Political Quotes

“We all know that hate has always been a part of the human existence, but we see so many hate crimes today. Late Sunday night, vandals defaced the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir on Long Island with vile hate and bigotry against the Hindu community. I have seen Hindus many times, and many of you have as well, when they place their hands together and they bow and they say ``namaste,'' ``I bow to you.'' When they do that, they are recognizing the divinity in the person in front of them. They are showing their respect for the person in front of them. We really need to recognize that with all of our fellow human beings, that we are all special, made in God's image, and we need to treat each other with more respect. What is happening that we see these acts of vandalism, bigotry, and hate happening so often? Is it because of the inflammatory rhetoric we hear all the time? Is it because of extremism? Is it because of the lack of accountability? What do we need to do to address this problem because hate is not the answer. Love is the answer. In the short term, we need to hold vandals, criminals, and people who commit hate crimes accountable. We need law enforcement to work to apprehend these criminals, and we need prosecutors to prosecute them to hold them accountable because people can't just say whatever they want regardless of the impact it has on other human beings.…”