Daily Herald opinion: Standing against hate: Towns, organizations, individuals who join the fight advance the goal of love

What better time than this season of love to take a stand against hate?

Des Plaines city leaders made that point this week, joining other Cook County suburbs — including Arlington Heights, Mount Prospect, Northbrook, Prospect Heights, Rolling Meadows and Wheeling — in support of the Cook County United Against Hate initiative.

Cook County Commissioner Scott Britton, an early champion of the project, attended the Des Plaines City Council meeting Monday and described his reaction to seeing antisemitic literature left in residential driveways in his home town of Glenview as well as other northern Cook County communities in 2022. The letters claimed to have “no malicious intent,” then went on to link Jews to the Biden presidential administration, leadership of Ukraine, the COVID pandemic and the “largest genocides in history.”

“Even as a Catholic, having neo-Nazis in your driveway is a very disturbing concept. I can only imagine what it was like for my Jewish brothers and sisters,” Britton told the council.

Antisemitism is hardly the only form in which we find hate speech and acts of hate. Adherents of almost every religion and every ethnicity have been subjected to scorn, derision and violence. Small-minded critics foment hostility and resentment toward people based on their sexual orientation, identities, economic status and even mental disabilities. Ridiculing or threatening others on the basis of any of these behaviors weakens us as individuals and as a society.

The Unite Against Hate initiative emphasizes four specific topics:

• A pledge to “join with my community to welcome all people regardless of their race, religion, ethnicity, age, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, class, or other background”;

• A list of resources where people can learn about the influences of hate through “statistics, training opportunities, and essential reading”;

• A symbol people can copy and share “to inspire conversations about the need to actively reverse the impacts of discrimination and bigotry”; and

• Links for reporting acts of hate to various law enforcement, government and social service agencies.

Des Plaines Mayor Andrew Goczkowski said the council’s resolution “reflects our city’s commitment to standing against hate, discrimination and violence in all forms.”

It’s a timely message, not just because it comes amid the expressions of love, comfort and joy that define this holiday season but also because it emphasizes an important distinction that makes this time of year so special.

For, in truth, loving the people around us involves much more than simply resisting hate. It further requires acts of mercy, kindness and compassion to others, whatever their circumstance in life. That is the commitment of which we are reminded and to which we are called.

But we don’t get there without an equivalent commitment to resist the destructiveness of hatred, in all its forms. Cook County’s United Against Hate initiative is an important first step of the journey, and communities, organizations and individuals that support it provide real help along the way.