Wake up Bernards Township, Disagreement Isn't Hate: Letter

BASKING RIDGE, NJ — Basking Ridge resident Mirza Rhani wrote this Letter to the Editor:

As a naturalized US citizen from Pakistan and a new resident of the area I've been both encouraged and surprised by the community dialogue. Planning to have children soon, we chose Basking Ridge because of the reputation of the schools. Only able to rent for now we hope to buy soon and never leave. So far I love this community which is why I am speaking out in the hopes that it will add some perspective. I am a Muslim woman who as a teenager grew up in Pakistan near the border of Afghanistan. I saw firsthand the flashes from US bomb strikes after 9-11 and was forced to flee the Taliban. I have seen what real hate and oppression looks like which is why I am deeply troubled when some claim that if you don't support the new school curriculum then you are hateful towards LGBTQ. What a luxury it is to be able to live in the safe bubble of Basking Ridge and say that. Nothing screams "privilege" more than being able to scare people into speaking out about things by telling them they are hateful if they don't agree with you. You have no idea how lucky you are to be able to patronize one of the most highly educated towns in the country by saying sexual orientation isn't a choice and it's "not contagious". It would serve us all better if people stepped off their political grandstand. If you want to see real hate then please take a trip with me back to Pakistan where you'd be thrown off a roof for simply stringing the letters LQBTQ together in a sentence. Hate isn't parents not wanting their 2nd graders learning that a boy can be a girl. Hate is making people fearful to express their beliefs. In Pakistan children at a very young age were forced to believe things that weren't based on scientific truths and subject to humiliation by authority figures and this is how it starts.

Being for something doesn't mean you're against something else. Again,it takes a certain amount of ignorance to even think that way. I'm a Muslim but it doesn't mean I'm against Christians, it simply means I'm a Muslim. It's time for us to get over using LQBTQ as a divisive topic. It's getting old at this point especially since 99% of the people (especially from what I've seen in this community) don't really care what you are or how you dress only that you're a good person. Content of character not color of skin, right? The only people making this an issue are the ones who need it as a platform to make even more draconian. changes. Believe me, the changes they want are to control how you speak and what you can think. Again, I've seen this firsthand. Diversity Equity and Inclussion is their big thing now. This narrative is no different than the methods of the Taliban. It strips the humanity out of the person and segregates people by race gender or whatever else. Even as someone who could benefit from pushing this narrative I can think of nothing more racist and decisive than DEI unless Ofcourse the "E" stands for equality. Equality as mandated by law is moral, "Equity" or equal outcome is what oppressive regimes claim to be for. Why are we doing this to our community? Why is it even a discussion in our schools. I don't want my children to be at a school that classifies them as anything else but a human being. Aren't we over all this already? They claim it's the law of the state and we must follow it without question.... again come back to Pakistan where the law tells women to cover their faces and walk in public only with a man. What's beautiful about America and must be preserved is the ability of little governments and school boards to question and legally challenge state laws like they did in the Warren schools. Wake up Bernards Township. Please wake up.

Mirza Rhani
Basking Ridge, NJ