Amplifying voices against bigotry

In a July 2016 editorial, Hearst Connecticut Media coined the season “The Summer of Hate” as incensed Americans took to the streets to protest police shootings of black men.

“Ultimately, leadership falls on the individual to bring an end to this. Be the calm in the storm. Reassure a neighbor. Soothe rather than inflame,” we suggested. “If we don’t, there will be more seasons of hate to come.”

We saw the phrase as an unfortunate shorthand of how furiously ideologies were colliding five decades after the so-called “Summer of Love.”

Sadly, another summer of hate has arrived too soon. A neo-Nazi website recently embraced the phrase as a rallying cry to unite racist extremists.

It has proven to be unifying, though not as these fascists intended. Americans who find such attitudes repulsive are raising their own voices.

Following the deadly demonstration in Charlottesville, Virginia, politicians are calling out President Donald Trump for his bizarre rhetoric. The more vital response has been from people who remove politics from the discourse.

This was an opportunity for Trump at a time he desperately needed one. Perhaps only a president can provide a single response to strife that holds the power to inspire Americans, to remind them of who they are at the core.

By failing to seize this epic moment — instead equating neo-Nazis with Americans exercising their freedom of speech — Trump instead created a void.

That vacuum is being filled not by one voice, but by millions. Average citizens who trust the direction of their own moral compass are defending their definition of America.

About 600 people attended a vigil on the New Haven Green Sunday, many carrying homemade signs with slogans like “Bigotry isn’t Patriotic” and “White Silence = Violence.”

Similarly, the response in Bridgeport was immediate, as 100 residents turned out for a Sunday night vigil in the downtown. Among the faces in the crowd was Mayor Joe Ganim, who acknowledged his support of the president had “changed dramatically” in the wake of Trump’s misguided comments.

In Stamford, 100 demonstrators included parents who brought their children to teach them about “speaking truth to power and saying no to hate.” That rally on Wednesday was organized by the Jewish Community Relations Council of the United Jewish Federation of Greater Stamford, New Canaan and Darien.

It’s not easy for even peaceful demonstrators to focus on values rather than politics. Too much of the conversation has been about Trump, rather than the reality that hatespeak didn’t stopped percolating with the end of the Civil War and maintains a foothold in some quarters of the nation.

The president’s failure to step up to the occasion motivated many Americans to rise. As summer fades to autumn, we hope to hear the voices of others through poised demonstrations, letters to the editor or at the voting booth.

The chorus against hate can never be too loud. Speak up.

Following the deadly demonstration in Charlottesville, Virginia, politicians are calling out President Donald Trump for his bizarre rhetoric. The more vital response has been from people who remove politics from the discourse.