Where did you hear this? Was it a talk-show caller making speculation? Was it a news report? I would have SERIOUS doubts about any report of Arabs (or Arab-Americans) celebrating in the streets of ANY American city.
Where did you hear this? Was it a talk-show caller making speculation? Was it a news report? I would have SERIOUS doubts about any report of Arabs (or Arab-Americans) celebrating in the streets of ANY American city.
It couldn't be speculation; either it was a truthful statement or it was a lie. Yes, it was a caller from Paterson. It couldn't be a news report, because all of the local newscasts have giving pro-Arab immigrant spin since the attacks started. At this point, the mainstream news organizations will not report any stories showing local Arabs in a negative light.
I used to work in Paterson several years ago, and it was known to be opne of the meanest cities in America (sometimes ranked thus on the "worst cities in America" list), but I did not know that it has a sizable Arab population. I am more familiar with Jersey City, N.J., which has long had a large Arab population. In 1993, Sheik Abdul Rahman organized the WTC bombing from his mosque, the truck was rented from the Ryder Truck Rental on Kennedy Blvd., and many local Moslems supported the bombing.
How do I know that? No, they didn't dance in the streets. Rather, one of my Arab students disappeared from class for two or three weeks. When he returned, he challenged me, "You believe that? You believe that happened?" I asked him if he were saying that the bombing was a hoax. He smiled. I asked him, if he thought that some huge conspiracy of local, state, regional (Port Authority) and federal law enforcement, and local and national, print, TV, and radio media had foisted a hoax on the American public. He nodded.
An Arabic-speaking African student related a story in which a man in an Arab shop told a third man not to talk to the African, because he "has no morals. This man has no God," because the African was not a Moslem.