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February 24, 2017

Khader El-Yateem Wants to Be Our Councilman and We Have No Idea Who He Is – Bay Ridge

 

If you live in Bay Ridge and heard the name: Khader El-Yateem and didn’t know who that was – you are not alone! We’ve been living in Bay Ridge for seven years and we have never heard of El-Yateen until December when the Kings County Politics blog said El-Yateem was considering a run for councilman in Bay Ridge.

 

In 1995 when I met Vinnie Gentile, I knew he was a strong advocate of education and I was glad to see him take office. He cheered on everyone and was filled with hope and passion. Everyone from Bay Ridge to Bensonhurst knew who he was because he was at every event in the area.

 

Rev. Khader El-Yateem – Why do we have use Google to find out who he is and what he stands for?

 

Khader El-Yateem has been the pastor of the Salam Arabic Lutheran Church since 1996. The Salam Arabic Lutheran Church is on the top floor of Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church on 80th Street and 4th Avenue(see below). Before 2012, the Salam Arabic Lutheran Church had was at the Salem Danish Lutheran Church building at 345 Ovington Avenue. In 2012, the building was sold for 1.5 million, demolished and turned into condos.

 

El-Yateem’s Outreach in Bay Ridge?

 

Our Saviors is known for their pre-k program, but the Salam Arabic Lutheran Church isn’t really known for anything in Bay Ridge. Maybe Pastor Khader El-Yateem thinks he does enough because he is a pastor to an immigrant community. His church appears to have only one service on Sunday at 11 am….so must be a very small congregation. Most churches in Bay Ridge have events throughout the year or at least at Christmas time (like Xmas tree lighting ceremonies or events for families), but the Salam Lutheran Church doesn’t do much outreach in the community.

 

There are only two events that I know of that the Salem Arabic Church runs – The March Against Hate and The Bay Ridge Beyond Pride Meeting. If El-Yateem runs other events, he might want to do more advertising as even his church’s site only shows a small amount of events. The Bay Ridge Jewish Center next door to the Salem Arabic Church is very vibrant and has a lot of events for the community and is known for their weekly BYOBaby event in which Moms in the community meet up and have some wine together.

 

Although I know the organizers of the Bay Ridge March Against Hate had good intentions, marching against hate isn’t going to stop the hate. I guess it’s a nice way to show support to those who have experienced hate, but it seems trivial.  This is  the second year that good-hearted residents marched from the Islamic Society of Bay Ridge to the Salam Arabic Lutheran Church and no Arabs have publicly said they have great neighbors. Never have a heard any Arabic leader say there are few bad people in the world, but my neighbors are awesomePastor El-Yateem needs to realize there will always be haters. Like any neighborhood, Bay Ridge has some racists – people who have been hating for years. No one should waste time on those people. Concentrate on the great things about your community and share with the next generation the beautiful things about the Arabic culture. Strangely, the Salam Arabic Church didn’t share BR March Against Hate on January 16th event with its parishioners on it’s website or Facebook page. Is it just bad PR or did the church not see it as an event for their parishioners? The church’s facebook page has a message on Feb 3rd – and one in December asking parishioners to make a tax-deductible gift to the church – no January events (see below).

 

 

 

 

In November 2016, the Salem Arabic Lutheran Church held a gala which raised $65,000 to do outreach in the community. The year before, the gala raised $68,000. Why are there so few events or programs on church’s website? Maybe they have them for their parishioners and just don’t advertise them because they don’t want a larger crowd. The church’s website is strange because while the Reverend claims to understand refugees, the contact form for potential church members is only in English – wouldn’t it make sense for it to be in Arabic?

 

In December 2015, the paper reported that Pastor El-Yateem was working on a Unity Across Bay Ridge campaign and a logo for the campaign was being developed with a graphic designer. Did anyone see the campaign or this logo? If Pastor El-Yateem was a serious leader and task-driven, he would have launched the campaign right away and had a contest for children to design the logo. Bay Ridge doesn’t need a “leader” sitting around designing campaigns and logos which never get off the ground. In February 2017, Councilman Gentile held a ‘Unity in the Community‘ event at Widdi Hall on 56th Street and 6th Avenue. It’s nice that Pastor El-Yateem attended Gentile’s event and added some seasoning to the salad and helped serve the food, but this doesn’t show that El-Yateem is a leader.

 

 

I’m sure Reverend El-Yateem is a nice person, but I wouldn’t want him as my councilman. While his congregation may recognize his religious leadership, El-Yateem failed to step in as a leader in Bay Ridge in obvious situations where his words and presence could have helped  (here, here and here). I believe Reverend El-Yateem’s mindset will remain on his agenda and commitment to Palestine and not our neighborhood. Bay Ridge needs a councilperson who can represent everyone and get things done here so our whole community flourishes.

 

As an educator, I don’t remain silent about these issues because this is the community my students have to live in. I majored in history in college with an emphasis on Middle Eastern History. I worked for Dr. Daisy Hilse Dwyer, author of several books on  Middle Eastern law and women. 

 

Hugs,
marlene

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