The whole community is affected by crimes against any one part of it, and we all have a responsibilty to change

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Speak Up

With the recent news stories of hate crimes in Moncton and other regions in New Brunswick, it can be very easy to feel a little more wary of the outside world.

Most of us, on hearing of the hate-based messages spray painted on the local mosque and synagogue, felt that out community was becoming less welcoming. That doesn't sit well with our Maritime hospitality.

It's important that we, as members of the community that has experienced these acts of ignorance, intolerance and hatred, stand up for what we believe in and send the message that this kind of behaviour will not be tolerated.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., famously said that the period of social injustice in which he was fighting would be remembered not for the "strident clamor of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people".

In other words, to remain silent after witnessing injustices makes one part of the problem, rather than the solution.

We must fight ignorance with knowledge, intolerance with understanding and hatred with love if we are to discourage further acts of racism or religious persecution like the ones that have begun to surface in our communities.

To prevent ignorance of other cultures, we need to ensure that our friends and families are educated about the many different cultures of the world.

This means ensuring that multiculturalism is celebrated in schools, but also that inappropriate jokes and comments are discouraged at work and in our homes.

Intolerance, whether directed at ourselves or at others in our community, is best discouraged by understanding and compassion.

Acts of intolerance are often linked to anger and frustration, and when we can begin to understand the real problems, we can begin to fix them.

Perhaps the most difficult challenge of all is learning to react to hatred with love, rather than with more hatred.

The reversal of "Do unto others as you would have them do to you" into "Do unto others as they have done to you" creates a quickly escalating social problem.

Mahatma Ghandi pointed out that "an eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind", and countless religious leaders and social activists have attested to the fact that loving actions are the only ointment for acts of hate.

New Brunswick's judicial system has already taken strides in the right direction, with the implementation of a restorative justice system.

The perpetrators of these recent hate crimes may be excellent candidates for that system, which expects offenders to understand and repair what they have done, not just get punished for it.

In the meantime, we should take their actions as a signal that something is wrong in our communities, and make the commitment to be more vocal and active in the struggle to create an inclusive and positive community.