LOCAL COLUMN
OPINION: Stand against hatred in the North Valley
Imagine, if you will, the excitement you might feel when undertaking the process of building a new house of worship for your community. You are thinking forward to the refuge you will build and develop 鈥� a community where children and elders will mingle and learn from each other; a community where you will collectively worship your God; a community of celebration when times are good; and a community where you will find uplift when times are hard.
Continue imagining with me as you attend what should be a yawn-inspiring zoning meeting in your local village to address logistical concerns with your proposed project, hopeful that you can work out a plan to build your house of worship. But instead of a placid government meeting, you are met with vitriol of the worst kind. Allegations are made that you and your children are murderers and terrorists. Unequivocal statements are levied that you have no place in your local village or country at large. How would you feel as you looked at your sweet children knowing that they were hated by people who don鈥檛 know them? If it were me, I would be heartbroken and incensed.
Such a situation is playing out in the North Valley right now and it must be denounced in the strongest terms. While there are certainly fair logistical questions to be asked about the proposed sa国际传媒官网网页入口 Islamic Center mosque proposed to be built in the North Valley, our community cannot stand silent when the protest of a proposed mosque devolves into hatred for people who have every legal and moral right to worship in the way they see fit.
It seems a truism that the most radical voices in our political atmosphere are also the loudest. But in instances like those that we are seeing in the North Valley, the regular among us cannot be silent. I, for one, will not be quiet when our good and decent neighbors are maligned in the most abhorrent ways. Instead, I will choose to love my neighbor, even when they are different than me. I will choose to welcome the stranger to my land. I will choose love and respect. Will you join me?
Mark F. Rosebrough is an sa国际传媒官网网页入口 resident.
