USA: Controversial center opens without issue near Ground Zero

Record ID: 277831

  • Title: USA: Controversial center opens without issue near Ground Zero
  • Date: 23rd September 2011
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (English) PARK 51 CHAIRMAN SHARIF EL-GAMAL SAYING: "I knew immediately that I wanted this to be the first event that we were going to do at Park 51. This event not only represents the diversity of our city, a place that I call home -- New York, but this project also represents a little glimpse into the foundation and the bedrock of what this project is all abou
  • Embargoed: 8th October 2011 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Usa, Usa
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: Arts
  • Reuters ID: LVAEKHMW61PY17QU5P2O73HX1VUZ
  • Story Text: A controversial Islamic center opened without issue on Wednesday (September 21) only blocks from the site of the September 11th, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center.
    The Park 51 Community Center in Lower Manhattan marked its grand opening with a photography exhibit of children from over 170 countries who live in New York City. The center, which includes a mosque, sparked a controversy in 2010 during the election season when detractors cited a lack cultural sensitivity for its proximity, only two blocks, to Ground Zero.
    However, protesters and opponents who picketed the location last year, claiming they did not want a Muslim prayer space near the site of the 9/11 attacks, where nowhere to be seen for the official opening which coincided with the United Nations' International Day of Peace. Instead several hundred downtown residents examined the new center.
    "We want to serve New York, we want to serve every single child and every single person in New York City. And you know, this exhibition what we stand for -- inclusion, community, building and diversity," said Sharif El-Gamal, developer and chairman of the Park 51 nonprofit group.
    The photographic exhibit "NYChildren," featuring work by photographer Danny Goldfield shows portraits of children from 171 countries who all live in the city. The artist stated that his inspiration for the work was Rana Sodhi, a Sikh immigrant who lives in Arizona where four days after the September 11th attacks his brother was gunned down in a retaliatory hate-crime. The extraordinary response that Sodhi showed following his brother's murder and his willingness to foster reconciliation and forgiveness inspired Goldfield.
    "It reminds me of the generosity of all of the families and all of the children that you see in these photos, that they were willing to allow me to come into their house and to document their lives and create these photos that you see here tonight," he explained.
    The exhibit, which runs for three months, is being held at a temporary space at the site on the ground floor next to the mosque; the rest of the building has yet to be renovated.
    Developers of the center, that El-Gamal states is modeled after the Jewish Cultural Center on Manhattan's Upper West Side, are planning to eventually remodel the defunct clothing store into a multi-story building featuring an athletic facilities, a day care center, gallery space, an auditorium for cultural events, a 9/11 memorial and a prayer space with room for a congregation of about 1,000 people.
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