Mayor balks at endorsing Arab group for panel
Raritan Twp. leader cites 'differences'
Sunday, February 20, 2005
BY CATHY BUGMAN, The Star Ledger
Star-Ledger Staff
Efforts to establish a New Jersey Arab Heritage Commission are falling short of
winning the support of one Hunterdon County mayor.
That's because Raritan Township Mayor Peter Kinsella said he disagrees with the
philosophy espoused by one of the organizations backing the formation of the
commission.
Kinsella objects to the Council on American-Islamic Relations' involvement in
the movement and suggests the state "do a better job" of selecting an advocacy
group with which to align itself.
"They are a lobbying group intent on promoting differences between cultural
groups, in a negative manner, to serve their own agenda," Kinsella said in a
prepared statement released in response to a state request for a resolution
supporting the creation of the commission. "They have exhibited an anti-U.S.
attitude in the war on terror."
While Raritan's township committee has not taken action on the resolution, more
than 20 other municipalities throughout the state have passed resolutions of
support for the establishment of the commission, according to Frank
Vespa-Papaleo, director of the New Jersey Division on Civil Rights.
The idea for the commission came out of a collaborative effort of CAIR and the
American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, a grassroots civil rights
organization. (See ADCNJ letter)
New Jersey is home to more than 750,000 Arabs and Muslims -- there are about 10
million nationwide -- yet their religions, culture and customs remain a mystery
to most Americans, said Aref Assaf, president of the New Jersey chapter of ADC.
When the commission is established, which officials believe will come about
sometime later this year, representatives intend to work with the state
Department of Education and the state's school districts to highlight the rich
history, Assaf said.
The state already has several other similar types of commissions, including the
Holocaust Commission, the Asian-American Commission and the Italian-American
Commission, which have performed to expectations, Assaf said.
Specifically, Kinsella takes issue with comments he claimed have been attributed
to the organization characterizing the convictions of the people involved in the
first World Trade Center bombings a "travesty of justice," and the conviction of
Sheik Omar Abdul Rahman, now serving a life sentence in the United States for
directing a conspiracy to bomb New York landmarks, a "hate crime."
Kinsella said the state -- "in its never-ending quest to be perceived as
politically correct" -- should "do a better job" selecting proponents of causes
to which it aspires.
But a commissioner with the New Jersey Commission on Civil Rights, which is
joining with CAIR and the ADC, said the mayor needs to get his facts straight.
"The organization he is criticizing is Islamic," said Commissioner Sherine El-Abd
of Edison. "We're trying to put together a commission for Arab-Americans, the
majority of whom are not Muslims."
She said the reason for his opposition indicates a "lack of education. When
someone is uninformed, it's easy to be judgmental. There's no better cure than
education, which is exactly what the commission wants to do, is educate people."
The executive director of CAIR, a Washington D.C.-based Islamic, civil rights
and advocacy group with 31 offices across the country, calls the mayor's
characterizations of the organization false and labels him a "victim of
misinformation."
"A simple phone call to either our New Jersey office or our Washington, D.C.,
headquarters could have saved you the embarrassment of repeating false
information and using your good office to alienate the local Muslim and
Arab-American communities," Nihad Awad said in a letter faxed to the mayor's
office last week. He also offered to send a representative of CAIR to meet with
Kinsella and other members of the township committee to address the issue and
"refute these or any other false allegations against our organization."
When a discussion about the issue arose at a township committee meeting last
month, a representative of the Community Diversity Council of Hunterdon County
spoke out.
"We're not satisfied with his comments and portrayal of the organization," Jorge
Zeballos, president of the council, a nonprofit organization run by volunteers
seeking to promote acceptance for all people, said in a phone interview last
week, calling them "very offensive." He said he intends to "continue to press
the matter."
"The time is now for the veils of ignorance to be lifted off our community's
diverse mosaic," Assaf said. "We will not despair until we achieve our goals."
Cathy Bugman works in the Somerset County bureau. She can be reached at cbugman@starledger.com
or (908) 429-9929.
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