Editorial: Concerns Over "Crescent"-Shaped 9/11 Memorial are "Nonsense"

September 14, 2005

Source: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05257/570800.stm

On September 14, 2005 the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette ran an editorial responding to a controversy over the proposed design for a memorial to the victims of Flight 93, the plane that crashed in a Pennsylvania field on Sept. 11, 2001. The design includes an arc of maple trees that critics say will appear as a "red crescent" in the fall, a symbol of Islam. The Post-Gazette editorial staff comments, "[L]ike those who look at innocent kids trick-or-treating at Halloween and see only the devil's work, a few small and suspicious minds couldn't look past the crescent to see a remarkably sensitive design. According to a marginal minister of religion, as well as some bloggers and letter writers, the crescent is a symbol of Islam and therefore its presence here memorializes the hijackers... [But] the hijackers who struck on 9/11 also hijacked Islam; there are tens of millions of Muslims who lead decent lives and abide in U.S.- allied countries with crescents on their flags. The United States is not at war with Islam -- despite Osama bin Laden trying to depict Americans as 'crusaders,' an effort that can only be helped by unthinking critics making a big deal about crescents. As it is, the maple trees making up the crescent in Somerset County could just as well be called an arc -- the word crescent came from the vocabulary of architecture... As the only consolation to the critics, let's call it the Arc of Embrace and now let it work its magic."

See also: Islam, September 11