Cleansing the Hatred From Within by Russell Simmons
Originally written for The Huffington Post by Causecast leader Russell Simmons and Rabbi Marc Schneier
Yesterday’s fatal shooting of a security guard at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. was an American tragedy. A tragedy that hurts every bone in the body of this country. Although we have lived through many tragedies before, each one hurts like it was the first one. But like every tragedy, there is always a lesson to be learned.
The start of this year marked a new beginning for this country — the United States elected its first African-American president. While historic, a black man’s ascension to our nation’s highest office, of course, did not extinguish racism nor silence supremacists. We are clearly not yet where we had hoped to be. The reality is since President Obama took office, hate and hate groups in this country have been on the rise. Last month, the FBI thwarted a plot by extremists who claim to be Muslim to bomb synagogues in the Bronx and shoot down military airplanes.
Seven days ago, President Obama visited the Buchenwald concentration camp in Germany and spoke about the continuing intolerance of those who hate otherness, whether it be racial, sexual, or religious, a hatred “that degrades its victims and diminishes us all.” He could not have known that only days later he would have to issue a statement condemning an atrocity that took place practically in his back yard in the very space where such acts are studied and recognized as present day threats.
Continue reading at The Huffington Post
- Posted by Causecast
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