Free Republic

TAMPA - There was, perhaps, no better place to witness American-Islamic relations Saturday than from a comfortable seat in the lobby of the Tampa Convention Center. Outside the ballroom that would host the Council on American-Islamic Relations' annual Tampa banquet were olive-skinned men with beards and women wearing long dresses and burkas. They exchanged assalamu alaikums and cheek kisses. Flowing through the crowd of activist Muslims were those entering and exiting the Tampa Boat Show: light-skinned men in deck shoes and Hawaiian shirts and tanned women wearing capri pants and halter tops. Some were drinking beers, others pushing strollers. The...