I am weary to the bones of making statements protesting the brokers of intolerance in America. Their verbal AK 47’s are spraying out fear and falsehoods so quickly I become dizzy trying to decide which bullet to fend off…We have done enough talking. We have been on the defensive for too long. It is way past time to do something positively prophetic!

The national conversation on the Park 51 Islamic Community Center has taken a turn for the worst. Fear, ignorance, prejudice, Islamophobia, xenophobia, and racism have reared their ugly heads and meaningful conversation is no where to be found. Where do people turn to put the Park 51 controversy into context?

Jack Shaheen is the author of the groundbreaking work “Reel Bad Arabs: How Hollywood Vilifies a People,” and the author of “Guilty: Hollywood’s Verdict on Arabs after 9/11,” the winner of the 2009 Forward Magazine social sciences book of the year. He is a professor emeritus of Mass Communication at Southern Illinois University and a winner of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee’s “Lifetime Achievement Award.”

Shaheen has been following the recent developments on Park 51 and I caught up with him to see what he had to say.

“Courage calls us to the maturity, wisdom, and discretion to find a balance between protection and principles. How can we protect ourselves and those we love without renouncing our principles? How would you like your religion to be judged by the worst of its adherents?