(The opinions and views expressed in the commentaries and letters to the Editor of The Somerville Times belong solely to the authors and do not reflect the views or opinions of The Somerville Times, its staff or publishers)

From the Mayor’s Desk
By Mayor Katjana Ballantyne

We all hold our core beliefs. For me, I believe when any one of us is harmed, we are all harmed. I have no tolerance for any form of hatred whether it’s antisemitism, Islamophobia, racism, homophobia, or any other hateful view. My immigrant experience has taught me to value and champion differences. It is also why I am opposed to all war. And war is what I wish to address today.

I’ve been listening hard to community members since the October 7th Hamas attack on Israel and throughout the war raging in Gaza. We have residents personally impacted by the death, destruction, and horror there. They are grieving an unimaginable grief. Countless more are outraged and deeply pained by the atrocities, afraid of rising hatred in our society, and alarmed by tensions coursing through our own community.  

I have had conversations with individuals who are horrified by both the attacks and war. I’m also hearing about how this conflict is feeding into a rising tide of dangerous antisemitism and Islamophobia in our larger society. It is a challenge to find the words that address such an ugly and brutal conflict, and the hate it is fueling, in some productive and comprehensive fashion. 

As Mayor of this community, I want to call for us to raise up our long-forged Somerville values of respect for the dignity of others. It’s important that we discuss how we’re addressing these horrors and interacting with each other here in our own four-square miles. I believe this is all connected. How can we call for peace abroad if we cannot model it here at home?

I was raised in a household with generational war trauma. This experience is woven into my visceral opposition to all war. My parents lived through World War II as youths. Later, my Czech-German mother and my Scottish father met, married, and adopted me after I was orphaned in Greece. We are a family of immigrants from three different countries carrying not just the history of our ancestors with us but also the memory of war and destruction. My earliest years were spent among people who were still putting themselves and their countries back together from the ravages of that war – even after the passage of two decades. I know first-hand how war scars its survivors and how the weight of a thing that happened before you were born can be a looming presence in your life. 

I don’t say that so that I can claim some sort of moral authority. I say that in the hope you will hear me when I say this: we need to hear and respect everyone’s losses and history when they’re being voiced. Closing the door to dialog shortchanges us all. 

In Somerville, we’ve also long been proud that we don’t just tolerate our differences, we seek them out and value them. We celebrate them. And we defend them. As a City, we remain resolute. We have not and we will not tolerate hate speech, bias, or violence in our community or our schools. Let me be very clear on that – I condemn all acts of antisemitism, Islamophobia, and Anti-Arab and Anti-Palestinian bias.

Leaders are furiously negotiating for a ceasefire while more people die and endure unimaginable suffering and hostages remain held. I join with world leaders in calling for a ceasefire, hostage-prisoner exchange, and massive humanitarian relief. Yet a ceasefire is just a pause in the fighting. It’s not peace. It does not diffuse the tension that animates this fight. I will say then, again, what I’ve been saying since day one, we need more than a ceasefire. We need peace – lasting, just peace.

While you and I may not solve the crisis in the Middle East, we can and must model peace here. Those pointing out that antisemitism has been on the rise worldwide, creating danger in the United States, and feeding growing normalization of antisemitic rhetoric and tropes, are correct to raise the alarm. Those taking issue with the portrayal of all Palestinians as terrorists, and the persistent racism and danger they face in the U.S., are also correct to raise the alarm. 

So, I’m not just making an empty appeal for everyone to get along. I’m suggesting we do something much harder: engage with the people with whom we’re angry and seek understanding. Peace takes work.

Local government creates many paths to progress, but it takes each of us as individuals to create the path to a forthright, empathetic, and productive dialogue. It takes each of us to choose respect over aggression, civility over discord, common ground over disagreement. That’s not giving up the fight. It’s taking the fight head on.

I shared a little of my story to start and I’d like to close with the story of another. Recently, I spoke with a Somerville resident who fled here from a war-torn country. He told me what he desires and cherishes most about living here is the sense of safety, the peace, and the acceptance he feels – that he found the strength to advocate for people back home by being rooted in his safe haven here. It is a simple but fundamental observation. I’d argue it packs a power we should not underestimate.

Seeking peace and respect here at home is not ignoring the conflagration abroad while raising lesser issues at home. Just as war trauma gets passed down through generations, I’d say a mindset of peace is contagious in real-time. It is not naïve to hope that modeling peace at home may help it take root elsewhere. It is the very stuff of hope and progress.