Hate Graffiti A Slap In The face To Veterans

Exactly 100 years ago today the guns fell silent ending what was the first modern war in history.
It was known as the Great War, since we hadn’t gotten around to numbering the wars yet. Since this was supposed to be the war to end all wars, no one could possibly fathom the conflict that would start a mere 21 years later. Reading certainly had its heroes then, men and women. I can’t wait to hear what my friend Virginia Adams has to say about this later in the program

My father was a US Army veteran, who served during the Korean conflict. If he were alive
today he would be the same age as Mr. McHugh. From 1950-1951 his artillery unit was deployed to Germany as part of the occupational force which oversaw the rebuilding of western Europe, and the checking of our new enemy, the Soviet Union. For a number of months he was stationed in the Munich area. While there, they camped in a small town ten miles north of the city called Dachau. Their barracks were on the grounds of that infamous concentration camp and were formerly occupied by German guards and SS troops. A few yards from where they laid their heads, were the gas chambers and crematoria, which they hadn’t yet gotten around to dismantling. The camp did not look much different than it did five years earlier when the older brothers of my father’s comrades liberated it in 1945.

While disturbing in its own right, especially for a young Jewish GI from New York, what was
chilling for him and his buddies- Jews from New York, Italians from Philadelphia, dirt farmers
from Georgia, was that the same soldiers who oversaw the mass murder of an entire race were
now wearing lederhosen, welcoming their new American “friends”, serving them drinks in
Munich beer halls, while denying knowledge or participation in any of the activities which had
occurred outside of town. They tried to sanitize their history and their culpability in it.

This lesson was not lost on him. When he returned and started his own family, he tried to instill
in me and my brothers not only a deep respect for our faith, but also for history, and for justice.
What he witnessed sickened him, and his non-Jewish comrades alike.

Two weeks ago on this same spot, hundreds of Reading residents, Jewish and gentile gathered
in support of their Jewish neighbors to stand up to the recent spate of anti-semitic hate graffiti
which has permeated our schools and town. Since then, the hate graffiti has expanded to
include African Americans and members of our LGBTQ community. At that time I addressed the gathering by saying the swastika is not only an affront to Jews but it is an affront to all Americans who love democracy and freedom and peace.

And today I want to add that whether this cowardly behavior is motivated by hate, or malice, or
just plain stupidity, it is a direct slap in the face to every veteran who has ever put on the uniform. Men and women have gone far afield, and have died to preserve and protect the rights of every American.

You cannot honor the brave men and women who we celebrate today and shrug your shoulders and say it’s just a couple of knucklehead kids. You cannot have a bumper sticker on your car that says support the troops, while ignoring “Gas the Jews” scrawled on a wall at Parker Middle School. You cannot fly the American flag on your home and stay at home when anti-gay vitriol is
written with impunity on a bathroom stall.

You can’t say “thank you for your service” and not be appalled that the “N” word and direct
threats to our African-American neighbors appear with reckless abandon in our classrooms.
As a community we have got to come together, stand up and say enough is enough, and that
this is not who we are. We do this not only for the targeted groups but for each other. And if
that is not enough, let’s do it for those who have risked it all to protect the freedoms we often
take for granted - our veterans.

On Tuesday night this conversation will continue at the Select Board meeting, where we will
honor holocaust survivor Dr. Anna Ornstein for her work in bringing people together and developing strategies to eradicate hate. I will participate in the conversation not only as an
elected official, a member of the Jewish faith, and as an American; but also as the son of a US
Army veteran who saw firsthand the attempt to deny the atrocities , and warned that without
vigilance they can occur again.

So I say to all the veterans gathered here: I do thank you for your service, and in your honor I
hope we can continue to make Reading a truly loving, welcoming community where everyone
feels safe and can participate in what this great town and country have to offer.