Bodette column: We need to stand up to hate

Bodette column: We need to stand up to hate
By John Bodette • Times executive editor • December 13, 2009

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Buzz up!Twitter Next Page1| 2Previous PageGood morning, St. Cloud area.





Last Sunday I wrote about the uplifting experiences ringing the bell for The Salvation Army Red Kettle drive. This Sunday, at a time when people are thinking about peace on Earth and good will toward all, we have to speak out and condemn an awful incident in our community.

Someone spewed hate toward members of our community.

Someone posted vile, anti-Islamic drawings in two locations last week in our city. The carefully chosen locations aimed the offensive drawings directly at Muslim people. One East Side location was near a Somali restaurant, market and store — three local businesses where many customers are Muslim. The second location was in the 300 block of Fifth Avenue South, near the Islamic Center.

The drawings presented the Times news staff with a dilemma because they were so pornographic and vile that you couldn’t show them to readers. To describe them in detail would be just as shocking.

These drawings were about as offensive as you can get. Take the most sacred and loved people or deities in your life and then imagine seeing them defiled in the most vulgar ways.

Yes, the drawings were that bad.

The sick mind behind them had an obsession with bodily functions and bizarre sexual positions, all using sacred images.

We would have made the same decision not to run the images or detailed descriptions if any religious group were attacked — Christian, Jewish, Buddhist, Hindu or others.

We often run into this barrier when covering crime stories in which the details are so horrific you can’t use them without shocking and offending readers and further hurting victims.

After viewing the images in the drawings I can only tell you the community should be outraged.

Too many times people dismiss an incident like this because it is just a mark or a comment. In this case, it was so much more offensive, threatening and sickening.

Some may say it is free speech. I say it is like yelling fire as a prank in a crowded theater. It isn’t protected speech.

My larger call is for the community to answer this threatening action with support and positive actions
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The business community, led by the Chamber of Commerce, needs to make it clear that these threats apparently against these businesses aren’t tolerated in St. Cloud. Religious leaders need to speak out in services and condemn this action. And regular citizens need to show support to our Muslim neighbors, telling them that this kind of action has no place in the community.




These drawings were meant to strike fear in people of the Muslim faith and tell them they aren’t welcome here. A silent community will not erase those fears.

Take positive actions to show St. Cloud is a welcoming community and hate has no place here. Show that religious freedom is valued and respected in St. Cloud.

Finally, anyone who knows anything about this crime needs to contact St. Cloud police at 251-1200 or Crime Stoppers at 255-1301. Whoever did this crime needs to be held accountable.

Do you have a question about the Times? You can ask St. Cloud Times Executive Editor John Bodette, P.O. Box 768, St. Cloud MN 56302-0768; or call him at 255-8760; or e-mail him at jbodette@stcloudtimes.com.