Thanks for taking stand against hate

Dear community of friends and supporters of a United America:

 Sometime after the election Nov. 3, some hateful, malcontent vandalized the property of Dr. Aimee Wiest and myself by burning the word “Trump” in very large letters in our front yard.  This misled, willfully ignorant person chose to dismiss our First Amendment rights and punish us for not sharing his/her divisive beliefs. The person mistakenly believed that it was his/her right or obligation to punish those who exercised a judgment that disagreed with his/hers.

 Despite this heinous hate crime, which has been described by the investigating officer as a “criminal mischief action,” we have been uplifted by the tremendous support from so many persons.  Some individuals, such as Mayor Ted Becker of Lewes and Sen. Ernie Lopez, visited us at our home to express their condemnation of such useless behavior and to offer support. We thank Sen. Lopez for arranging to have the lawn repaired.  We are grateful to Mr. Mike Rawl of the Greater Lewes Foundation who tracked us down (through St. Peter’s Church in Lewes), who also offered to have the front lawn repaired. A special thanks to Mr. Rawl for the additional contribution of printed signs that were used in the silent vigil, and will be displayed by various businesses.

What a marvelous community gesture from an individual whom we do not know, but who recognized the violation toward a community neighbor, and who chose to offer a caring rather than a hateful act. Thank you, Mr. Rawl, for reaffirming our belief in the presence of good people. This was further reaffirmed by the outpouring of calls, emails, notes, flowers, and many other tokens of support from so many people within our community and nearby residential developments. We were tremendously touched by the chalk messages of the young children, accompanied by their parents, who wrote messages of love on the street facing our house. It was pure joy watching these innocents demonstrating the healing power of love. What they did was raise our hope for their future. So many neighbors, many of them strangers, visited with their children in tow, despite the pandemic, to offer words of help and support. Their caring and empathy was in contrast to those neighbors who were not strangers and who have remained silent. As Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. reminded us, “In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.” 

 More than 270 individuals attended the virtual rally co-sponsored by the Southern Delaware Alliance for Racial Justice, First State Community Action Agency, United Way of Delaware and Sussex Co. League of Women Voters. The attendees heard the collective voice of our national and state leaders, local clergy leaders, citizens, business owners and children, the benefactors or victims of our acceptance or disregard for one another, all who advocated for love and respect toward each other, on behalf of our country whose greatness is dependent on unity.  For those of you who participated in the silent vigil Nov. 22, thank you for your presence which spoke volumes regarding your commitment to racial and social justice.

 This tremendous response from so many individuals throughout the county and state should give us all hope about the outcome of our collective commitment to justice and unity. Together we will get to the mountaintop. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. also said, “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.” We honor all of you who took a stand against hate.