Friday night approximately 500 demonstrators faced off at the Islamic Community Center of Phoenix. While more than 800 people RSVP'd on the anti-Islam Facebook page to say they would attend, about 250 showed up, with an equal number of counter protestors. Well into late Friday night there was a lot of shouting, profanity and posturing, but thankfully no violence occurred, since Phoenix police kept the two groups separated, and worshippers did not engage the demonstrators.
As I wrote Friday, the Islamic Community Center is the mosque that Elton Simpson and Nadir Soofi attended until a few years ago. They were the two men who drove from Phoenix to Garland, Texas earlier this month to shoot up the Muhammad cartoon contest that Pamela Geller's group sponsored, but it was they who were shot dead. Because of their connection to the Phoenix mosque, the organizer of Friday's event, Jon Ritzheimer, chose that site to hold a similar cartoon contest.
Ritzheimer makes no bones that he hates Islam and believes the religion promotes terrorism. He would like to see the faith outlawed and every Muslim deported. Ritzheimer proudly wears a "F*ck Islam" T-shirt in public, while hoisting a large American flag. He is a member of an armed biker group called RidersUSA, and on his rather ungrammatical Facebook page he encouraged them and other "patriots" to bring guns to the protest.
People are also encouraged to utilize there second amendment right at this event just incase our first amendment comes under the much anticipated attack.
The story received wall-to-wall media coverage Friday and Saturday in Phoenix, and from the videos it's clear what constituted most of the anti-Islam demonstrators: Islamophobes, white supremacists, skinheads, militia nutballs, anti-immigration goons, and haters of all stripes. They were met by
"messages of love" from 250 or more counter protestors.
Several people that took part in the "Love Rally" also brought signs of support for Islam. Some of the signs simple read, "Love not hate" while others preached tolerance, "I came to show support for religious tolerance," said Zach Arrington. The counter-protesters appeared to outnumber the anti-Islam protest group.
Some criticized me and others for even covering the protest, since we were "giving them a platform," or writing about it is "encouraging and promoting it." But had there been no coverage few if any counter protestors would have known about the event, and according to the Islamic Community Center's President Usami Shami
that was the real story Friday:
"This story is about the community of Phoenix standing up against bigotry."
Ritzheimer organized his protest under the banner of the First Amendment, calling it a "Freedom of Speech Rally," and indeed his group has every right to assemble and protest. I don't like it, but since this is Arizona they also have a right to do so while packing heat. The First Amendment, however, which provides for freedom of speech and worship, is not something Ritzheimer is willing to extend to the Muslim community, who he'd like to silence in America. Islamic Community Center President Usami Shami actually displayed a better understanding of the Bill of Rights, since his worshippers
did not try to stop the protest: "Everybody has a right to be a bigot."
Now Pamela Geller says the Phoenix mosque should be investigated because of its link to Simpson and Soofi. First of all, the Islamic Community Center in Phoenix vigorously denounced the potentially murderous actions of those two jerks. Center President Shami has spoken out against ISIS and terrorism, promoting a religion of peace and tolerance. In fact, Saturday in Tempe Muslims and other faith members gathered to condemn extremism since, "The biggest victims of ISIS are actually Muslims themselves."
In case Geller needs a reminder, the Phoenix mosque did not call for the demonstration Friday; the mosque did not encourage people to bring guns to a volatile public event; the mosque did not put a large, diverse neighborhood on edge for an entire weekend; the mosque did not try to deny other Americans their rights. The mosque only wanted to open its doors for Friday prayer.
Jon Ritzheimer and his cronies inflamed the situation, not the mosque, but Pamela Geller describes them as First Amendment heroes we should applaud, even though she admits she knows nothing about Ritzhiemer's group, and she completely ignores the potentially incendiary nature of their provocations. I won't link to it, but if you saw the Anderson Cooper interview with Ritzheimer, it's obvious he's no First Amendment scholar but rather a hater with a gun. That he attacks Islam to "keep his children safe" is an example of his boneheaded thinking, since his brazen actions are making him and his family far less safe. Most Americans have a much greater chance of being shot by a family member than an Islamic terrorist, so maybe his priorities are, say, out of whack.
In Geller's twisted universe, it's the Islamic Community Center of Phoenix that should be investigated, not the people who send threatening letters to the mosque or armed bullies who accost its worshippers, all because of the connection to Simpson and Soofi. Funny, I don't recall her encouraging authorities to investigate the Sovereign Citizen Movement after its member Scott Roeder killed abortion provider George Tiller. Did she call for an investigation of the Good Shepherd Catholic Church in New York, where Timothy McVeigh was confirmed? How about the Lutheran church that Columbine shooter Dylan Klebold attended? Or Sandy Hook killer Adam Lanza's St. Rose Catholic School? By far most murders in America are committed by non-Muslims, but do we hear Geller call for investigations of their churches, synagogues, schools, or families?