Marching to Different Drums

When you find yourself caught between a “9/11 Truth” banner and the contemplative face of Mumia Abu-Jamal, you may reasonably question your political judgment. And Chambers Street on this contentious September 11, 2010, was awash in the dregs of lefty activism. The acronyms—RCP, ISO, WWP, PSL—spelled out a realm of sectarian, “revolutionary” organizing, ever-present on the anachronistic fringes of the Left. The default signage, for those who had left their frustrations unstenciled, was provided by antiwar coalition A.N.S.W.E.R., which has quietly supported such committed revolutionaries as Kim Jong Il. The real organization of the protest (as listed on the protest Web site) told an old story of ideological degeneration.

Like thousands of other frustrated New Yorkers, my friends and I—faithfully left-leaning twenty-somethings—had come to this rally in support of the Cordoba Community Center, the deceptively named “Ground Zero Mosque.” We were sick of Glenn Beck’s self-righteous hysteria and Republicans’ shock and horror on the stump. The Tea Partiers who defended “American values” by making a mockery of the First Amendment were as maddening as the rationalized racism of mainstream commentators. It was a media grotesque, and perhaps it was mere self-indulgence, but we wanted to yell with a crowd, “Bigots out of New York!” We wanted to reclaim our sanctuary of relative tolerance from people who excluded the liberal site of a September 11 attack from “real America.” This was the moment for solidarity with fellow New Yorkers, people who actually knew how many blocks Park51 was from Ground Zero, and who weren’t campaigning for office in Florida. This was the moment to say, “Hey, Glenn Beck, if you want the center somewhere else, you try finding an affordable piece of Manhattan real estate!”

An interfaith vigil had gathered with a similar purpose and quieter approach the night before. Joining hands across faiths elegantly countered the way right-wingers had described variations in worship as the difference between civilization and barbarism. Several families of September 11 victims had in fact requested that no protests take place on the anniversary, perhaps encouraging some people to join the September 10 vigil or stay home. But if the beauty of faithful communion was clear, so was it clear that my political home was elsewhere. For secular lefties, the vigil emphasized the wrong commonality: we sought the free and vigorous expression of equalities described in American law, rather than mutual respect among faiths to which we did not belong. Further, this latest battle in the war between merciless right wingers and retiring lefties scared us. What have the last few years shown, but that public opinion does not yield to reasoning pleas?

SO MARCH we did, and, once we hurried past some glassy-eyed 9/11 truthers, we saw a number of other indignant young people, old New Lefties, and entirely r...