Students Protest Proposed Mosque Construction on PEC Site
An artist's rendering of the proposed mosque, which will be integrated into the existing PEC
GRINNELL- With the demolition of the PEC this summer, a group of developers in town have stepped forward with the proposal of constructing a Muslim Community Center on the site. The building would include a mosque, a library, a food pantry, and housing for many homeless in the area. However, the wounds of recent events have not healed and many within the community have stepped up to fight this Community Center.
The PEC was the site of Grinnell's greatest defeat, the infamous 1989-weightlifting championship. Macalester's Muhammad Abdul defeated Yani Davidson '91 by successfully bench-pressing nearly 2,000 lbs. Davidson is now Vice-Director of the Alumni Athletics Association, the main group opposing the terrorist training camp. “It's a shame in my mind that any group of people can come and place a mosque wherever the hell they want. This is just some Muslim from Macalester trying to rub in the fact that I couldn't bench press 2,000 lbs twenty-one years ago. I for one am insulted. Hell, even the Imam's from Macalester.”
The Grinnell Free Speech and Free Religion Union have been openly demonstrating their support for the Islamic Community Center. “Under the First Amendment, people have the right to build something anywhere they want, said Simcha Goldman '13. “If I wanted to build a community center some place that was unpopular, I would want to say that I have the right to build it wherever I wanted. We will defend this community center against all enemies: foreign or alumni.”
There has been a major backlash against building a fundamentalist Islamic community terrorist training ground in Des Moines. Students at Drake University torched the Qur'an, and members of their a cappela group, the D Flats, burned equipment at the construction site to the ground. Gangs from Des Moines assisted the students providing Molotov cocktails to jump-start the process.
Historian Lawrence Rhodes pointed out a similar event happened twenty-five years ago in Northfield, Minnesota. A group approached the city about building a museum highlighting famous Welsh Wild West icons, namely Jesse James, infamous for his Northfield robbery. Many within the town protested, arguing that making a Welsh history museum would be an insult to their Lutheran ancestors who were massacred by the Welsh numerous times over the centuries. The Lutherans drove every person of Welsh descendant out of Northfield, and even burned Tom Jones and Dylan Thomas in effigy to protest the museum. The museum was later built near James's home in Missouri, strengthening the town's wealth. Says Rhodes, “If Northfield had built the museum, it would have lead to decades of wealth and prosperity. Instead they turned to hate and division. Grinnell now has the chance to pick up where Northfield failed.”
The board of the Islamic Center claim that they “own the land” as stated in a “contract” signed with the Grinnell Board of Trustees granting them the “property,” a supposedly ancient system of signifying land ownership. Numerous legal challenges have already been made, although to many observers it appears that the terrorists have won.
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