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Port of Call |
LAST UPDATE August 6, 2008
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| site design imagesparkle.com |
| July 14, 2008 |
USA – A Portrait of Voices |
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| After 9/11, people started sending messages of love to St Paul’s Chapel |
September 11, 2001 needs no introduction. It will forever take its place as a day that forever changed the course of history. While trying to understand what happened may seem impossible, it is absolutely crucial to attempt this understanding.
As Peace Boat made its call into New York, a group of passengers embarked on a mission to do just this. Their focus was on the Arab American/Muslim community and how they have been affected post 9/11. |
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| Freedom Tower is the main building of the new World Trade Center complex, currently under construction |
The group was met by volunteers from the ‘September Eleventh Families for Peaceful Tomorrows’ at St Paul’s Chapel. After the attacks, this chapel became a refuge for World Trade Centre recovery workers. For eight months, hundreds of volunteers worked 12-hour shifts around the clock, serving meals, counselling and praying with fire fighters, construction workers, police and family.
Leading the group was Bruce Wallace, a member of Peaceful Tomorrows and co- founder of 121 Contact, a project created four years ago to connect US and Iraqi high school students and teachers by email. By letting children get to know each other, it is hoped that they will be less likely to war upon each other. As well this, it gave a healing voice to children traumatized by the persisting violence around them.
Mr Wallace started the project to ease the pain he felt after losing his nephew in 9/11 - a policeman who died when the building he was pulling bodies out of crumbled around him. |
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| According to Luis Carlos Montalvan, “from a humanitarian perspective the Iraq war is a tragedy of unfathomable proportions” |
Participants also met an Iraqi woman who came to America in 2007 as a guest speaker of Peaceful Tomorrows. After addressing the American public about the dire state of Iraq as a result of the U.S. led invasion, she was unable to return back, in fear of being branded a traitor in her country.
With sadness in her eyes, she spoke of how much she missed her family, the countless children who can’t go to school for fear of their lives, the constant explosions, the torture of family members, the hospitals turned into slaughter houses, and the promised freedom and liberty that never arrived. “In Iraq every minute, every second is a war”, she said; “it’s falling apart and no one is doing anything about it”.
The next stop was Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn, the heart of Arab America. The street was once a thriving hub of Arab trade, as merchants docked in the nearby port. It still has several Middle Eastern spice shops and an array of restaurants. |
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| Opened 60 years ago to cater for the Middle Eastern community, Sahadi’s Market now sells food from all over the world |
Participants were joined for lunch by Luis Carlos Montalvan, a retired US Army Captain, who had served twice in Iraq. On September 11, 2007 he resigned from the Army and was honourably discharged. Joining forces with a former marine, he formed the Iraq Veterans Refugee Aid Association (IVRAA).
IVRAA aims to take veterans who have fought in Iraq to Syria, Jordan and Turkey to help with each country’s refugee crisis. It is hoped this will also heal the pain many veterans feel, for the death and destruction they believe they have caused.
He too spoke emotionally of the immense suffering of the Iraqi people and questioned Washington’s real motives for the war and the financial gain that has been made by private companies like Halliburton. Captain Montalvan said he left because he “could no longer serve leaders who were corrupt and negligent, and who did not have our interest and the world’s interest in mind”. |
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| After 9/11 a police car was stationed outside this mosque 24/7, in fear of worshippers being attacked or the mosque itself being vandalized |
The group then walked to a nearby mosque where they met two women from the local Muslim community. Both Debbie Almontaser and Robina Niaz have worked hard to protect their Arab, Muslim and South Asian neighbours in Brooklyn from the discrimination they faced post 9/11.
Joining forces with concerned members of the community, Ms Almontaser co-started the Brooklyn Bridges Project. The project helps people with legal and health issues and educates the wider community about Arabs, Muslims and South Asians. It also escorts people who may be afraid of being in the public eye.
After 9/11, Ms Almontaser herself was homebound for a month in fear of being attacked on the street. Her husband became her escort. She said there were many such attacks in the city. Women wearing hijabs were chased and their hijabs pulled off, many were spat on, and some women were even beaten by gangs of teenagers in Brooklyn.
She also spoke of her forced resignation as the founding principal of The Khalil Gibran International Academy (KGIA) because of what she described as
a vicious anti-Arab and anti-Muslim smear campaign. The KGIA is a school which focuses on Arabic language and culture. |
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| Discussions with Debbie Almontaser and Robina Niaz took place inside the mosque |
Ms Almontaser and Ms Niaz took brave steps to ensure the safety of others at a time when America was most hostile towards the Islamic community. It was empowering to hear the women speak with so much passion and determination to right the wrongs, instead of cowering behind media and government propaganda.
The many voices that were part of the day's learning merged to paint a portrait of continuous hurt and suffering. However, cutting through the mirage were strokes of hope that there are enough selfless people in the world healing the pain and returning the stolen dignity. |
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