Dear Mayor de Blasio:
As you know, hateful, bigoted signs that denigrate Muslims will be posted this week in NYC subway stations and on public buses. The American Freedom Defense Initiative (AFDI), the sponsor of this ad, is one of three groups co-founded by Pamela Geller that the Southern Poverty Law Center has designated as anti-Muslim hate groups.
While a court has ruled that the First Amendment prevents the MTA from rejecting these virulently anti-Muslim ads, NYC has the right—indeed, the obligation—to denounce the message they promote and to ensure that all New Yorkers are treated with dignity and respect.
As members of the Jewish community, we understand from our own history how important it is to speak out and act when individuals promote bigotry and racial discrimination. That is particularly critical when a community, such as the Muslim community today, faces ongoing discrimination. The danger of individuals spewing hatred cannot be underestimated. It encourages others to think of Muslims as not deserving even the most basic civil rights and protections.
Mayor de Blasio, you were quoted in the Daily News as saying, “These ads are outrageous, inflammatory and wrong and have no place in NYC, or anywhere. These hateful messages serve only to divide and stigmatize when we should be coming together as one city.”
We applaud that statement. But we are calling upon you to do more.
We need NYC’s elected officials to denounce such messages in a way that reaches those who cannot avoid seeing them—as they ride the subway or buses to school and or work.
We call upon you to place these sentiments near every American Freedom Defense Initiative/Pamela Geller ad, so that they are visible wherever these ads are posted in the MTA system. These ads are pernicious. But bigotry will not prevail if our city drowns out the hate with a message of respect and safety for all communities.
We need such prominent public statements from you and other City officials to make clear that we stand together with the Muslim community against these extraordinarily vicious forms of hate speech and that we stand against Islamophobia and racism in every form.
Sincerely yours,
Anita Altman
Karen R. Adler
Peter Beinart
Esther Cohen
Jonathan Cohen
Stosh Cotler
Rabbi Rachel Cowan
Barbara Dobkin
Eve Ensler
Eleanor Friedman
Phyllis Teicher Goldman
Sally Gottesman
Cynthia Greenberg
Colin Greer
Talia Hatzor
Judith Helfand
Barbara S. Kane
Marjorie Dove Kent
Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum
Victor Kovner
Gil Kulick
Alan Levine
Rabbi Ellen Lippmann
Isaac Luria
Former Manhattan Borough President Ruth Messinger
Susan Miller
Marilyn Kleinberg Neimark
Donna Nevel
Kathleen Peratis
Letty Cottin Pogrebin
Michael Ratner
Corey Robin
Deborah Sagner
James Schamus
Alisa Solomon
Nancy Schwartz Sternoff
Rebecca Vilkomerson
Rabbi Burton L. Visotzky
Peter Weiss
>> We need such prominent public statements from you and other City officials to make clear that we stand together … against Islamophobia and racism in every form.
And against supremacism in any form.
In a undisclosed location in NY, here is Geller seen simpering and fawning over Geert Wilders,
two racists in a pod. She has been nothing but a bigot, trying to spread the hate and ignorance in the US. It would be very interesting to see just who is financially backing this hate monger, and why is Blasio being more forceful in his condemnation of these hate ads.
If we were able to follow the money, we will find out exactly who supports these Islamaphobes, who obviously have deep seated hatred for all things Islam, and show so much ignorance about Muslims.
“ADL Wishes You a World Without Hate”
(from their website)
So why aren’t they signing on?
[“Adl” means justice (arabic)]
RE: “While a court has ruled that the First Amendment prevents the MTA from rejecting these virulently anti-Muslim ads . . .”
MY COMMENT: To borrow from Yogi Berra: “It’s deja vu all over again.” Pam Geller so reminds me of Georgia’s infamous J.B. Stoner* (minus the bombs).
* FROM WIKIPEDIA [J.B. Stoner]:
SOURCE – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._B._Stoner
P.S. PHOTOS OF J.B. STONER:
• Stoner as chairman of the National States’ Rights Party – http://www.google.com/imgres?um=1&hl=en&safe=off&sa=N&biw=1722&bih=1081&tbm=isch&tbnid=e5ZavM20JP_JYM:&imgrefurl=http://grumblesfromanoldgrouch.com/under-construction-eta/&docid=3-GnwDPRq_zhDM&imgurl=http://grumblesfromanoldgrouch.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/ol-Stoney.jpg&w=349&h=485&ei=DT01UMOiOYb49QT__IDoDA&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=400&vpy=103&dur=1537&hovh=265&hovw=189&tx=113&ty=139&sig=108313880650733849730&page=1&tbnh=115&tbnw=81&start=0&ndsp=61&ved=1t:429,r:2,s:0,i:80
• “Don’t Tread on Me”, St. Augustine, FL (1964) – http://www.google.com/imgres?um=1&hl=en&safe=off&sa=N&biw=1722&bih=1081&tbm=isch&tbnid=JPRmW6WkwPUm_M:&imgrefurl=http://cleanupcityofstaugustine.blogspot.com/2011_11_06_archive.html&docid=U7Q9lsMwxABoEM&imgurl=http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SO7jZSI-5Ig/Trx4Bn_wwII/AAAAAAAAA0Q/Hplr3QHGF-k/s1600/2169633.jpg&w=473&h=300&ei=DT01UMOiOYb49QT__IDoDA&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=610&vpy=391&dur=5142&hovh=178&hovw=282&tx=142&ty=95&sig=108313880650733849730&page=1&tbnh=108&tbnw=145&start=0&ndsp=61&ved=1t:429,r:29,s:0,i:163
• “I thank God all the time for AIDS” – http://www.flickr.com/photos/mikeghouse/6804711946/
The mayor’s statement astonished me. I never expect to hear decency and good sense from a politician.