Campus meetings examine relations with Muslims

Campus meetings examine relations with Muslims

The Journal News (Yonkers, NY)
9/8/2004

Campus meetings examine relations with Muslims By ERNIE GARCIA THE JOURNAL NEWS (Original publication: September 8, 2004)

The Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center were so personally destructive to Thomas Roger — he lost his daughter, Jean, a flight attendant on American Airlines Flight 11 — that he felt he had to do something constructive to counteract the trauma his family and the country suffered.

Roger joined the Families of September 11, a nonpartisan advocacy group, and he has volunteered to speak at one of a nationwide series of college campus meetings that begin tonight at New York University in Manhattan. The "Hope Not Hate" series will discuss the future of relations between America and the Islamic world. His contribution will be part of an event planned for later this month at Yale Law School.

Organizers describe tonight's talk, which begins at 7 p.m. in the Eisner and Lubin Auditorium, as a response to the 9/11 Commission's recommendations, specifically the need to foster outreach by Americans to Muslims worldwide.

"I really hope this series can begin to bring us back to reality," said Seth Green, a 24-year-old Yale Law School student who is a coordinator for Americans for Informed Democracy, a nonpartisan group organizing meetings at colleges to foster global understanding. "There are so many images in our media and in media like Al Jazeera and others that show such an extreme and unrepresentative portion of our world."

Speakers include Asghar Choudhri, president of Pakistan American Federation; Charles Hanley, an Associated Press reporter who helped break the Abu Ghraib prison story; Warren Hoge, U.N. bureau chief for The New York Times; Nikki Stern, director of Families of September 11; Mus-tapha Tlili, director of Dialogues: Islamic World-U.S.-The West.

The series is part of a broader effort to hold thousands of discussions in September and October about the future of U.S. foreign policy. Among the Sept. 11 Commission's many recommendations was the need for the United States to exert moral leadership that advocates public education, economic opportunities and civil rights for all residents of Muslim countries. The series will also feature six face-to-face videoconference dialogues between young leaders at six universities in middle America and six universities in the Muslim world.

Roger, 57, a construction executive from Longmeadow, Mass., said his Sept. 21 presentation in New Haven, Conn., would focus on how he has lived through the twin towers attacks and the subsequent war on terror. He said he would try to make his audience recognize that "major problems" of understanding may exist among nonMuslim and Muslim Americans.

"As witnessed after Sept. 11, people thought we had to lock up the Muslims, and there was anger acted out against people who were citizens and good supporters of our way of life and country," he said.

Green of Yale said that simply organizing talks about U.S. relations with the Islamic world helped raise the country's profile.

"The way in which Americans show a sincere interest in learning about Islam ... can make a huge difference," he said.

Reach Ernie Garcia at egarcia@thejournalnews.com or 914-966-4005.Reach Ernie Garcia at egarcia@thejournalnews.com or 914-966-4005.