Midnight Ride of Bigotry and Hate

Editor's Note: The following user-submitted blog post references the vandalism incidents that took place over the weekend at three Wilmington churches.

As I posted earlier, hatred payed a visit to Wilmington this weekend. Its ugly  presence came as evil often does in the  dead of night, cloaked in a sheet  of  darkness, it did its damage and then stole away before it could face the dawn, and the light of day. It left its message on the symbol we all cherish - our houses of  worship.

These modern day night riders think they are making us cringe with fear, but they are sadly mistaken. This type of evil is not new, it's been around for thousands of years. Early Christians in the Colosseums of Rome faced it. Early monks at the  hands of the vikings faced it, Jews during the Inquisitions and the Holocaust  faced it, African Americans faced it, Christians and many other groups face it to this  day. In all these cases evil causes a lot of damage but it the always loses.

It is 50 years this year that Martin Luther King gave his "I had a dream" speech  at the  Lincoln Memorial. Those of us who heard it could not help but be moved  by it, especially the part the states "I have a dream that black men and white, catholic and protestant, Jew and gentile will one day sit together at the  table  of brotherhood." Let us still be moved today to join together all people of good will and denounce what happened in Wilmington for what it is - hate.

An Englishman in the 18th Century, Edmund Burke, wrote that "The  only thing needed for evil to succeed is for good men to do nothing." In Wilmington the gauntlet fell and it is up to good people of Wilmington and elsewhere to make sure evil doesn't win. Some of us will be organizing a rally against this blind hate, details which will be announced in the near future. It would be great if as many people can come and show unity and solidarity.