By State Representative Ken Gordon
Today we stand hand-in-hand with our brothers and sisters in Paris. We share in their grief and feel their loss. We in Massachusetts know the pain caused by terror attacks all too well. These senseless acts of violence reached our shores on Sept. 11, 2001. They touched our Commonwealth a few years ago, at the bombings that marred the Marathon and took the life of Wilmington’s Sean Collier. This weekend, evil revisited this world in three attacks on the French capital.
Responsibility for these attacks that killed some 129 people and wounded 352 others has been claimed by a group calling itself the Islamic State, ISIS or ISIL. Even Islamic leaders object of the use of the word Islam by this group. These leaders claim they do not represent their faith. Peaceful Muslims around the world are once again apologizing for the acts of extremists who commit acts of atrocity in their name, including the internet campaign #notinmyname.
Civilized groups worldwide were quick to condemn the attacks on Paris, and offer support to the people of France. Among those groups was the Council of American-Islamic Relations (“CAIR”), which came to Burlington less than two weeks ago to support the worshippers at the Islamic Center whose Mosque was defaced.
As CAIR posted on its website: “These savage and despicable acts on civilians, whether they occur in Paris, Beirut or any other city, are outrageous and without justification. We condemn these horrific crimes in the strongest terms possible.”
I join Rabbi Susan Abramson and members of the Burlington Interfaith Clergy Counsel in pointing out that our community made great strides in the past two weeks demonstrating to the Muslims who pray at the Islamic Center that they are welcome members of our community. The tragedy of Paris should not affect our level of commitment to this cause. Responsibility for the senseless violence that occurred in Paris rests with the killers and with their co-conspirators. The acts of extremists do not reflect the values of people in our community who seek to live peacefully with their neighbors.
I hope and expect that we in Bedford and Burlington will separate the acts of violent extremists from the peaceful people in our community. I expect the progress we have made in reaching out to our Muslim neighbors will not be interrupted by this tragedy. As we head toward Thanksgiving, my sincere hope is that we will continue to treat each other as friends, focus on our similarities as people, and celebrate our differences as learning opportunities. This tragedy should not slow the progress we have made.
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