Despite the extreme drop in New York City construction and a limited amount of available jobs, a growing number of workers are vowing not to help build the Islamic mosque planned near Ground Zero.
As OK WASSUP! reported HERE, there is and has long been an existing mosque several blocks from the site of Ground Zero (in fact, there are a few within the area). The private Muslim owners wish to modernize the structure and elevate it to 13-stories, complete with a swimming pool, cultural center and library. But opponents, who have incorrectly dubbed it the “Ground Zero Mosque” (even though it is not at all on or at the Ground Zero site), have grouped all Muslims into one evil group, believe a mosque “overlooking” Ground Zero is insensitive, and are therefore willing to fight against it with every fiber of their being. Except now they have found a very important ally to assist in the opposition — NY construction workers.
“I wouldn’t work there, especially after I found out about what the imam said about U.S. policy being responsible for 9/11,” said blaster Dave Kaiser. And worker L.V. Spina added “If they moved it somewhere else, we would put up a prime building for these people. Hell, you could do it next to my house in Rockaway Beach, I would be fine with it. But I’m not fine with it where blood has been spilled.”
The grass-roots movement to oppose the mosque is gaining momentum via word of mouth and the Internet. One construction worker created the “Hard Hat Pledge” on his blog and asked others to vow not to work on the project if it stays at its current location in lower Manhattan. “Thousands of people are signing up from all over the country,” said creator Andy Sullivan, a construction worker from Brooklyn. “People who sell glass, steel, lumber, insurance. They are all refusing to do work if they build there. Hopefully, this will be a tool to get them to move it,” he said. “I got a problem with this ostentatious building looming over Ground Zero.”
A demonstration was staged near the site on Sunday, with opponents carrying signs associating Islam with blood, supporters shouting, “Say no to racist fear!” and American flags waving all around. The proposed mosque has raised the emotions of so many Americans on both sides of the issue, some fear this could be the beginning of a cultural war that is setting up a dangerous divide within the nation.
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