Anderson@Large

Nobody Knows the Trouble ‘Sitting Man’ Has Seen

I stopped by Occupy Wall Street yesterday. They were serving lunch so I had a plate of peas and rice, plantains and a slice of watermelon.

The Occupiers include folks who march to the beat of a different drummer.

At times, the drumming was deafening. Although one Occupier called the drum circle the “heart beat” of the encampment, few want to “give the drummer some.” Instead, they want to give them the boot. The Slatest reports:

Someday the Occupy Wall Street protests will end, and the only question is whether they will go out with a bang or a whimper—or a lot of loud banging followed by whimpers.

At least one organizer fears it’s the latter. An anonymous activist wrote a letter to the literary magazine N+1 on Monday warning that drum circles are causing such an outcry that it could derail the whole movement. Really.

It seems a core group of beatniks in New York’s Zuccotti Park has been holding marathon jam sessions from mid-morning until late at night every day, punishing the eardrums of their fellow protesters and the surrounding neighborhood. Teachers at a school across the street have complained they can’t teach. And the local neighborhood community board is holding a meeting Tuesday night in which it could revoke its support of the protests if it’s not satisfied that the noise will subside.

Seward Johnson’s “Double Check” sits a few feet from the drum circle. Occupiers have renamed the iconic sculpture “Sitting Man.”

Sitting Man survived the September 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. I was a volunteer at Ground Zero. For both workers and volunteers, he was a talisman and symbol of hope.

Ten years later, nobody knows the trouble Sitting Man has seen. Nobody knows his sorrow.

I Will Never Forget

OBL, Rest in Pieces

The White House reportedly will release photos of Osama bin Laden’s swimming with the fishes burial at sea.

During yesterday’s briefing, Press Secretary Jay Carney said:

Aboard the USS Carl Vinson, the burial of bin Laden was done in conformance with Islamic precepts and practices. The deceased’s body was washed and then placed in a white sheet. The body was placed in a weighted bag; a military officer read prepared religious remarks, which were translated into Arabic by a native speaker. After the words were complete, the body was placed on a prepared flat board, tipped up, and the deceased body eased into the sea.

Still, some Muslim clerics are complaining about the treatment of the mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks that killed more than 3,000 Americans:

A Muslim, whatever his profession, even a criminal, their rites must be respected. There must be a prayer and the body should be wrapped in white cloth before being buried in the earth, not at sea. Many others have condemned it, especially as it was done with extreme hatred against him.

Whatever. May he rest in pieces.

UPDATE: Chuck Todd tweets that President Obama has decided not to release photos of Osama bin Laden.

OBL, Dead at Last

I received press credentials for the World Press Freedom Day 2011 conference in DC. Normally, I would relish the opportunity to spend a few days with journalists and bloggers who are writing the first draft of history, and network with “clicktivists” who are using social media to bring about social change.

But that was before the news of the killing of Osama bin Laden. The raid on OBL’s compound was unwittingly live-tweeted by a neighbor, an IT consultant who wanted to know WTF was going on.

It was with reluctance that I hopped on board Amtrak and went to the Newseum. I took some notes and sent a few tweets.

My body was there but my mind was on the day’s headlines.

And my heart was hundreds of miles away at Ground Zero.

U.S.A.! U.S.A.!

Imam Rauf’s Bridge to Nowhere

The wannabe bridge-builder, Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, is learning a lesson in civil engineering: Americans don’t like being told my way or the highway.

During an appearance on CNN, Rauf issued a veiled threat that Islamic extremists may go to extremes if the Ground Zero mosque is moved:

If we move from that location, the story will be the radicals have taken over the discourse. The headlines in the Muslim world will be that Islam is under attack.

A newly released Quinnipiac poll found that 63 percent of voters think it is wrong to build the mosque at the proposed location.

And for the bitter-clingers who want to believe that opposition is a vast right-wing conspiracy ginned up by Fox News take note:

There is no sub-group which says it is “appropriate” to build the mosque near Ground Zero.

Rauf now says “everything is on the table.”

But if Rauf thinks not moving is a viable option, I have a bridge for sale (sign included).

To borrow a phrase from Martin Lawrence, it’s time for Imam Raul to get to stepping.

No Mosque Here

On the ninth anniversary of 9/11, I joined thousands of Americans near the site of the proposed Cordoba House to draw a line in the sand: No mosque here.

I am a native New Yorker. I also volunteered at Ground Zero for six months.

Still, I was surprised by just how close the proposed mosque is to Ground Zero. The block was closed to vehicle and pedestrian traffic so this photo was taken at the corner of Park Place and Church Street.

If you leave the proposed location, walk a few feet and turn onto Church Street, you can see Ground Zero. From that corner, you can almost hear the reading of the names of the nearly 3,000 people who died in the Twin Towers.

The location begs the question: Why there?

The Amish Market and office buildings are on one side of the street. The Dakota Roadhouse bar, “Where too much is never enough,” is next door.

There are a lot of luxury rentals and condos in Lower Manhattan. It strains credulity to suggest that a community of Wall Streeters and yuppies is the target audience.

So why there?

I interviewed several protesters. No one questions the developers’ constitutional right to build. What they do question is the lack of sensitivity to 9/11 families and the nearly 70 percent of Americans who oppose the mosque.

As one person told me:

We will never forget. They want to put a flag on the top of that building and say they conquered us.

The concerns about the true motives were echoed by Ed Stevens, who along with 13 members of the English Defense League, traveled to New York City from the United Kingdom.

Ed told me he’s seen this movie before:

Everything that’s going on here has been going on in the UK for some time…It’s their way or the highway. They are abusing America’s freedom and tolerance.

And we know the sequel is never as good as the original.

No Ground Zero mosque. Not there, not now, not ever.

Lest We Forget