Electing A New People

American Rattlesnake ^ | August 24 2016 | Gerard Perry

[OddLane]

I took the image you see below in my old stomping grounds of Bay Ridge, which has earned the moniker Beirut in recent years, for obvious reasons. Aside from the Alpine Theater-which was in danger of being added to the adjacent mosque at one point-and Galaxy Comics, you would be hard-pressed to find a building along Bay Ridge or 5th Avenue whose awning was not covered in Arabic script.

Judging by the number of hookah bars, halal restaurants and food carts, not to mention demure apparel shops for the fashion forward 7th century Muslima, a tourist would be forgiven for thinking he’d landed somewhere in the Maghreb rather than southwest Brooklyn. Lest you think the Islamic Leadership Of New York is merely a benign group of patriotic citizens, here is the website mobilizing this New York’s civic-minded Muslims.

Although seemingly under construction, you will notice a few things which belie the red, white and blue messaging of the banner seen in my photograph. Leaving aside the fact that every member of this group’s executive committee is a man-I’m sure there’s absolutely no Koranic basis for that anomaly-you’ll also notice a few other oddities, including the prominent place of unindicted co-conspirator in the 1993 World Trade Center bombings and former Louis Farrakhan acolyte Siraj Wahhaj...

[OddLane]