September 12, 2010

Broadcast Date: 
Sep 12 2010

Author Moustafa Bayoumi, Susan Lerner, co-founder of New York Neighbors for American Values, and Debbie Almontaser, founder and former principal of the Khalil Gibran International Academy, discuss the controversy over Park 51, the planned Muslim-American cultural center in downtown Manhattan.

Episode segments
  • How Does It Feel To Be A Problem?
    New York Politics, National Politics, Arts & Culture, Civil Rights, Literature
    An Associate Professor of English at Brooklyn College,  Moustafa Bayoumi is the author of How Does It Feel To Be A Problem? Being Young and Arab in America.  He is also co-editor of The Edward Said Reader and, most recently, editor of Midnight on the Mavi Marmara: The Attack on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla and How it Changed the Course of the Israeli/Palestine Conflict.
    Marissa Brostoff and K.E.Feldman

    Moustafa Bayoumi talks about Muslim-American life in post-9/11 America and about the controversy over the selection of his book, How Does It Feel To Be A Problem? Being Young and Arab in America, as the Freshman reading text at Brooklyn College. 

     

     

  • Resisting Bigotry: New York Neighbors for American Values
    New York Politics, National Politics, Civil Rights, Jewish Communities

    Susan Lerner is the Executive Director of Common Cause/NY and one of the founders of New York Neighbors for American Values, a coalition of diverse groups that ave come together to support Park51.
    Marissa Brostoff and K.E.Feldman

    Susan Lerner talks with us about how progressives initially lost control over the Park51 story and the roles of the media, elected officials and Jewish groups in feeding and spreading the anti-Muslim frenzy.

  • Park 51: Is it Khalil Gibran Redux?
    New York Politics, Education, Jewish

    Debbie Almontaser was the founder and former principal of the Khalil Gibran International Academy who was forced to resign in 2007 following a smear campaign by conservative, anti-Islamic activists.  This past March, the EEOC (Equal Opportunity Employment Commission) found that NYC's Department of Education forced Dr. Almontaser to resign in order to appease her anti-Arab and anti-Muslim critics.

     
    Marissa Brostoff and K.E.Feldman

    Debbie Almontaser sees echoes of the campaign against her and the Khalil Gibran International Academy in both the Park51 controversy and the upsurge in attacks on mosques across the U.S.