PACKET EDITORIAL, Sept. 21
By: Packet Editorial
We are now 10 days removed from the Sept. 11 attacks on New York and Washington, yet all the emotions we felt then horror, shock, revulsion, sadness, anger, fear remain with us today, along with another, more ominous reaction: hatred.
It is hard not to despise the terrorist groups responsible for killing thousands of innocent people in the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, and hundreds more aboard four hijacked jetliners. Whether the responsibility is ultimately pinned on Osama bin Laden and his disciples in Afghanistan or a much wider network of amoral criminal conspirators scattered around the world, no penalty would be too harsh in retribution for their evil acts.
But retribution is not the same as revenge. As we dispatch war planes and aircraft carriers to the Middle East, call up reservists to bolster our armed forces and issue stern warnings to renegade terrorists and the countries that harbor them, our motivation must be justice, not vengeance. And our behavior here at home must reflect our nation’s commitment to the very ideals that these terrorists find so abhorrent: religious freedom, tolerance and equal protection under the law.
Reports that Arab-Americans and people of other ethnic origins mistaken for Arab-Americans have been the targets of harassment, threats and even physical attacks are a sickening reminder of how easily we can forget these ideals and become infected with a terrorist mentality ourselves. If these repugnant acts of bigotry were limited to a handful of incidents scattered around the country, we could pass them off as the products of a few depraved individuals or extremist groups. But too many of them have taken place too close to home to be dismissed so easily.
More than 30 bias crimes are under investigation in New Jersey since last Tuesday’s attack, and countless other incidents that do not rise to that level but are every bit as hateful in their intent have been reported. Not included in the count of bias crimes, for instance, are the three harassing e-mails sent to the Princeton University Arab Society’s Web site on the morning of Sept. 12. Though the exact contents of the e-mails were not disclosed, Capt. Anthony Federico of the Princeton Borough Police summed up their sentiment succinctly: "I hope you’re happy," the messages said.
Another incident, characterized as criminal mischief, took place at The College of New Jersey, where racial slurs and profanity directed against Arabs and Afghanistan were found on a sidewalk next to a rendering of the American flag.
The sensibilities of a civilized society are offended by acts of racism and bigotry in any form and in any location, but the wounds cut especially deep when they are inflicted on college and university campuses, where the freedom to engage in intellectual discourse is so highly valued. Couple these with other, more violent acts reported against Muslims, their houses of worship and their places of business in many parts of the country over the last several days and a mentality not unlike the paranoid jingoism that placed so many Japanese-Americans behind barbed wire during World War II is chillingly evident.
Before Sept. 11, many Americans knew little or nothing about Islam and its followers, about the Koran and its teachings, about the distinctions between those cells of radical Islamic fundamentalists bent on terrorism and the overwhelming majority of peace-loving Muslims who pray to the same God as Christians and Jews. But we have all surely heard and read and seen enough in the last few days to rise above ignorance, reject stereotypes and uphold our nation’s most cherished values. To do anything less is the moral equivalent of surrendering to terrorism.

