Racism! Bigotry! Islamophobia! That's the typical cry of the muslim deceiver (CAIR) and the pc liberal fool. islam is not a race so where is the racism? islamic scripture and texts are vastly more political than spiritual, particularly regarding its relation ship to non muslims so why can't it be criticized? You should be more ashamed of the Arab American Association of New York, a muslim organization hiding behind the Arab race to advance their causes. Don't you get it? The Arab Association of New York does not represent Arabs living in New York. They represent muslims and the advancement of islam. The VAST MAJORITY of the Arabs in the United States are either refugees of islamic persecution or the children of refugees. By offering an "Arab" (muslim) Band to play at the event the "Arab" (muslim) Association of New York's only goal was to create controversy and strife to use as propaganda for the upcoming 10th Anniversary of 9/11.Of course, criticizing islam in anyway is haram so, whether it's from fear of blasphemy laws and death in islamic nations or from being labelled a racist, islamophobe, or bigot in the West... you WILL abide by islamic law and remain silent. 

I grew up in Bay Ridge. It definitely has a lot of hard-headed, white, working-class people. I have witnessed it a lot. However, the demographics of Bay Ridge have changed a lot. There are many different Middle Easterners--- a lot of Lebanese and Syrian, but also Egyptian, Turkish, Yemenese,  and others. Plus, there are a lot of puerto ricans, domicans, and mexicans. Then you add in the Chinese, then all the eastern europeans -- polish, russian, albanian, etc.. and Bay Ridge is not so 2nd, 3rd generation irish, italian, greek, Scandinavian anymore. Its a shame too because on the surface there really are not that many problems I witnessed at school or just on an everyday basis in the neighborhood between the groups. However, there is the fear and ignorance that people harbor amongst themselves--that will come out when, say two greek people are around each other and are angry at all the albanians up the block. And, of course, its working class against working-class.
 Wonder what would happen if they actually focused on real community problems together instead of remaining stupid?

An informed, reasonable response - what are you doing here?

jackson, you described what the real community problem is. the problem is...they want to change the community, which at times does not want to be changed.

All this group had to do was to announce their solidarity with the Coptic Christians being persecuted by the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and they would've been welcomed with open arms to the event. Wouldn't our Arab American neighbors find that a reasonable position, as all freedom loving people would? Wouldn't that be a simple gesture to reaffirm that Arab Americans are principled defenders of the rights of all religious minorities in places the Sudan, Turkey, Iran, Indonesia, Malaysia and Pakistan? That they not afraid of being ostracized by an element of which I'm sure is a tiny, tiny radical fringe?

It's funny how opposition to nationality-x-americans always becomes a problem when it's Muslims, or Arabs, or Hispanics, but is rarely a problem when it's Irish or Italian American.

White America embraces faux-Italian culture with both arms but the minute a darker skinned person wants to include some of their heritage it becomes un-American.

It's all very ironic considering that 100 years ago it was the Italians who had their culture treated as second class.

yep. so you see, by your own admissions, that the arabs are not being treated any differently than any other group of persons that has come to the US. in fact, they should be honored that they are being treated exactly the same as everybody else. 

so, simply said, they should shut their whiney mouths and get over it.

I sincerely hope our ability to treat groups more fairly has progressed since the days of Jim Crow and "irish need not apply".

The problem with your logic of course is that white ethnic groups are no longer treated as outsiders. I guess Arabs should just wait 100 years until they're accepted?

it is your logic. re-read YOUR post. and, you give human kind more credit than we deserve, if you think we have 'progressed'. 

and, yes, they need to wait until they are accepted. it is a natural process. all animals need time to adapt to new circumstances; dogs piss on the floor until they are comfortable, cats scratch their new owners until they feel secure. people need time to adapt to and understand new groups they encounter, and this goes for both sides, the group assimilating and the group to be assimilated into. 

so, they should shut their whiney mouths and get over it. consider it a rite of passage, much like acne.

My logic is that we've progressed beyond 19th century ethnic relations when blacks were lynched for literally looking at a white person the wrong way.

YOUR logic is that we haven't.

If the people of Bay Ridge are still stuck in 19th century ethnic relations, that says way more about them than it does about Muslims or Arabs.

Don't you just love it when old-school New York neighborhoods hire a narrow-minded, culturally-insensitive, knuckle-dragging orc to do public relations and outreach.

maybe they can go back to arab land, where they can play whatever music they want. and then, maybe they can crash their own planes into their own buildings, and kill their own innocent people. and then, they can make more bike lanes.

its an american holiday. yes we are all proud of where we came from. but when it comes down to it. everyones ancestors came to america for a better life. its not an irish, italian, jewish, polish, black, spanish, or islamic holiday. its an american holiday, lets leave it at that. everyone is lucky to be here, celebrate "here" for a day at least.

So if you don't want to listen to Arabic music during a Fourth of July celebration, YOU'RE the problem?

It's meant for John Phillip Sousa music, not third world caterwauling. There's a time and place for everything. Save ethnic music for an ethnic festival.

Agree mostly, except for "third world" and (Philip).  Hope you were exaggerating to make a point rather than being condescending.

I live in Bay Ridge and on my end (the north end) there are a lot of Arab people. I could care less what they wear or what language they speak. I have some of the best neighbors ever, and they are Arab-Americans. They bring my husband and I homemade food to try, and I dole out my homemade red velvet cake since they probably don't get it that often :)  Who cares - we are all going to be a shade of caramel in a few hundred years anyways...can't we all just get along?

*my husband and me

Arab-Americans, American-Arabs, whatever.  I bet they would laugh their asses off if they could pull off having an Arab American band playing arab music at a fourth of July event.  Classic.  I agree...leave all the other descriptors alone (arab-irish-armenian-latin, etc.)  Have a hotdog and a soda, watch some fireworks, and STFU. 

When they have halal hotdogs, then maybe...otherwise no dice. Isn't Bay Ridge more or less Arab and Chinese now?

Cool username.