On the night of Oct. 21, 2023, a white supremacist group distributed propaganda to some Granby neighbors, seeking white men to turn New England into a whites-only ethnostate by any means. In response, the local nonprofit, Granby Racial Reconciliation, led a Stop the Hate Rally with 200+ people present and distributed free “Hate Has No Place in Our Town” lawn signs—many are still seen in town today. To counter the “us vs. them” of such hate groups, GRR works to support connections and community forged in mutuality, understanding, collaboration, and love.
Due to my perception of a rise in malicious social discourse, I offer portions of the rally speech I gave. We can do better, Granby.
“…Fred Rogers taught about fear and other human emotions: ‘Anything that’s human is mentionable, and anything that is mentionable can be more manageable.’ Thank you for those here, willing to move beyond fear, rage, shock into a unifying space. You averted the impulse to isolate or lash out and you came together.
Thank you for reaching out and offering support to the integral black, brown, immigrant, LGBTQ+, and other othered members of our shared community. You stepped beyond your individualistic needs to bolster, lift up, and protect them.
We come in the light of day, where we are seen and known. Look around. See what is visible, what is illuminated. I see people I am in relationship in all kinds of ways. You do too, don’t you? Relationships are the bedrock of a healthy vital town, a healthy vital New England, a healthy vital world.
Author James Baldwin stated, ‘I imagine one of the reasons people cling to their hates so stubbornly is because they sense, once hate is gone, they will be forced to deal with pain.’
When, in the light of social connection, what was fearful in the dark, is seen for what it is: pain, loneliness, separation, misunderstanding.
It is an active imperative for us to be like an immune system for our town: to seek out, draw in and promote communal reconnections that offer health and vitality to the people who are in pain, isolated, feeling misunderstood, and who are misinformed. Without tending to the health of the parts of the whole of our community, the social system is susceptible to the forces that divide and conquer.
By gathering now in Community on this green, I urge us to commit to remain in relationship, with our diverse views, beliefs, and backgrounds, honoring all the ways humanness is packaged. I urge us to appreciate the kaleidoscope of this shared humanity. Use a lens of beauty and truth to assess the sincerity of what you hear, watch, read. Talk with those in your circle about their lives. Widen your circle of knowledge and connection. Help each other rise to ‘the better angels of our nature’. Let the forces of love fortify the bones of this community to withstand the diminishing forces of fear and division.”