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Commentary: Understanding Muslim America
Published August 11, 2011 Commentaries , Program Recaps 1 CommentTags: Fatima Shama, Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, Mayor's Office of Immigrant Affairs, Michael Seltzer, Rev. Dr. Serene Jones, Stephen Heintz
By Michael Seltzer, Trustee, EMpower-The Emerging Markets Foundation, and past President, Philanthropy New York
Editor’s note: All of us at Philanthropy New York are deeply indebted to Michael Seltzer not only for his in-depth planning and assistance for our February 14th program, but also that he did so while he was in the hospital undergoing a bone marrow transplant. We are also happy to report that he is now cancer-free. Thank you again, Michael!
When I was a teenager, my Russian-born father recounted how he had experienced prejudice in his youth in his new country. In 1917, he attended Dewitt Clinton High School, then located in the aptly named Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood. Each day, he feared for his safety en-route to school. As he would recount more than 40 years later, Irish gangs would be ready to pounce on Jewish Russian immigrants like him when they stepped on their turf.
Perhaps it was such recollections that fueled my passion for organizing the Philanthropy New York members briefing Understanding Muslim America. The flame was ignited last August when the brouhaha over the location of a Muslim cultural and spiritual center in Lower Manhattan erupted.
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