"Why? What has He done wrong?" They shouted all the louder, "Crucify Him! Crucify Him!"
I grew up Catholic, went to 22 years of Catholic school. I've been baptised, communionized and confirmized.
I'm not a practicing Catholic anymore. But the lessons are not easily unlearned. I'm also a student of history. And all this talk of "terrorist!" "Kill him." and the like sounds much too scary to go without challenge.
I don't really, truly care what side you're on in this election. Take whatever side you want. I've made my decision and no one's going to change my mind.
I only have this to offer: shouldn't we all at least be on the right side of history?
You might say I take these kinds of things too seriously. Truth is, I'm deathly afraid that my kids will grow up in a world where a political rally is a place where people engage in the most hateful kinds of speech instead of the most constructive kinds of rhetoric. One need look no further than the 1930s - 40s, the 1960s, the 1980s-90s, the 2000s for the fall out of political speech-making that was the stage for talk of killing.
If you hear someone, anyone, attack one of these candidates for being a terrorist, or in league with terrorists. If you hear someone shout "kill him" or "terrorist" at one of these candidates or ANYone we've elected, have the sense, the humanity and (it pains me to have to call it this) the courage to stand against that kind of hatred.
Tell them you won't tolerate it.
Folks - this is ugly, overt racism. And if one stands in front of a microphone and won't silence it, then they're simply too small for this moment.