Islamic Community Center Opened on Manhattan

Remember all the hoopla about the proposed Islamic Community Center on lower Manhattan (a.k.a the Ground Zero Mosque) last year?

Well, it opened rather quietly a little less than two weeks ago. The center kicked off with an exhibition by Jewish-American photographer, Danny Goldfield. The exhibit, "NYC Children," featured portraits of children from 169 countries, all living in NYC. The local online newspaper DNAinfo.com reports:

Goldfield attended the opening Wednesday night, along with Rana Sodhi, a Sikh whose brother was murdered in a hate crime four days after 9/11, and whose efforts to fight prejudice in the wake of the crime inspired Goldfield's project.

Sodhi, who spoke haltingly, but emotionally, said it was appropriate for Park51 to open so close to the site of the 9/11 attacks, replacing the hatred of that day with a message of tolerance.

"We are together here today at Park51 to show the world we are still united and we respect each other," Sodhi said.

Here's a link to an AP story (on NPR's website), and to the community center's own web site: Park51