The Submission

The Submission is a novel written by Amy Waldman and published in 2011. The novel takes place in the wake of the 9/11 tragedy. A jury has been tasked with judging the blind entries for a 9/11 memorial. When it’s revealed that the designer of the winning submission is Muslim, it sparks a public controversy.

The memorial jury is composed of Paul Rubin, the chair; Ariana Montagu, an artist; Claire Burwell, a representative of the families of the deceased; and several others, including representatives of the mayor and governor. The two contenders are one called “The Garden” that Claire strongly prefers and another called “The Void” that Ariana supports. Claire feels so strongly about the Garden that she tries to recruit other members to vote with her, and the Garden ends up winning. When it comes time to reveal the designer of the winning entry, they see Mohammed Khan’s name on the card. It’s immediately obvious that the Garden was created by a Muslim entrant. Everyone is taken aback, except Claire, who continues to support the memorial.

Mo Khan turns out to be an American Indian architect. He was born in America, the secular Muslim son of an immigrant engineer. His name is leaked to the press, and the American public goes wild with rage. He approaches a community organization dedicated to representing Muslims whose civil rights have been abused. There he acquires his first lawyer, Laila Fathi, an Iranian American with whom he briefly has a personal relationship. He breaks with the MACC when he sees their goals are different from his.

As the public rages, the committee struggles over what to do about the entry submitted by a Muslim. A right-wing activist named Debbie Dawson leads the pack of Mo’s detractors. Debbie dresses in wild clothing, shouting racist clichés and quoting out-of-context verses from the Quran as she leads a host of devoted, screaming protestors. Lou Sarge, a right-wing radio personality, keeps the air waves hot and fans the flames. Sean Gallagher, brother of a deceased fireman, represents the saner members of the anti-Islam faction, but even he fights tooth and nail to oust Mo’s entry, even assaulting a Muslim woman by pulling her hijab.

A subplot emerges within the New York Bangladeshi Muslim community. Asma, the undocumented wife of one of the deceased, is gentle but firm in all her dealings. She fits few of the stereotypes of Muslim women and none of Debbie Dawson’s clichés. When a hearing about the memorial is held for the families of the deceased, she insists on going and makes a speech at the end, supporting Mo’s design. Her words positively affect some of the protestors. After Asma is revealed as an illegal by the same tabloid reporter who exposed Khan’s name, she decides to return to Bangladesh. As she stands outside her building waiting to go to the airport, Asma is stabbed to death.

All the while, Claire is having a personal identity crisis. Because of this, she decides to stop supporting the Garden entry. Angry that Khan won’t answer her questions about his life and his faith, she bypasses the committee, unites with the MACC organization, and publicly announces that the Garden will not be built.

Decades later, Claire, now ill, allows her son to make a documentary based on the idea that the process of creating a memorial is actually part of the grieving process. All the major players are interviewed, with Mo being last. In her interview Claire still disparages Mo, even as she says she’s sorry. In his video Mo displays the Garden after it was built, commissioned by a rich Arab.