Sunday, January 24, 2016

Letter: Bombs of Hate

The expressed opinions or views of this letter does not necessarily represent the opinion of the MiddletownMike blog:

To the Editor:

Imagine that as you sleepily go out to retrieve your morning newspaper you find a small bag on your lawn. Curious, you pick it up and find that it is a weighted bag with a leaflet. "Harmless trash," you may think. Trash it is, but harmless it is not. It is a small "bomb of hate," meant to frighten you with its message against minorities.

More of these hate notes are now appearing in Monmouth County and throughout the state. The perpetrators seek to frighten their targets and to recruit more members for their groups.

We on the Monmouth County Human Relations Commission deplore this hate literature and the spreading of its vile message. Even though it may not be illegal, it can be dangerous in its purpose of inciting crimes against minority citizens and immigrants.

Silence encourages the tormentors. If you are a recipient, report the incident to your local police department. A littering complaint is also a possibility. If you see someone dropping these bags or in a similar activity, try to get a license number or as much description as possible of the car and occupants.

Our goal is to alleviate the current tensions and conflicts in our communities. Hate groups are attempting to inflame relations with racial minorities, religious minorities, immigrants and between the police and the community.

The Monmouth County Human Relations Commission is available through our Speakers' Bureau: (732) 291-4257; Website: www.monmouthcountyhrc.org, and bias problem hot line: (732) 303-7666. We ask members of all community groups, both minority and majority, to speak out with us. Do not be silent on these issues. We must defuse these "bombs of hate."

You are welcome to attend our February 1 meeting that will include a discussion of the book, "Between the World and Me" by Ta-Nehisi Coates. See "Future Events" on our Website.

Sincerely,

John P. Delaney, Chairperson
Carolyn Schwebel, Communications Chairperson
Monmouth County Human Relations Commission


1 comment:

Anonymous said...

This is legal and protected by the 1st Amendment. It's not an issue for cops but communities to address.

The cops in Monmouth are all racist anyway lol.