Public safety or prejudice? Georgia county fights plans for mosque
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Planned Muslim cemetery, mosque face opposition in Georgia community
(Fox 5)
Hundreds of people in Georgia attended a forum Monday night voicing concerns over a mosque and Muslim cemetery planned for Newton County -- a plan that officials reportedly approved without any public input.
Fox5Atlanta.com reported that the area of land essentially amounted to a compound. The complaints included fears the land could ultimately be used as a terror training camp. Other people cited the tradition of Muslims traditionally burying their dead unembalmed.
“I would like to say that there is no camp, everyone will have access,” Imam Mohammad Islam told the news station. He said the plans call for a 4,000-square-foot mosque with a 2,500-square-foot preparation center.
His congregation includes mostly Bangladeshi Muslims, the news station reported. The imam did not rule out expanding to a new school in the neighborhood in the future.
Some members of the community expressed disappointment that the imam did not attend the meeting to discuss the plans.
“If they want to assimilate into our community, where are they at tonight?” one man asked. “Mr. Imam, come and talk to us.”
The station reported that it tried to get a response from city officials who worked on the project but several commissioners refused to comment.
Newton County is about 40 minutes southeast of Atlanta.
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8/22/16
Newton County mosque: Hundreds turn out to say no way
Updated: 11:29 p.m. Monday, Aug. 22, 2016 | Posted: 9:16 p.m. Monday, Aug. 22, 2016
Hundreds of Newton County residents packed the historic Covington courthouse Monday evening for public hearings on a planned mosque and Muslim cemetery that has sparked fierce opposition.
The majority of speakers came out against the mosque, citing concerns over terrorism and assimilation of Muslims into the community. Some expressed fear that the mosque would become an al-Qaida training camp or impose Sharia law on the community.
“To say we wish to disallow this project based on religious discrimination … is ludicrous and hypocritical,” said a woman who did not give her name. “They are discriminating against us by calling us infidels who do not believe in their religion.”
“We have the right to protect ourselves and our country,” she concluded. Her comments were met with whoops and cheers from the 300 people in the audience.
The uproar has prompted the county to issue a temporary moratorium on new places of worship.
Al Maad Al Islami, a Doraville mosque, purchased 135 acres on Ga. 162 in June 2015, when it also received a county permit for a place of worship. The mosque does not have any business before the county. It has not submitted plans or applied for building permits. The board of commissioners has no plans to vote on any action following Monday’s hearings.
County Commission Chairman Keith Ellis said the purpose of Monday’s town hall meetings was to “provide our citizens with a platform to express their concerns and ask questions about the proposed project.”
No one from the mosque was present to answer questions. Edward Ahmed Mitchell, executive director of the Georgia chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, told Channel 2 Action News that members of the community may be too scared of the negative reaction to attend the meetings.
“It gives Newton County a bad reputation, it gives Georgia a bad reputation, it gives America a bad reputation,” he said. “For the sake of defending the Constitution, upholding American values … I encourage all Georgians to speak out against the unfair, unethical and unconstitutional behavior.”
A Newton County sheriff’s deputy watches as a man speaks Monday at a town hall meeting in Covington about plans to build a mosque and Muslim cemetery in the area. CURTIS COMPTON /CCOMPTON@AJC.COM
“I think I’ve seen more hate tonight than I’ve seen in the last 8 years,” he said. “The Islam (that) people are talking about is not the Islam I grew up with.”
Zuhair pointed out that Muslims are dying on the front lines of the war with ISIS.
“Get yourself a Muslim friend. It probably, I think, will open your mind a lot,” he said to a smattering of applause.
Others also expressed concern about the tenor of the comments. One of them was a young woman named Kendra Miller, who said she was of Jewish descent.
“If this discussion was happening 100 years ago there’s a good chance it would be about my people,” she said. “I’ve heard whispers of killing people as I’ve sat here, as I’ve stood in line. … I would hate for us to fall to that level again.”
Brigette and Anthony Washington recently returned to Newton County after spending four years in the United Arab Emirates, where Brigette taught high school English. Speaking before the meeting, they said they were concerned by what they considered anti-Muslim sentiment.
“We’ve had very positive experiences with Arabs and Muslims from different parts of the Middle East,” said Brigette Washington, adding that they were treated with the “utmost respect” in the U.A.E.
Anthony Washington, a retired law enforcement officer with the Newton County Sheriff’s Department, waved a satirical “obituary” for the United States that someone had distributed among those waiting in line to enter the courthouse. The paper concluded that a “good Muslim” cannot be a “good American.”
“So much of what I lived contradicts what I am reading,” he said. “I was treated better there than I was here.”
The NAACP and more than a dozen Muslim groups have called for the county to be investigated by the U.S. Department of Justice. Ellis, the county chairman, declined to comment on the threat of legal action.
County Commissioner Nancy Schulz said in a statement Friday that she respects “the diversity of our community and the rights of our citizenry to express their opinions.”
“Additionally, I support the county in its commitment to follow federal and state requirements and local ordinances and laws on all county zoning matters,” she said.
Commissioner Lanier Sims said he supported the freedom of religion.
“I’m not going to say there were racist rants,” he said. “Everybody (has) an opinion.”
The county’s moratorium on new places of worship is limited to five weeks. County Attorney Megan Martin said it is not intended to block construction of the mosque, but rather to give the county time to study its ordinances as they related to “campus-like” places of worship.
Mohammad Islami, the imam of the Doraville mosque, previously said his congregation plans to build a cemetery and “simple” mosque, and eventually a park, school and residences.
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COVINGTON, Ga. – Nearly a week after the Newton County Commissioners Office passed a moratorium to put a hold on a proposal to build a mosque and cemetery, the public is finally getting the chance to speak their thoughts.
On Monday night, neighbors gathered in front of Newton County Commissioners in Covington for public comment about the plan, one that’s become a growing controversy.
Last week, Commissioners put a five-week hold on issuing any permits that would allow builders to break ground on the mosque and cemetery. Commissioners also decided to re-evaluate county zoning laws that previously allowed for houses of worship to be built anywhere, regardless of what land was zoned for.
County officials said at last week’s meeting they issued the hold because they were not made aware of the plans for the land, owned by an Atlanta-area mosque, but documents showed the initial permit was approved more than a year ago.
The county’s response quickly drew criticism, as did Commissioner John Douglas’s comments. He was quoted by a local paper asking whether there were enough Muslims in south Newton County to support the mosque and if the complex would “make us a prime area for the federal government to resettle refugees from the Middle East.”
Neighbors expressed concerns over the increase of traffic. They were not allowed to voice their feelings on the project last meeting, but they did pack the meeting space.
The did so, again, Monday night, for the town hall meeting and public comment. The meeting, held in two sessions that stretched for three hours, was impassioned.
Based on comments from those in attendance at the meeting, people don't seem to want the plan to proceed more for seemingly religious reasons instead of claimed traffic concerns.
"We have already seen bombings and beheadings," said one woman. "Eight years ago our U.S. government got a Muslim president who has put Muslims in power.”
“It’s hard for people like me, and probably most of you tonight, to draw the line between innocent Muslims and radical Muslims, since they’ve all claimed to serve the same God and they all claim to follow the same book,” said another.
Another woman in the crowd, did have legitimate concerns over the size of the project.
"It really bothers me that I’m labeled a bigot because I just question it," she said. "Because I don’t care if they come and worship, but I do care if it’s a 135 acres of a very large development.”
But probably the most sobering comments came from a woman who identified herself as Jewish. She spoke up and said discussion over the development was necessary, but cautioned against some of the inflammatory comments.
"If this discussion was happening 100 years ago, there’s a good chance it would be happening to my people," she said. "And a hundred years or so ago, millions of people my people, including my great aunt, were sent to their deaths.”
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WSBTV Reports: Mosque Meeting Gets Heated click on below link:
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