For Muslims, Day of Celebration Amid Controversy

The New York Times By: Michael M. Grymbaum Published: September 26, 2010

Many Muslims came out on Sunday for the American Muslim Day Parade. This was a tradition started in 1985 to bring Muslims together who have different ethnicities and nationalities. They prayed at the intersection in the center of Midtown Manhattan, where the parade also took place. This year, the parade had many problems. The first problem was that not many Muslims showed up. The population of the concert was very low because the Muslim people were worried about their safety. Even though there were Muslim police officers in full uniforms and fire trucks, many had not felt that sense of security. The second problem with the parade was the controversy over the planned Islamic center and mosque near ground zero. A man wanted to show his support brought his whole family because he wanted his children to see people speaking different languages from different cultures under the Islamic flag.

Syed Alirahi, A lieutenant with the fire department of Elmsford, stated to the New York Times that they were all public servants and they will fight for their country.

The headline of the article actually got me since its not too many stories about a Muslim Parade in the newspapers. After reading the lead I was even more interested into what the story was about. I would say this is a warming article enlightening you about these people.

I choose this article because I wanted something different from my first article and something in New York City and the American Muslim Day Parade was the one I found.