Building Babel

1/27

Sharif and David

Tonight we are screening David Osit’s (son of Sanctuary NYC's cofounder Karen Osit) documentary, Building Babel. (http://www.7thart.com/films/Building-Babel) David’s original idea was to enter into the world of the controversy surrounding the efforts to build the so-called Ground Zero Mosque, the Park 51 project.   Get to know the characters, explore both sides of the issue. But he ultimately decided the best thing he could do was to focus in on developer Sharif el Gamel and show in detail the life of one America Muslim family, in its warmth, intimacy, and normalcy. That alone would be radical enough.

The film follows Sharif in intimate detail. Listening to obscene threatening messages on his answering machine. Facing angry chanting mobs. Facing down the powerful New York City Landmarks Commission. Challenging the thought that the fact that landing gear from one of the planes fell on the roof of what was once the Burlington Coat factory was not enough to warrant landmarking. As one commissioner said, we can’t landmark the sky, though I wish we could. 

Sharif is seen  as he is. Driven. Single minded. Passionate. Seeking to be faithful as a Muslim. A loving father. And husband. And neighbor. My neighbor,living two floors down in my apartment building. 

The most ugly face of Islamophobia is revealed in the film from activists to Fox News, who even tried to corner Sharif in our own apartment building  garden.The images of fear and intolerance are disturbing. I am very happy that Sharif has come to join us this evening for questions and answers. He’s been doing his best to stay out of the spotlight and not speak on the record. He receives a warm ovation as he’s introduced.

Bob, Sharif, David Osit, Karen Osit

But even here, in this liberal environment, the anxiety comes through. Far too many questions along the lines of well, you’re obviously a good Muslim,but..., liberals fearing the loss of social gains, as in the fear of eurostanization and the imposition of sharia law. Somehow forgetting the more draconian tenants of Torah, the history of witch hunts and Inquisitions in Christianity, the blood stained history of most religious traditions.  

What I always find most ironic is what people don’t see. That Sharif is, in his own words,  a typical New Yorker, an American, a Capitalist.. I remember my friend Maher in Pittsburgh. A graduate of Texas A&M. If it weren’t for his status as a Palestinian exile, he would have been considered a classic, conservative believer in the American dream. But what he represented as a living testimony of the reality of American supported Israeli policy made him an outsider, marginalized. 

I remember out building sukkot shabbat dinner in the sukkah during the height of the controversy. Invited as a neighbor, even here among people who share a building, the questions for Sharif  turned into challenges. A warm and pleasant evening turned uncomfortable until the conversation was guided in another direction. 

Tonight, Sharif does his best. Defending himself. And sometimes Islam itself. We have so far to go. David’s film has given us a start.

When the film is over, Sharif wants to see the whole building. I give him the full tour. He wants to have breakfast next week. I’m open....

18 degrees and going down

1/22

Two pairs of reasonably good men's pants....

Jeremy is in with David Osit to work out technical details for this Sunday’s screening of Building Babel, the story behind the ill fated so-called Ground Zero Mosque,and my downstairs neighbor Sharif El Gamel. I watch as David get a first look at his new documentary on the big screen.

I’m finishing with Jeremy when our seriously  interested person comes in for another conversation. In 24 hours, we seem to have gone from a near certain deal to all but over. I use everything I have to extend the conversation one more day. Too much is at stake. It’s frankly hard for me to think about anything else.  

As the day is ending, I call Stephen in. we can allow nobody on the steps tonight. Too cold, too dangerous. When I get back from a frustrating meeting about religion and labor,  a very frustrating meeting (and we can talk about ACORN sometime...), I find one of the Mexicans setting up in the front door. Mi hermano, no se puede dormir aqui esta noche. Hacce muy frio. No es seguro, es muy peligroso. Se necesita irse immedaimente. No se puede estar aqui.

Claro. Que donde puedo irme?

Me puedo llamar emergencia. Podemos encontrar  refugio temporario pa'usted.

I go in and find Stephen. We call 911. By the time I come back outside, there are four more Mexicans. It's 18 degrees and going down. I’m heading home. Stephen’s in charge now.  He calls to tell me later that the police came. Offered to arrest everyone for trespassing. Stephen said no. So they directed everyone to an emergency intake center a bloc over on Columbus. Everyone headed that way. I am hoping everyone made it ok. 

A life to be honored

11/10

Sis Gcobs

I’m in the Village at the Indie Film Center for a film premier when I get a call from Danielle. We’ve got a memorial service going on and there are issues with the lights.

On the train to West-Park, I’m thinking about the film, Building Babel. It’s about my downstairs neighbor, Sharif El-Gamal, a real estate developer and driving force behind park 51, the so-called Ground Zero Mosque. The film is by David Osit, son of Karen, co-founder (with Jane) of Sanctuary NYC.

I remember the day Fox News  invaded our apartment building trying to comer Sharif. Our gathering of neighbors in the sukkah dinner where the Park 51 issue dominated our discussion, sometimes tense.  And participating in an interfaith event at Park 51, surrounded by security and chanting protesters. The police shut down the street. He was happy to greet me as a neighbor, glad that I was there. 

And I remember the day, a few weeks ago, while Sharif was on Hajj, Rebekah his wife just stopped in West-Park to see what the church was like inside. Raised Catholic and converted to Islam, she is a quietly strong and deeply spiritual woman. As I explained the history of the sanctuary, she said,  I was raised a Christian. This has brought me closer to God. And it is the same God. She said she would like to come back sometime. 

Park 51 was not at Ground Zero and was not a mosque. The dream continues. We have worked with others who want to make it a reality. The vitriolic, threatening response to that vision is itself why such a center, collaborating with other faiths is needed. OK, we need to bring the film to the Center and I need to get Sharif to come with it. 

At the church, Danielle is struggling with balcony lights that won’t come on. The people from the memorial service are also expecting a projector to show a DVD. Luckily Marc shows up and piece by piece things come into place.

 I stay to make sure everything is OK and slowly begin to understand the service that is taking place. It is in honor of Nomgcobo Beatrice Sangweni, or Sis Gcobs, as she was known. I learn of an amazing woman who had been a member of the African  National Congress in South Africa fighting apartheid and  forced into exile in the US. Although a college graduate, she worked as a house cleaner in New York City until she could save enough money to get another degree at CUNY and then a masters in Urban Planning. She eventually became the Director of Research Services and Development for the New York City Department of Health. But when democracy triumphed and apartheid came to an end, she returned to South Africa championing womens’ issues and health education and care for her people.

There was a South African choir from Harlem. The South Africa ambassador Baso Sangqu spoke. Musicians played traditional and popular South African music. I looked around the sanctuary. At the people. The sounds. The large South African flags draped on the altar. And reflected on a life I had not known about, a story of compassion, commitment and courage. 

Honored that the spirit of this event, too, would become part of West-Park.