Hard Hat, Hard Heart?

There are a lot of mosque protesters on the internet, but I found one campaign that really made me think more about this debate: The 9/11 Hard Hat Pledge.
The campaign, started by Andy Sullivan, a lifelong New Yorker and a "hard hat" himself, urges construction workers in the NYC area to refuse to work on the construction of the Ground Zero mosque.

What struck me about this group is that they acknowledge that Muslims have the right to build a mosque. Some groups in opposition don't even recognize that there is a constitutional right to build a mosque here. What the campaign does believe is that building a mosque at Ground Zero is insensitive since Ground Zero is a "cemetery" to those Americans who lost their lives on 9/11. Here is an excerpt from the website:

"As Americans, we acknowledge Imam Feisal Rauf's 'right' to build a mosque. That is not the issue. But for most Americans, it is wholly contradictory of the Ground Zero Mosque developers to claim that it will be a center of “inter-faith” relations... when implicit in the term 'inter-faith' is the fundamental notion of respect and sensitivity to those of other faiths and to those who view the Ground Zero area as a cemetery."

To me, this argument is flawed. Yes, "inter-faith" does imply respect, sensitivity, and tolerance to other religions, but 9/11 was driven by extremism, not a religion. Islam did not cause 9/11, a radial way of thinking did. Many Americans lost their lives on  9/11, and included in that group is Muslim Americans. I think acknowledging that Muslim Americans ARE Americans too and that they experienced loss and tragedy just like the rest of us did is truly what having respect and sensitivity to other faiths is all about. And what better way to acknowledge this respect by building an interfaith community center with a mosque included?

The website also gives anyone with a passion for this campaign the option to be a part of it. When users "Act Now," people can send postcards that state the cause of The Hard Hat Pledge to President Obama, NY Legislatures, and NY media figures, a total of 20 people. They also had the option to send post cards to lawmakers in their hometowns. The post cards cost $1.65 a piece, and there were discounts to those who bought more than 10.

What I don't understand is if you believe in this cause so badly, how can you make money of it? To me, this is wrong. It's one thing to ask for donations, and it's one thing if this is a nonprofit cause. But there's no way the production of the card and the postage itself amount to $1.65 per card. Talk about insensitivity.

After seeing this website, I wanted to see the Hard Hat Pledge Facebook page. The information on the page is very similar to the information on the website. At the time of this posting, the page had 2,163 fans. A lot of these fans didn't appear to be in the construction industry I was curious as to what made people who were not involved in the construction industry join this pledge. I interviewed a fan named Kathy Crawley. Kathy is not a construction worker, but her husband and son are union workers. Kathy was a pleasure to interview, but even she as a fan of this page, she wasn't entirely sure about who was involved in the Hard Hat Pledge and what construction industries were involved in the campaign. What did strike me though was her passion. When I asked her what made her take an interest in helping the Hard Hat Pledge's message, her response was,

"[W]hat made me join is that my husband and son are both union and refuse to work on the 'The Cordoba Initiative.' We all feel very strongly about it, having lost friends at the WTC. Our neighborhood is blue collar and with many fire fighter and police officers as neighbors, I feel that their pain and loss."

Kathy and I may not see eye to eye on the Ground Zero Mosque debate, but her response has made me more sensitive to those who oppose the location because of their past pain. Kathy knows firsthand what it feels like to lose somebody she cares about in such a tragic, and my heart goes out to her. What worries me is that campaigns like The Hard Hat Pledge play on these emotions.We will always remember those lives lost on 9/11, and we will always feel saddened by the events of that day.

I understand why people join a campaign like The Hard Hat Pledge, but sending a bunch of postcards to lawmakers isn't going to erase the pain. And where are the profits going? I hope they are helping those who are still struggling with this tragedy in some way. Having a community center and mosque two blocks away will never change the sadness we feel, but it will strengthen our ability as Americans to honor all those lives lost during 9/11 whether there were Jewish, Christian, Buddhist, Hindu, or Muslim Americans.