Panel Examines Impact of September 11th Attacks on New York Communities

Local Experts from Diverse Backgrounds offer New York Perspective on Intolerance, Rebuilding, Economics and Civil Liberties, as well as the Use of 9/11 in Political Agendas

NEW YORK, NY (09/07/2011)(readMedia)-- New York, September 7th, 2011 - Today, a downtown Manhattan panel discussion commemorating the 10th anniversary of the September 11th attacks brings together local experts from a variety of groups and institutions-September 11th families for Peaceful Tomorrows, Columbia University, the New York Civil Liberties Union, Democracy Now!, the Arab American Association of New York, Asian American Legal Defense Fund among others-to examine the overarching effects the attacks have had on New York communities over the last decade.

The discussion, entitled "9/11: Refuting Stereotypes and Challenging the Common Wisdom," and moderated by Tom Robbins, award-winning investigative journalist, and current faculty at the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism, highlights the intolerance that at times pervaded the city, the missteps and successes in the rebuilding effort, and the co-opting of the attacks as a political tool.

Susan Lerner, chair of the steering committee for New York Neighbors for American Values called today's discussion, "an opportunity to delve deeply into the range of issues that reshaped our city that fateful day." She added, "On the 10th anniversary of these attacks, we must present New Yorkers as the reflective, thoughtful and united people that we are, and put the political opportunists, who seek to divide us back where they belong: on the fringe."

The event, is co-sponsored by New York Neighbors for American Values-a non-partisan coalition of over 130 area groups-and the New York County Lawyers Association, and features the following panelists: Catherine McVay Hughes, NY Community Board 1; David Dyssegaard Kallick, Fiscal Policy Institute; Donna Lieberman, New York Civil Liberties Union; Juan Gonzalez, Democracy Now! and NY Daily News; Linda Sarsour, Arab American Association of New York; Margaret Fung, Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund; Peter Marcuse, Columbia University; Talat Hamdani, 9/11 Families for Peaceful Tomorrows

New York Neighbors for American Values is a coalition of more than 130 organizations that embraces the core American values of religious freedom, diversity and equality. For more information please visit: http://nyneighbors.org/