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.

Now that he’s out of the closet, Mr. Mehlman urges the GLBT community join Republicans in hating Muslims

In a simply unconscionable act of pure institutionalized racism and xenophobia, Arizona is attempting to purge its school system of foreign teachers and curricula that emphasize ethnic diversity.

We call on Sarah Palin to cancel her key-note address to the tea party conference in protest of Tom Tancredo’s hateful speech. Sign the petition.