Celebrate the Neo-Nazi Failure
The Cincinnati Human Relations Commission, in collaboration with more than 50 organizations, will hold a Unity Rally at 1 p.m. Friday at Washington Park in Over-the-Rhine.
In preparation for the neo-Nazi march, which had been scheduled for Friday before they canceled, the CHRC and various community groups issued this “Statement of Unity”:
“We the undersigned call upon the Cincinnati community to join together in rejecting the message of hate of the Nazi party. We stand in solidarity and support of the African-American community in Over the Rhine and every peace loving community. The people of Cincinnati will prove that we are bigger than hate, stronger than ignorance, and more caring than the Nazi party can imagine. All over the city, people of all faiths, races, ethnicities, cultures, socio-economic backgrounds, genders and age groups are standing as one voice, one faith in justice, and as one just community.
“We deplore the Nazi party’s goal of inflaming our community with words and actions that are against the spirit of our community of caring.
“We believe that our community must:
• Respect and protect all people;
• Send forth a message of compassion and dignity;
• Engage all citizens of good will in affirming actions; and
• Embrace non-violent action.
“On April 20, Over The Rhine has been designated as the target of racist activity. With Cincinnati having been identified amongst the top ten most segregated and impoverished cities in the nation, we recognize that we have a lot of work to do internally. However, we cannot and will not allow external forces such as the Neo-Nazis to hinder the progress that has already been made.
“We understand that we have a long way to go, but we do not want to thwart the progress that has already occurred. We are committed to a new Cincinnati and will hold the city accountable to the progress that will get us there. By making this collective statement, we are declaring that we are committed to working together until Cincinnati reflects the type of City that does not attract hate groups- a Cincinnati that we all can be proud to live, work and play in.”
— Gregory Flannery
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April 19, 2007 at 9:11 pm
Is there a time and place to go mourn the fact that my fellow Sinincincinnatians went wobbly in the knees and got hysterical about putting our First Amendment to an insignificant test?
Neo-Nazi-phobia has much in common with homophobia.
Are we as insecure about ourselves being colorblind as we are about our sexuality?
Be ashamed the Neo-Nazis were successful in making their point.
April 20, 2007 at 11:12 am
David, disagree with your statements, though I do understand what you are saying.
Railing against hate speech does not mean I’m insecure. It means, simply, that I can’t keep silent when I hear ignorant people say even more ingnorant things.
If you are saying we should be silent and not speak out against hate-filled, ignorant people, then I disagree with you.
April 21, 2007 at 8:23 pm
Recently e-mailed:
Letter to the Editor,
Peter Bronson’s recent column was right on in saying we should ignore the neo-Nazis if and when they march. But a couple of other points should be made.
For one, they are right about one thing: we all have prejudices we are ashamed to admit. They try to make their point by taunting us about them.
Each of us is the owner of a whole portfolio of prejudices. Some of them cause more harm to society than others. If we made a list of them, we’d find various percentages of us embrace them in degrees ranging from “not” to “extremely.”
If we could arrange the list of prejudices, without becoming emotional and irrational, in the order that they cause harm to society, putting the most harmful at the top, I suspect that racism would be surprisingly far down. For example, I’m prejudiced toward thinking rankism (abuse of the power inherent in superior rank) causes more harm. And, at the other end of the spectrum, many people think a prejudice toward faith in a “higher power” isn’t harmful at all, rather beneficial to society. I disagree, but it’s beside my point.
Now, about the taunting. Who would like it if a march were organized to chant, “Gallaher is ugly”? What if I, in fact, am ugly? That fact would make me even more likely to want to retaliate than if I were handsome. Why? If I were handsome, I would either laugh at them or ignore them.
So, who, after reading this, will continue to be prejudiced against people able to ignore taunts?
April 22, 2007 at 10:57 am
OK, David. You raise a valid point.
It does make me wonder…
What if we stopped all media coverage of mass killings? Would this cause them to occur with less frequency? Is the mentally ill loner primarily driven by the fact that he/she would become famous after the fact?
I have few answers, many more questions.
April 22, 2007 at 12:04 pm
PS. I forgot to say, I’ll still protest hate speech and all other ignorance.