Since 2005, The Sanctuary for Independent Media has struggled to be a good citizen and a good neighbor. We’ve invested immense creative energy and toil and spent many thousands of hard-earned dollars to refurbish a historic former church in a neglected neighborhood of north Troy, striving to enrich the community through media arts and education. Our efforts have proved beneficial in that we’ve succeeded in bringing internationally acclaimed filmmakers, graphic artists, musicians, authors, and other important cultural figures to a deprived area and fostered constructive public dialog that informs and enlivens our democratic society.

On March 11, 2008, however -- just as the Sanctuary was launching a month-long scheduled program of artistic exhibits, performances and discussions on censorship and government repression -- the City of Troy abruptly closed the facility on codes violation charges because somebody didn’t like one of our planned art exhibits. This is wrong. We must not allow our public officials to continue to act in such a manner.

The Capital Region New York Civil Liberties Union and attorney Peter Henner are among those who have stepped forward to assist the Sanctuary in protecting our constitutional rights and the rights of our artists and patrons.

We do not dispute the need to respect city laws and ordinances. Prior to this incident, the city knew we were operating in good faith to comply with the building codes and we had made and were continuing to make ample improvements to this 108-year-old structure. There wasn’t any conflict. Our relations with the city’s professional employees had been very positive and everyone recognized we were acting in a responsible manner. We were never warned we might be shut down. In fact, on March 10, the city’s own building and fire inspectors gave us the green light to proceed with holding a major public event that night.

But then the city’s public works commissioner, Bob Mirch, who oversees Troy code enforcement and holds a variety of other local political posts, railed on right-wing talk radio and he also physically led a vocal demonstration outside our facility to protest our showing of an exhibit he did not like. The next day, his department shut down the Sanctuary.

These events have been extremely upsetting and damaging. First, the whole incident has been fueled by wildly irresponsible misrepresentations of Wafaa Bilal and his work, using racial and jingoistic stereotypes that breed fear and misunderstanding. Second, Mr. Mirch has been allowed to abuse his official position to enforce his own political views – to use alleged code violations as a pretext to stifle political dissent. This kind of intimidation is wrong. His behavior has violated the civil rights of Mr. Bilal to express himself through his art, it has violated the civil rights of the Sanctuary to present art, and it has abrogated the civil rights of the public who wanted to view art by denying them that opportunity to make up their own minds.

We urge the City of Troy to put an end to this kind of discriminatory action. We want to resume working in good faith with government officials to make sure that the law is upheld and people’s rights are respected. This is the United States of America.