NY Neighbors for American Values Issues Statement Supporting Orderly City Land Use Process

Walmart hearing should proceed without distraction, broad NYC coalition says

NEW YORK, NY (02/03/2011)(readMedia)-- The bizarre attempt to link the debate over Walmart to opposition to Park51 doesn't make a lot of sense. But it does make one thing clear: the organizers' only concern is getting attention for their own extremist agenda.

The organizers of today's pro-Walmart, anti-Islam protest, Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer, claim that they want to preserve the sanctity of Ground Zero. All New Yorkers want to honor the memory of those who died on September 11 – but not many think that a noisy campaign in favor of building a Walmart is a way to do it.

Those who think Muslim New Yorkers have the same right as anyone else to build a cultural center in lower Manhattan have different views about Walmart. Some, like Mayor Bloomberg, would welcome the giant retailer to New York City. Others, including many labor and community groups, are concerned that Walmart has undermined employment standards and surrounding communities. But whether pro- or anti-Walmart, New Yorkers can agree that when Geller denounces today's meeting as "these ridiculous communist hearings," it shows a contempt for democratic process.

Today's City Council hearing is part of NYC's democratic planning procedures for regulating land use issues. It should be allowed to proceed without disruption, and without being taken over for another purpose. In a society of laws, a noisy minority cannot substitute its views for an open governmental process.

As this strange campaign for Walmart reminds us, the organizers of this protest against Park51 are concerned with getting media attention for their agenda of bigotry and hate. Everything else is just a means to those ends.

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New York Neighbors for American Values is a coalition of over 100 organizations in support of the constitutional values of religious freedom, diversity, and equality. (More information at nyneighbors.org.)