A frightening wave of hatred is washing over our country. People are spitting and screaming racial epithets at our elected officials. African American, Jewish and gay members of Congress are receiving hate messages and pictures of nooses faxed to their offices. Two Congressmembers have had bricks thrown through their office windows, and nearly a dozen others have received serious death threats.
This is not about Democrat or Republican. These attacks, masquerading as opposition to the recently-enacted health care bill, have crossed the line from legitimate political discourse to physical hate violence, pure and simple. Simmering bigotry and prejudices have found an opening in the gaping political divide and intruded into the heart of our democracy. It's scary, and it's real.
There is only one way we can tackle this threat: together. But we have to act now, because we know that a volatile atmosphere like this can lead to fatal violence.
In 1995, anti-government white supremacist Timothy McVeigh backed a truck filled with fertilizer and diesel fuel into the Oklahoma City Federal Building. It took 168 lost lives to spark the action that was needed to address the upswing in militia and extremist violence.
More recently, in 2008, two people were killed in Knoxville [1], Tennessee when a man with a shot gun burst into a Unitarian Church [2] during a children’s play and opened fire. The killer admitted his attack was a hate crime and that he targeted the church because he'd been told that Unitarians are liberals and they "support gays." [3]
The response was swift and clear; the Knoxville Unitarians did not stand alone. Immediately following the shootings, the city's religious community, elected officials and faith leaders from around the country rallied around the besieged congregation. They may not have shared the same values, but they passionately believed in the church's right to worship in safety and security.
Today, we are beginning to see signs again of a unified voice against hate violence. After the death threat and attack aimed at Virginia Congressman Tom Perillio [4], his Republican opponent in the House race, Louis Venga, came out with a strong statement [5] condemning the viciousness. Perillio reports that both Republican Governor Bob McDonnell [6] and Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli [7] were immediately there to stand with him after the attack.
Uniting with your neighbors when they are under attack is an act of deep patriotism that taps into our shared common values as Americans.Ultimately, the patriotic voices most needed at this moment are those that have been sidelined. As Edmund Burke put it more than two centuries ago, "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."
The challenge for many who know it is time to take action is finding a way to do it-- and meeting others in their community who are ready to stand with them.
Fifteen years ago the residents of Billings, Montana presented a powerful example that helped galvanize people nationwide. Every time there was an incident of hate that year—threats at an African American church, racist graffiti on a Native American woman’s home, attacks on a Jewish family—the people of Billings joined together to support their neighbors. The Billings story inspired hundreds of communities across the U.S. to find their own ways to stand up against hate. These local efforts provide a model for all of us. We can do something in the face of hate- together.
Please share your thoughts about the challenging divisions in our nation today and your ideas for how we can all respond.