Community leaders hold roundtable against hate after Beachwood library books burned

Yahoo

5 days ago

CLEVELAND (WJW) – Words can hurt, but they can also heal.
A library is a place full of words and ideas that not everybody will agree are the right words or ideas.
But actions to forbid or destroy books and other items that highlight conversations about different cultures, religions, races and sexual orientation, civic leaders say, shouldn't happen in Northeast Ohio.
'Hate speech at any race, at any religion, at any ethnic group, at any at any entity is an attack on all of us,' Congresswoman Shontel Brown said.
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This roundtable of area religious, political and community leaders met Thursday to get a handle on the level of hate directed at different communities around our area.
There things going on here and around the country, such as the murder of two Israeli embassy staff members, that has many worried about the future.
'The anti-Semitic rhetoric that fuels this kind of violence, the kind of violence that struck down young couple. Words matter and words have consequences, and we know we're not immune to hatred. Closer to home, we already heard about it,' Lee Shapiro of the American Jewish Committee in Cleveland said.
That incident was the burning of roughly 100 books from the Beachwood branch of the Cuyahoga County Public Library about the Jewish, Black and LGBTQ communities.
That struck a nerve with many. So much so that this news conference was specifically held in the newest branch of the Cleveland Public Library, named after one of the most influential figures in Black history.
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Libraries have always been considered by many to be neutral places and places where all ideas are welcome, but libraries are feeling a lot of pressure to censor ideas.
'We can't take things off of our shelves because everyone needs access to them. It's really important that libraries stand behind the concept of intellectual freedom and making sure that democracy is held and everyone has access to it,' Cleveland Public Library Executive Director Felton Thomas said.
Congresswoman Brown said this first meeting will hopefully set the stage for more conversations and direct action to fight against what they call forces that are out to take away the things that make the country better.
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