deadly car first , alerted the police and prevented a disaster . The Big Apple has a big heart , and the magnificent city of New York has room for plenty of heroes . But we are also very fair people . So we would be grateful if you could kindly call Mr. Niass and thank him for us . There is another reason besides fairness . Mr. Niass is a Muslim from Somalia , and some of us Muslim-Americans have a suspicion that your staff might not have brought him to your attention because the idea of a Muslim hero in New York does not quite dovetail with the stereotype . If there is an American of Muslim descent who commits , or tries to commit , a criminal act , as Faisal Shahzad apparently did , we Muslims feel we are all suddenly suspects . We feel we need to explain ourselves . Yet if there is a hero among us whose love for our city does not fit the stereotype , he is ignored . This is not fair , and we believe you , as our president , can do much to alleviate this burden on
New York -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Dear Mr. President : How good of you , sir , to have personally telephoned two New York heroes whose timely diligence prevented a lunatic from causing a catastrophe in Times Square . We New Yorkers are happy to hear you called Mr. Lance L. Orton Sr. and Mr. Duane Jackson to thank them for their vigilance . But there is a third vendor , Mr. President , whom you forgot to call . His name is Alioune B. Niass , and he is an immigrant from Somalia who said he was the first person to notice the smoking Nissan Pathfinder . `` I thought I should call 911 , '' Niass later told a reporter , `` but my English is not very good and I had no credit left on my phone , so I walked over to Lance , who has the T-shirt stall next to mine , and told him . He said we should n't call 911 . Immediately he alerted a police officer nearby . '' Here in New York , Mr. President , we are not particular about which one of these great New Yorkers saw that