To the Editor:
Acceptance for everyone in our CommUNITY. Bayonne is a truly diverse community and could be considered a microcosm of the United States. As a lifelong member of this community and a teacher in the district for nine years, I’ve seen our community change and flourish. Some people fear change, while others embrace it; however one thing is constant, the majority of the world’s citizens want to be accepted and they wish to accept others.
Recently, I read a few remarks that set out to discourage the creation of a mosque and Muslim community center. After reading these statements and some of the reasons why it would be considered a bad idea, I began to think about those reasons and my classroom. If we honestly want to make the world a better place, we must start with our community and remember that the right to worship is part of everyone’s human rights. As Eleanor Roosevelt said, “Where, after all, do universal human rights begin? In small places, close to home – so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any maps of the world. Yet they are the world of the individual person; the neighborhood he lives in; the school or college he attends; the factory, farm or office where he works. Such are the places where every man, woman and child seeks equal justice, equal opportunity, equal dignity without discrimination. Unless these rights have meaning there, they have little meaning anywhere. Without concerned citizen action to uphold them close to home, we shall look in vain for progress in the larger world.”
I have seen firsthand many members of the Muslim community in Bayonne reach out to help others. I could share a number of stories about thankful Muslim parents who’ve given me food after they heard that I enjoy Middle Eastern delicacies. I can go on about the care and tenderness my non-Muslim students have shown to their Muslim classmates when they’ve been taunted or harassed by people for their religion. These students understand what it means to be ostracized for one’s beliefs and they empathize with their struggle.
In this sense religion is not seen as a boundary but an open door; many of my Muslim students have embraced our local Holocaust survivors and promised to continue to pass on their stories of resilience and love. Moreover, one of my Muslim students won the Colonel Anthony K. Podbielski Holocaust Memorial Writing Contest.
Why am I talking about my experiences with my Muslim students? I want to show the members of our community that we should accept and embrace the creation of the mosque and Muslim community center. If we truly want to make a difference and promote unity we cannot act like the extremists who deny people their rights. Let us be a community of love, compassion, and acceptance.
GENE W. WOODS
Social Studies Teacher