Excerpt:
As parades go, this one was small, but participants saw it as a way to make a statement about a big problem: prejudice against American Muslims.
They wanted to make the point - quietly - that Muslims are not a threat. Nor are they foreigners, in an area where many Muslims are African Americans.
About 100 representatives of Muslim organizations, ranging from a Boy Scout troop to the Moorish Science Temple of America to the Muslim American Veterans Association, gathered outside the Independence Visitor Center to start a gray, muggy day of festivities at the 19th annual Islamic Heritage Festival and Parade at Penn's Landing.