Uniting in Face of Bigotry

Westminster residents will be gathering today for what they are calling a Harmony Festival. The intent, as described by Rabbi Henry Front, is simply to introduce people to each other so that “the Vietnamese will know something about the blacks, who will know something about the Jews, who will know about the Samoans, who will know about the Hispanics, so that wherever we are, we won’t be such strangers to one another.”

Last July in Westminster a cross was burned on the lawn of a black family in the Indian Village area, and other families--Latino, Asian, black and white--received threatening phone calls. White supremacist graffiti were spray-painted throughout the neighborhood and swastikas were scrawled on a church and synagogue. To its credit, the community rallied to stand behind its neighbors.

They are still rallying, as the Harmony Festival demonstrates. It will feature the cultures and customs of the diverse groups that make up Westminster. But it mainly exhibits the community’s disgust with discrimination and hatred.

Communities are composed of different economic, social, educational and ethnic groups. All can, and must, live together with respect for each other’s individuality. As Rabbi Front noted, “the houses are jampacked up to one another, and we don’t know the people beyond the next door.”

The people in Westminster are opening some of those doors today. Other communities should try it too. It’s important to unite in the face of bigotry and intolerance. But it is also important for people of diverse backgrounds to introduce themselves to each other in a spirit of neighborliness that could break down some of the fears and differences that breed bigotry in the first place.