Taking a pass on taking sides enables groups pushing hate
Like most of you, I was amazed to see torchbearing, mostly young white guys strolling through the University of Virginia campus shouting about how Jews would never take their place. No hoods this time, no shame — just torches, weapons and exhilarated uncharitable chanting about people like me. Though I believe in freedom of speech, the sight of white supremacists and neo-Nazis doing that in the United States on a summer night in 2017 sent a chill down my spine. And it brought back memories.
More than 50 years ago, I recall being the youngest child at the Passover Seders we always had at my parent’s house. The whole family sat at a large wooden dining table and the room resonated with the recitation of the Haggadah; stories included the tough fight for freedom and the ancient flight from Egypt that followed. These events were commemorated in songs that were sung in a rough elixir of English, Hebrew and Yiddish. One Passover, my parents told me we would have a new guest, a family member I had never met before. He came from France and his name was Cousin Mark.
Mark was then in his 20s or so, open and friendly. When the Seder ended, I remember seeing Mark go to the kitchen and take what seemed what seemed to be a slice of bread to his room. I thought that odd, so I asked my parents about it. They told me that Mark took the bread because he always slept with a piece under his pillow. I might have been 8 or 10 years old — but that’s when I began to learn firsthand about what happens when intolerance goes unchecked.
It was explained to me that toward the end of World War II, Mark and his brothers, my Aunt Sonia and her husband, Mutya, were taken from their home in France and placed in a German concentration camp. While I’m uncertain now exactly who was where, I remember that most of the French side of the family were said to have ended up at Dachau. I was told that my Aunt Sonia had her legs broken there and was left untreated and crippled.
What happened to the boys at Dachau was never discussed, but they were all liberated before they could be killed. The story gets even fuzzier after that, but they initially ended up in what was then Palestine after the war. At least one of them anecdotally joined the resistance to British rule.
In 1973, when I graduated college, I got a backpack, a ticket on Sabena Airlines and headed off to Europe. I first visited my family in Paris, then headed to Germany. I visited Dachau, which is maintained to this day as an awful testament to crass inhumanity and moral destitution.
I was shocked that the manufacturing of human skin lampshades, gas chambers, freezing water immersions and the like happened only 30 years before. I resolved that I would do my part to ensure that what happened there would never happen again. Many years later, I made sure that my children all got that message. Now, I’m writing this. The Vichys in France and their Nazi colleagues from 70 years ago are the exemplars for the current crop of hate mongers — white supremacists and Nazis who recently marched into this sordid history. The challenges to our country and its moral compass clearly remain.
How should we deal with all of this and who should do it? We all have to decide which side to take, because taking a pass enables those who hate. I think that everyone who is disgusted by what happened in Charlottesville needs to decide whether they can call out hate for what it is and, if so, whether they will do something about it. Many resisted Naziism in the 1940s — and millions gave their lives to beat it back then. Is resurgent Naziism and white supremacy abhorrent enough to take on today?
Everybody I know thinks so, but when to make that known and whether to do that publicly isn’t really the toughest part. In the end, words alone won’t defeat this scourge. Actions can — and to that point, I’ve met a large number of kind, loving, faithful, tough and diverse fellow citizens over the years who will surely resist neo-Nazism with every breath.
Based on that knowledge and even understanding how deeply divided we now are, I remain very optimistic that goodwill and tolerance will prevail throughout this great nation.
Many are criticizing the removal of Confederate statues as being an affront against “our forefathers” and “our freedom.”
I ask these individuals, who are the “our”? Certainly not the majority of Americans.
How symbolic it is that in order to view a statue, one must bend one’s neck to look up. Statues should be perpetually relevant.
The solution: Topple unbefitting statues into pieces and — as with the Berlin wall — sell the remnants, specifically to Confederate descendants. All proceeds would go to the design and construction of more apt representatives of American history: a nameless African-American slave with a baby on her back working the fields; a Chinese immigrant using a pickax to build railroads; Sonia Sotomayor being sworn in to the U.S. Supreme Court. There are hosts of other honorable subjects.
Terrorism has no religion. I believe that the only motivation behind a terrorist attack can be a twisted interpretation of the religion. The terrorist attack in Charlottesville followed by the attacks in Barcelona clearly show that terrorism feeds on egos and has nothing to do with religion.
What these extremists don’t realize is that conducting such heinous attacks will only defame their religion. The true Islam that I follow offers a peaceful solution to the hatred and chaos in today’s world. The solution is to respect all religions and the views that other people hold. My community, the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, a sect within Islam, is determined to spread the message of true Islam and tolerance among religions through dialogue.
I hope and pray that the world comes to realize the imminent danger of spreading hatred before its raging fire engulfs us all.