Not One of Us???????????

One week ago today a man, driven by ignorance and hate, radicalized by the din of the irresponsible, and possessed with the will of a zealot, killed 50 people and injured many more at to mosques in Christ's Church New Zealand.    His reasoning was the often cited idea that immigrants, especially those of color and non-Christian religions, are on a mission to destroy the so-called White Race.  He felt a sense of duty to attack, terrorize and kill as many of the others he could. 

A foreign body

And a foreign mind

Never welcome

In the land of the blind

We see the ideology that permeated this man's thinking daily, coming from the talking heads on the news and even from leaders in our own country.  They call for a wall to keep out the invaders from south, a term that the killer used as well when describing his victims.  This sets up a real sense of US and THEM and makes the THEM an evil force destine to destroy the US. 

There's safety in numbers

When you learn to divide

How can we be in

If there is no outside

The fear that is being developed in the onslaught of rhetoric is driving a rise in white nationalist hate and we are now in the business of exporting it.  The New Zealand attacker cited Americans including our President as people who are to be emulated.   When one speaks for the identified other in this separation of people they too become the enemy.  So often the language of some has risen to inspire terror against the upstanders in politics and the media.

You may look like we do

Talk like we do

But you know how it is

You're not one of us'

But there is hope.  Today I stood with dozens of Jews at a mosque in Indianapolis as the prayed their Jumu'ah.  We held signs in solidarity and shared stories and frankly learned about each other.  The interesting thing is that this mosque, established by Black Muslims in the 1970s now draws from a diverse group of Muslims from many countries.  I met people from East Africa, Afghanistan, Iraq and Europe.  All Muslims coming to pray.  As Jews we were honored to stand up for them, to show the world we accept them as our human family while their path to the Divine is different. 

All shades of opinion

Feed an open mind

But your values are twisted

Let us help you unwind

Yesterday I went to the Indiana State House as clergy leaders from across a variety of faith traditions shared words of consolation, hope and yearning, and even words of demand that the state lawmakers take Indiana off the short list of 5 states without a bias crime bill.  As each person rose to express their traditions vision of the issue of hate in our community they all cited when another had been attacked for being different.  The goal was to show our elected officials that religious communities see you and we will take care of the praying, it is time for them to act.  If only they would. 

It's only water

In a stranger's tear

Looks are deceptive

But distinctions are clear

We all cry the same tears when sad.  We are share the same emotions, regardless of the color of our skin, the words we choose to call on the Divine or how we dress, wear our hair or cover ourselves up.  We should be and always will be a country and a world of distinct differences.  Differences of thought and tastes.  But in that vast difference we should all strive to not only see the beauty of diversity but point it out to others.  We must also challenge those whose words and actions try to make the distinctions something to fear, not something to embrace.  While every group will have bad actors, we cannot define an entire people by the actions of a few.  We are at a dangerous time, those who hate seem to have found a new and louder voice, here in our own country and across the world.  So we must focus on the actions of those that stand in the breach.  We must educate those who spread the vitriol and when that is not possible, be ready to respond to their rancor.  The time is now to squash the nonsense and replace it with a possibility of growth and even love.  We are better when we all come together as people, from many paths but with the same journey.  To create a brighter world for those who come later, our children, our grandchildren and beyond.  Don't let those who see the world as better when monochromatic win.  Our progeny will never forgive us.

*Words in italics are from Peter Gabriel's Not One Of Us