Leena El-Ali talks Park 51 and Islam on the Doug Noll Show
If you missed hearing it live, you can listen to it now. Leena speaks on Muslim-Western understanding, the NY cultural center, the Common Ground News Service and the diversity of America’s Muslim population.
Listen to the interview and weigh in with your own thoughts!
Part 1 – Muslim-Western Relation — The search for common ground
Part 2 – How the Media Inflames Issues — The Park 51 Cultural Center
Part 3 – What You Don’t Know About Muslims — The Amazing Diversity of Muslim Americans
Part 4 – Is There Balanced and Fair Reporting?
The Common Ground Awards are coming up (November 11)! If you’d like to come, get your tickets now!
David Works and Shay Banks-Young. Image via PeaceBuilder Magazine on Flickr.
David Works, Shay Banks-Young and Julia Jefferson Westerinen are descendants of Thomas Jefferson. Their complicated relationships illustrate the legacy and inequity of America’s slave past: Shay, a black woman and Julia, a white woman, trace their roots to the relationship between Jefferson and his slave, Sally Hemings; while David’s ancestry comes from Jefferson and his wife Martha.
There has been resistance to the inclusion of the Jefferson-Hemings descendants by the Monticello Association, a 700-person group of Jefferson descendants that holds annual reunions at the historical site. They used to be a relatively obscure group—their main role is administering the Monticello graveyard—but the 1998 DNA study that confirmed that Sally Hemings had at least one child by a Jefferson man (not necessarily Thomas) jumpstarted a media frenzy, including a very public interview on Oprah. In the media spotlight, the Monticello Association was quick to invite the Hemings family to the reunions as guests, but ultimately voted against allowing their permanent membership in 2002. As the 2004 TIME article covering this story said, “What began as an extended-family reunion…disintegrated into a bitter family feud between Jefferson’s white family and his black one. “ read more…
2010 Common Ground Awards: British Government
photo by Oli Scarff/Getty Images
The Common Ground Awards are coming up (November 11). If you want to come, get your tickets now!
On January 30, 1972, 14 unarmed demonstrators were killed by British troops who fired into the crowd during a civil rights march in Derry, Northern Ireland. This event later became known as Bloody Sunday. In the initial inquiry—known as the Widgery Report—the British troops were cleared of any wrongdoing after they argued that they fired on civilians only after violent provocation from the crowd. Most eyewitnesses, however, maintained that the crowd was unarmed and that many of those shot were fleeing or tending the wounded. The incident is widely regarded as a major factor in escalating levels of violence throughout Northern Ireland in what came to be known as the “Troubles” between the Unionist and Nationalist communities.
On June 15, 2010 Prime Minister David Cameron apologized, on behalf of the British Government, for the killing and injuring of unarmed demonstrators that took place on Bloody Sunday. read more…
While many in the US were celebrating Halloween this October 31st, Côte d’Ivoire was celebrating a milestone: the first presidential election in 10 years and the first democratic election in decades.
Sunday’s election came after being postponed six times due in part to controversy over voter lists.
In preparation for Sunday’s elections, Search for Common Ground produced an information and awareness campaign about the various stages of the electoral process in partnership with the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC). The elections occurred peacefully and Search for Common Ground staff, like the rest of the country are eagerly awaiting the results.
The New York Times has a nice feature on Sunday’s elections if you want to know more.
SFCG Côte d’Ivoire staff captured snapshots of the electoral process:
Supporters from CIV’s main political parties, RDR and FPI meet in Yopougon, returning from meetings with their respective candidates. The atmosphere was congenial and in the center, two opposing activists can be seen hugging.
RDR supporters during their candidate's tour through the Williams neighborhood.
Political supporters follow their candidate's procession through the Attécoubé neighborhood of Abidjan.
Iron
Guns,
Long, steel guns,
Pointed from the war ships
In the name of the war god.
Straight, shining, polished guns,
Clambered over with jackies in white blouses,
Glory of tan faces, tousled hair, white teeth,
Laughing lithe jackies in white blouses,
Sitting on the guns singing war songs, war chanties.
Shovels,
Broad, iron shovels,
Scooping out oblong vaults,
Loosening turf and leveling sod.
I ask you
To witness-
The shovel is brother to the gun.
~Carl Sandburg (1916)
Youth Drama Tackles Religious Tolerance in Lebanon
By Catherine Batruni
MROUJ: “Kilna Bil Hayy” (“All of us in the neighborhood”) is a weekly Lebanese television drama that tells the story of six children who live in the same neighborhood and attend the same school.
The children are all from different religious backgrounds and ethnic groups that comprise Lebanon: Lara is Druze, Kevin is Christian, Nadim is Sunni, Sara is Shiite, Mohammad is Palestinian, and Pateel is Armenian.
The second season of began filming in August, and it features a brand new cast. read more…
