At this time in U.S. history, it’s important to fight ‘noxious seeds of hatred’
Published in the February 1 – 14, 2017 issue of Morgan Hill Life
At a time when our nation is gripped with fear and hysteria, some of the leaders in our nation’s capital are content letting the noxious seeds of hatred and distrust take root in and soil our beautiful landscape. Our founders had anticipated this, hence their wisdom in asserting that the government closest to the people governs best.
Testament to that wisdom is the city of Morgan Hill’s “Statement of Support and Assurance to the Morgan Hill Community” voted unanimously by council members Dec. 14. It reaffirms the commitment to making our city “well respected and inclusive.” Respect for all our residents is foremost among our values.
Having lived and practiced as a surgeon here for nearly four decades, I, like many others, have taken those values for granted. And rightfully so. We demonstrate every day those values of tolerance and inclusivity, both as individuals as well as a society.
When the young girl Sierra LaMar disappeared, we shared in the grief. Many volunteered in the search and to support her family. They still do, years later. When our high school marching band won national awards and performed in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, we shared in the reflected glory. We congratulated those talented students and their dedicated teachers.
Our community has an active interfaith organization, well represented with members and leaders of the various faiths, that meets regularly. We build bridges, not erect walls between us.
As individuals and as a community we do not claim to be angels, nor have we been angelic at all times. Nonetheless, when we see the noxious seeds of hatred and bigotry attempting to sprout, we act fast, as we did with the race-tainted hooliganism at our school.
The crucial message was sent out quick and clear to the young and adults alike. Our community will not tolerate such nonsense even if manifested as a prank.
Neither we nor our nation claim to have it right all the time. A casual reading of our history would disabuse us of that smugness. We dehumanized a subset of humanity in our midst because of their skin color. We disenfranchised half of our citizens based on their sex. More recently, we incarcerated a whole group of people based only on suspicion because of their ethnicity and national origin.
In all those instances, there were elegant and sophisticated contemporary commentaries defending those odious actions. Their sophistry could not hide nor justify the basic inhumanity and ugliness of those deeds.
While we may not have done everything right, there is one ideal we are committed to. That is “to strive for a more perfect union,” as stated with such elegant brevity in the Preamble to our Constitution, and to give full inclusive meaning to that other simple phrase, “We, the people.”
Those ideals notwithstanding, never underestimate the ability of one individual to wreak havoc. An idiot with a matchstick could burn down a whole town, what more a leader with access to the nuclear code.
Back to the idiot, he could only do mischief if he had access to a matchstick, the town littered with dried tinder, and it did not have a functional fire department. As residents, it is our duty to keep the metaphorical matchsticks out of the reach of potential mischief-makers, maintain a clean environment and have our fire department in top form.
I have great faith in our civic leaders, institutions and shared values. The city’s statement is testament to that faith. I commend Mayor Steve Tate and the Morgan Hill city leaders for reasserting and reassuring us that our core values remain steadfast.
Bakri Musa is a longtime area surgeon and former president of South Valley Islamic Community.
