I have been following the unfortunate controversy in my hometown of Sidney regarding the Islamic cemetery with some concern. The town does not benefit from its new-found fame, and it tends to paint an incomplete picture of Sidney residents. I graduated from Sidney High School in 1976 and lived on Wheat Hill Road in Sidney Center in the 1980s. I worked on the farms there; started the Sidney Center (Maywood) Historical Society and served as its president; and helped create the museum in the O&W railroad depot. I'd like to share a few lessons that I have learned from Sidney's history.
The Sidney Central School district is outstanding. I consider myself lucky to have had dedicated and talented teachers. Our classes were taught to think outside the box of our small, isolated community, and to connect with it. In high school, I introduced my teachers and classmates to my friend, Rubin "Hurricane" Carter. At the time, Rubin was incarcerated in a New Jersey prison, yet our class communicated with him through letters and cassette tapes.
We learned from the New York Times (Sept. 27, 1974) that a police investigator had called Rubin and co-defendant John Artis "n....rs, Muslims, animals, and murderers." This tendency to dehumanize people distorts rational thought. Indeed, in 1983, a federal district court judge ruled that the police and prosecutors had appealed to "racism rather than reason," and committed "grave constitutional violations."
In 2000, when the now-Dr. Rubin Carter spoke at Colgate and the State University of New York at Binghamton, I was proud to attend with my family and groups of Sidney High School students. Rubin introduced me to the crowds and spoke fondly of the Sidney Class of '76, which "sent a ray of sunlight into my dark and dreary cell." As a result, a SUNY professor contacted me, to see if I could ask Rubin to contribute to her book, which spoke to the violence in our culture. I was thinking about it when I called Rubin today.
"Hate can only produce hate," he said. "That's why all these wars are going on, all this insanity. There's too much anger in the United States. People are too afraid, too numbed out. We need to wipe out all this hatred, fear, distrust and violence. We need to understand, forgive and love."
Rubin's message at Colgate and SUNY Binghamtom reached the students in a personal way. It came not long after two Sidney High School seniors had been attacked in a racially motivated hate crime at the General Clinton Canoe Regatta. One of the victims was my nephew. Later, two Asian American SUNY students were assaulted in related hate crimes on the Binghamton campus.
We are experiencing serious difficulties as a nation today. Without question, there are dangerous, hateful and violent people in the world who seek to do great harm to our country. Yet I do not think that our society should react by forgetting what it is that makes the United States such a great country. What Rubin Carter said applies to the situation in Sidney. We must understand that when public figures voice prejudice against any minority group, they risk giving license to those violent people in our society's margins. People of good will must speak out.
The next Sidney Town Board meeting is scheduled for Thursday, October 14, at 7 p.m., in the Sidney Civic Center. The building happens to be one of the community's old schools. I urge all Sidney and area citizens who are interested in this conflict to attend.
Maybe we can put our minds together and come up with a solution that benefits everyone.
Considering the national media attention that this is getting, I think that the people of Sidney can set an example of the strength of community.
McElligott is a retired social worker who lives in Mount Upton. He worked in Delaware County in the 1980s and then for Chenango County Mental Health until his retirement in 2003.
Columns
Now is the time for Sidney to show strength
- Big Chuck D'Imperio
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Safety Patrol D.C. visits never get old
I asked Cam Morris, head of Eastern Travel/Oneonta Bus Lines, how many years her company has been handling the Safety Patrol trip to Washington, D.C.
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- Catching a whiff of 'Vermont Vapor'
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Safety Patrol D.C. visits never get old
- Cary Brunswick
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We've become our own worst enemies
The past month has been marked by a seeming unprecedented number of man-made tragedies, as distinct from those caused by violent outbursts of the natural world, such as earthquakes, hurricanes and tsunamis.
Continued ... - Plenty of blame to go around for Bangladesh horror
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We've become our own worst enemies
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- Guest Column
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Records seizure is an insult to free press
Distrust of government secrecy has been elevated to an exceptional level with the disclosure the Justice Department covertly examined two months of Associated Press phone records to determine who leaked details to the AP about a foiled terrorist plot.
Continued ... - The evangelical view of same-sex marriage
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- A closer look at our economy - Part II
- Use fracking to fill budget gaps
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Records seizure is an insult to free press
- Lisa Miller
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A view from above
Fire towers in the Catskill Mountains have always been destination points, built to capture some of the region’s best views. These sentinel stations served an important role for the earliest possible sightings of forest fires in the remote mountain ranges. But the fire towers and those who manned them fulfilled a multitude of other roles as well.
Continued ... - Being a parent is a constant learning process
- Healthy doesn't have to mean expensive
- A family era ends with close of Potter series
- Independent stores make up for loss of Borders
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- Mark Simonson
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General Clinton Canoe Regatta got a new home in 1972
Ever since 1963, when Charles Hinkley and a group of Tri-Town businessmen came up with the idea for what we know today as the General Clinton Canoe Regatta, people lined the shores of the Susquehanna to watch the canoeists as they made their 70-mile trek from Cooperstown to Bainbridge.
Continued ... - Sunday movies in Oneonta finally shown in 1934
- Politics, fitness and landmarks dominated local news in May 1968
- Local people sought income in many ways in 1933
- Local windstorm in 1983 caused tense moments
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- Rick Brockway
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Kids have sparkle in their eyes
When I was in my teens, old Bill Naatz told me about a stream north of Lake George where a man had panned out enough gold to make his wife a wedding band. It was all rumors, but to his grandson and myself, it sounded like the makings of a great adventure.
- People make the outdoors even better
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- Spring air isn't always the freshest
- Adriondacks keep growing and growing
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Kids have sparkle in their eyes
- Sam Pollak
- William Masters
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Schreibman tops Chris Gibson on women's issues
As the time to vote draws near, we need to remember how money can run politics more than we can. Raising funds is a prominent (if not the dominant) task of getting elected. Raising issues is also crucial, but those efforts are subject to distortion and fear-mongering.
- Republicans feelentitled to allthey can garner An entitlement is a legal benefit available from the government to individuals who are within a defined category of recipients, such as needing insurance for unemployment or health services.
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Romney focuses on self; Obama emphasizes unity
Mitt Romney criticizes President Obama for saying a person's success is rooted in his community, and is not all his alone. Romney belittles this with his belief in individual initiative. He is better at the put-down than the push-up.
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Romney shows little regard for common man
The Republicans in Congress have voted over and over, 33 times, redundantly and uselessly, to rescind what they call Obamacare.
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Scouts' gay ban creates problem where none exists
The Boy Scouts of America's "emphatic reaffirmation" of its vow to exclude any and all homosexuals from its hallowed ranks is ill-considered and pathetic, especially in view of its having reviewed the matter for two years.
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Schreibman tops Chris Gibson on women's issues
