Love Trumps Hate!

[Guinevere]

https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2016/ ... story.html

NATICK – Cari and Lauri Ryding always felt welcome on Strawberry Hill Road. Then they came home from vacation and discovered the rainbow flag they had hung after the Orlando massacre had been stolen and their front porch pelted with eggs.

“It really sent us reeling,” Cari said.

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But what happened next reminded the couple why they loved the neighborhood in the first place. On Sunday, a squadron of children on bicycles delivered rainbow flags to house after house.

And one by one, the flags went up, transforming a swath of suburbia – more than 40 houses in all — into a brilliantly colored declaration of pride and solidarity, displayed on picket fences, garages, doorways, and decks.

“It just happened so quickly — the whole neighborhood said, ‘Get me a flag. Get me a flag. Get me a flag,’ ” said Penni Rochwerger, who lives around the corner from the Rydings. “If we can stop whatever hate is out there, I think that’s really important.”

Lauri Ryding said that after cleaning the eggs off her porch, she walked through the streets around her home, overwhelmed by all the neighbors prominently flying the rainbow colors.

“One person’s act of fear and maliciousness created such a powerful statement of love,” she said. “We are very blessed, very fortunate.”

[Burning Petard]

Amen Sister!

[MajGenl.Meade]

What Scooter said in another thread: you're either with the ones who call for death or standing with the ones who risk it. I'd not fly the flag but I'd take 'em a nice pot-roast or apple pie to say 'sorry'

[rubato]

Brilliant.

An earlier similar incident:



http://www.religioustolerance.org/menorah.htm

The triggering event: desecration of a Menorah:

1 A Chanukah Menorah (a.k.a. Chanukiah) is a uniquely Jewish symbol in the form of an nine candle candleholder. One stem, located either in the center or off to one side, holds the shamash (caretaker) candle; the remaining eight candles each represent one of the days of Hanukkah (a.k.a. Chanukah) Hanukkah. Jewish families light the candles, one per day in sequence. 2 It is in remembrance of:
bullet The military victory in late December by the Jewish Maccabees, who conducted a successful guerilla war against the Greek-Syrians, and
bullet The subsequent rededication of the second temple at Jerusalem in 165 BCE.

Only sufficient oil for one day was available in the temple. But a miracle happened: the lamp burned for eight days until additional oil could be obtained. 3 Hanukkah has since been observed as a celebration of Jewish survival and religious freedom.

Jews often display their menorah where it can be easily seen from outside the house in response to a mitzvah (commandment from God) to publicize the miracle. 2 The Schnitzers are a Jewish family in Billings (population 83,000 at the time). 4 Following the mitzvah, they had stenciled a Jewish menorah on the window of their son Isaac, aged 5. (One source said it was an electric menorah.) 5 On 1993-DEC-02, someone threw a piece of a cinder block through the window. It and broken glass fell on Isaac's bed, but fortunately caused no injury. The Schnitzers called the police. The investigating officer suggested that they remove the symbol. This caused a crisis in the home: how could they remove a symbol of Jewish religious freedom in response to fear of further religious harassment.

Margaret McDonald, executive director of the Montana Association of Churches, read of the incident in the local newspaper. She imagined what it would be like to have to tell her own children that they could not have a Christmas tree or a Christmas wreath because it might cause an attack on their home. She recalled an event in Denmark during World War II when the Nazis ordered all of the Jews in the country to wear a yellow Star of David so that they could be easily identified. The King of Denmark and many of its non-Jewish citizens took the initiative of wearing a yellow star themselves. The Nazis were unable to easily identify the Jews.

McDonald took action. She phoned her minister, the Rev. Kieth Torney at the First Congregational United Church of Christ -- a liberal Christian denomination. She suggested that their Sunday school students fabricate paper menorahs for their windows at home as a sign of solidarity with the Schnitzers. He contacted other clergy across Billings. During the following week, hundreds of menorahs appeared in the windows of local homes as Christian families publicized their solidarity against religious bigotry. The police chief, Wayne Inman, was asked whether this might cause further criminal acts. He responded "There's greater risk in not doing it."

An editorial in the Billings Gazette on 1993-DEC-08 stated:

"On December 2, 1993, someone twisted by hate threw a brick through the window of the home of one of our neighbors: a Jewish family who chose to celebrate the holiday season by displaying a symbol of faith—a menorah—for all to see. Today, members of religious faiths throughout Billings are joining together to ask residents to display the menorah as a symbol of something else: our determination to live together in harmony, and our dedication to the principle of religious liberty embodied in the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America. We urge all citizens to share in this message by displaying this menorah on a door or a window from now until Christmas. Let all the world know that the national hatred of a few cannot destroy what all of us in Billings, and in America, have worked together so long to build." 6

The Billings Gazette published a full-page image of a menorah in their newspaper. By the end of the week six to ten thousand homes became decorated with menorahs.

The bigots did not withdraw quietly. Someone shot at the sign of the local sporting goods store which displayed the message "Not in our town! No hate. No violence. Peace on Earth." Bricks and bullets broke some windows at the Central Catholic High School whose marquee read "Happy Hanukkah to our Jewish Friends." Folks from town felt the need to organize a vigil outside the synagogue during Sabbath services. Somebody shot an arrow and killed a cat belonging to a family who had displayed a menorah. The United Methodist Church -- a mainline denomination -- had a menorah display and suffered some broken windows. Car and house windows at six non-Jewish families were broken. Someone left a note saying "Jew lover" on a car. But, eventually the harassment faded away.

Fellowship, the publication of the Fellowship for Reconciliation, noted that in the winter of 1994-5: "...families all over Billings took out their menorahs to reaffirm their commitment to peace and religious tolerance. The light they shared in the community must be continuously rekindled until hate has been overcome." 7
Further developments:

Janice I. Cohn, a practicing psychotherapist, was so moved by the reaction of the Billings community that she wrote a children's book: "The Christmas Menorahs: How a town fought hate." Later, with lyricist Barry James, she created "Paper Candles: How courage and goodness triumphed in an American Town." 7 This is a drama project with optional songs to be performed by upper elementary school, middle school, and early grade high school students. The musical version was first performed in the Venture Theatre in Billings MT, on the 12th anniversary of the rock-throwing incident.

Ms. Cohn writes:

I clearly remember discussions I had with youngsters in Billings in early 1994. Even in the early elementary school grades, they were all aware of what had happened in their community. "You just have to show people that you care," one fourth grader explained to me. "If you don’t stand up to bullies, they’ll just keep pushing you around," a fifth-grader stated flatly. "We were scared," said another child, "but my dad, he said it was the right thing to do...."

In fact, research studies focusing on people who have shown extraordinary courage, such as the "Righteous Christians" who risked their lives to rescue victims of the Nazis, and civil rights leaders who fought segregation in the South, concluded that many of these individuals were greatly influenced by the quiet, everyday acts of kindness and goodness they observed on the part of their parents, teachers, and neighbors.

Research emphasizes that it is essential for the adults in children’s lives to explicitly and strongly condemn acts of hatred, violence and bullying. When parents and other adults fail to do this, children can misinterpret their silence as agreeing with or condoning these acts, says Dr. Ervin Staub, a prominent researcher at the University of Massachusetts, who has conducted several studies in this area. "They may assume," he says, "that their parents do not think such acts are morally wrong. Even more troubling, they may come to the conclusion that this is simply the way people operate and that evil, and a lack of resistance to evil, is the norm in this world." 6

Beliefnet.com ran a public opinion poll of their web site visitors in 2005-DEC. They asked "Would you display or wear a symbol of a minority faith as a sign of unity?" The response was 84% yes; 16% no. 6

yrs,
rubato