Editorial
No such thing as ‘both sides’ in hate
The festival of Hanukkah is a celebration of light triumphing
over darkness even when seemingly insurmountable enemies seek
to extinguish it.
But this year’s celebration in our area has been marred by a horrifi c, inexplicable
rash of anti-Semitism. It began just a few weeks before Hanukkah with the massacre
in Jersey City, further manifested itself with a series of hate-motivated assaults upon
Jewish people in New York City (nine within a week) and culminated with a mass
stabbing at a rabbi’s home Saturday night in upstate Monsey.
The bigots behind these attacks have been or will be brought to justice soon. As
Governor Andrew Cuomo said in the wake of the Monsey attack, those who commit
such atrocities must and should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
We also applaud Cuomo for calling this attack what it was: an act
of domestic terrorism. That kind of honest assessment in this day and
age is refreshing.
Anti-Semitism targets a specifi c community, seeking to cause physical harm while
also perpetrating a climate of fear, terror and intolerance among not just the Jewish
community, but the people as a whole.
Those who commit anti-Semitic attacks — indeed, those who commit any attack
based solely on hatred and fear — are essentially committing acts of terror upon our
land, however large or small.
Our condemnation of these bigots and terrorists, our outrage over their horrifi c and
hateful acts, must be universal. Unlike what others might ignorantly assert, there is no
such thing as “both sides” when it comes to acts of hate.
Nobel Peace Prize winner and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel said it best: “Neutrality
helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the
tormented.”
We must take the side of good over evil, love over hate, tolerance
over intolerance.
We must not remain silent while others are lashing out vocally and physically against
people because of their differences.
If you witness someone saying ignorant and prejudiced things about
other people, speak up and condemn it. If you witness a hate crime,
report it.
One more thing: Hatred is not an inherited trait; no person is born into this world
with a genetic disposition to hate others. It is a learned behavior. We must be mindful
of that, especially around children, and make sure no one acquires and spreads the
attitude of intolerance.
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The front page of The Villager on May 20, 1971, included a story about
Villagers sweeping up in the neighborhood with large brooms as part
of a program to clean up Greenwich Village. It was Community Planning
Board 2’s Environment and Sanitation Committee’s kick-off event in
the effort, and included over 50 Villagers, Boy Scouts from Troop 316, local
merchants, city offi cials, and a City Sanitation Department truck loaded with
brooms for the Saturday cleanup. Sweepers wore large “Don’t Litter” buttons,
and one Villager demonstrated a “Pooper-Scooper,” the article noted,
which the Board’s Sanitation Committee was trying to get at reduced rates
for interested Village residents.
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www.TheVillager.com
8 January 2, 2020 Schneps Media
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