We have to speak up before it’s too late

THE EDITOR: I congratulate Newsday for its courageous editorial headed Ban book-banning. I am pleased that Newsday pointed out the violence and hatred outlined in the Bible and tried to defend a vulnerable group. When did we import this religious fundamentalism?

It has taken me a while to pen this letter because I had to calm myself after witnessing the idiocy of my fellow citizens and the wanton display of bigotry and prejudice.

First, the Minister of Education who, in refuting the claims that a particular book was on the school curriculum, used the phrase “LGBTQ agenda.” To what agenda was she referring? The only agenda that I perceive is the dishonest social media posts which, I suspect, were made by certain religious groups to push their agenda and generate hate towards another group. It has been a well-worn strategy.

Secondly, we come to the Muslim activist who seems to want to insert himself into every issue. I don’t know if it is the lure of his name and photo in the media. What I do know is that, as an adult, I can purchase and read any book that I want; telling a bookstore to call the police if any adult purchases the book reeks of the morality police of Iran and ISIS. The last time that I checked, I lived in a democracy and not a theocracy.

Finally, the most egregious of all – a pundit who, if media reports are to be believed, allegedly advocated that people who are LGBTQ be segregated from society. What madness is this? Perhaps the good pundit should check some historical facts about segregating and ejecting people from society.

The Nazis segregated the Jewish people and killed six million of them. Apartheid South Africa segregated black South Africans and relegated them to impoverished townships. The southern US effectively segregated its black population until the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and placed its Japanese-American citizens in internment camps during World War II. Idi Amin ejected Caucasian and East Indian citizens from Uganda. And the list goes on.

Maybe the pundit should ask himself if he really wants to be associated with the perpetrators of these acts.

What I find very disconcerting is the silence of the citizenry and many newspaper columnists who have a voice. This goes beyond the call to ban one book. We are heading down a slippery slope when we allow religious groups and individuals to demonise other groups with which they do not agree.

I am reminded of the poem by German theologian Martin Niemoller (1892-1984):

First they came for the communists

And I did not speak out

Because I was not a communist

Then they came for the socialists

And I did not speak out

Because I was not a socialist

Then they came for the trade unionists

And I did not speak out

Because I was not a trade unionist

Then they came for the Jews

And I did not speak out

Because I was not a Jew

Then they came for me

And there was no one left

To speak out for me.

We should always speak up because each of us may become “the other” one day.

I am 70 years old and I know people who are LGBTQ. They are simply going about their lives like the rest of us, albeit with the additional stress of having to deal with the haters. I would prefer to be around them any day instead of the bigoted, hate-filled individuals and groups hiding behind the cloak of religion.

TAMARA TYLA

Princes Town