links to radical, un-American, and even anti-Semitic
organizations".

If this is what is happening on a grass-roots, neighborhood level in New York City, I fear that  we are truly entering a dark phase of our history.