Let the racists out themselves for what they really are

To The Daily Sun,

To our community: Like many of you I was left speechless by Ryan Murdough’s article from April 18th. I was hurt as a Jewish woman that there are people in my community, my state and my country that feel the way that Mr. Murdough does; sadly, though, I wasn’t shocked by it. 2017 saw a rise in hate crimes by 17 percent and a rise in anti-Semitic attacks by 37 percent. The trend continues.

What I was shocked and frankly angered by was that this newspaper, the one I read daily, would publish such a vile letter. After much thought, and a lovely conversation with the Sun’s editor, I now realize what a service publishing this letter was. We should, on occasion, let the racists and anti-Semites out themselves for who they really are. It is easy to forget about how prevalent this line of thought displayed by Mr. Murdough is when we are never confronted by it. Let us as a community take his words and turn it into action; let us work together to change minds where possible and hopefully put an end to such terrible opinions and beliefs.

To Ryan Murdough: Your words hurt me and your words hurt a lot of people in this community. While my knee-jerk reaction is to use words like “trash”, “garbage” and “scum” to describe you as a person, I am going to refuse to let your words make me stoop to your level of thought. Instead, I am going to approach you with compassion and pity. I can’t imagine how hard it must be to be you; afraid, hateful and incredibly ignorant.

In an effort to turn your mean, hurtful, and (in all honesty) frightening words into some good I have made a donation in your name to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, an organization dedicated to keeping the memory of the Holocaust alive. I implore anyone with strong emotions towards your letter to do the same.

With compassion,

Dylan Oliver

Moultonborough