That was quite a letter submitted by Matthew Zeidman entitled “King no supporter of anti-hate efforts” in the December 20, 2019 issue.
Having seen many other letters from Mr. Zeidman in recent years, I find that his ‘serious and unfortunate accusation’ that Rep. King is anti-Muslim is unfounded. His basis for these accusations is some comments made by King back in 2010 & 2011.
The calls for surveillance or intel efforts were very real and needed in the period following terrorist attacks. Our concerns regarding radicalization should always be addressed, and I believe we have made progress to diminish the threat. Our intel gathering is better than it was 10 years ago, and some of Rep. King’s request were extreme.
These calls for monitoring by extreme measures were appropriate for the time, but we have managed fairly well without them, so far.
That said, I need to further advise Mr. Zeidman against making false or erroneous statements regarding organizations and persons about which he knows little or nothing. He states, ‘The year before, King attended an awards ceremony thrown by anti-Muslim group ACT for America, where its founder, Brigitte Tudor, presented him with their “Patriot Award.”
On the first count, Zeidman is totally incorrect in calling them ‘anti-Muslim.’
ACT for America is the nation’s largest grass-roots group which calls for observance of the rule of law and preservation of values given by our United States Constitution. It seeks to preserve our legal system as set forth in that great document and exclude any other form of law from being practiced in this country, including Sharia Law.
We have already seen the damage that this practice has done in many middle-eastern nations and the suffering that women have endured under it. I will stand with those who wish to preserve our republic and our way of life for all of my days.
This statement is inaccurate on the second count in it’s naming of the founder of ACT for America, Brigitte Gabriel. If you are going to name names, at least get them right. Brigitte Gabriel is a Christian by birth.
As a child living with her family in Lebanon, her home was bombed by Muslim terrorists, and her family was forced to live in a bomb shelter for several years before her father was able to get them to America.
Once here, she studied and worked to pay her own expenses to become the best American citizen she could be, and with the 9-11 attacks, decided to form a group that was sorely needed to make sure our elected officials remained true to the cause of democracy and our Constitution.
Mr. Zeidman, and any others who might be interested in the truth, should find the facts by doing a quick internet search. Let me make it easy- www.ActforAmerica.org. There you will find not only Ms. Gabriel’s story but many more reasons for why and how we must be actively involved in preserving our future.
Eric Spinner
New Hyde Park
