Gilroy resident: City should avoid performative virtue signaling about faraway lands, reject Gaza ceasefire resolution

 
 

Gilroy, along with Morgan Hill, is considering passing a Gaza ceasefire resolution (an idea rejected by SJ and Santa Cruz in January). In anticipation of tonight's Council meeting, a concerned Gilroyan (anonymized by request) writes to Mayor Blankley and the six other councilmembers, urging them to avoid “virtue signaling” in lieu of thorough, practical protection for victims of local hate crimes. The letter, in its entirety, reads below.

Dear Councilmembers,

I strongly oppose the City of Gilroy adopting a Ceasefire Resolution between Israel and Hamas. I believe that, as elected representatives of our community, you should be focusing on Gilroy matters. Taking performative actions that not everybody agrees with, only causes division in our community. When hate crimes happen in Gilroy, it needs to be addressed at a local level. Adopting a resolution regarding a war in a faraway land does nothing to combat this problem in our town. Instead of virtue signaling, if the City is truly concerned about actions of hate, then you, as a City leader, need to address it head-on at the local level. Joint meetings with the GUSD should be held to explicitly identify the issues, the parties involved, and appropriate interventions.

When acts motivated by hate occur, GPD needs to throughly investigate the crimes to find the perpetrators. These people need to be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law. Santa Clara County’s District Attorney, Jeff Rosen, recently pointed out, “In Santa Clara County, we are a community that prides ourselves in our diversity and our tolerance. As District Attorney, I am committed to fighting to preserve and expand those values.” As such, his office takes these cases very seriously. Individuals found guilty of hate crimes are fully prosecuted and “punishment for these crimes could double.”

In conclusion, hate crimes are wrong and need to be addressed directly through continuous City sponsored public outreach in a variety of venues including social media. Victims need to be encouraged to report acts of hate. The City should work in conjunction with GUSD to educate the community and to uniformly send out anti-hate messages. California State, Attorney General, Rob Bonta’s office has developed a hate crime brochure with information on how to identify and report hate crimes and services available to victims of hate crimes. (For convenience, the brochure is available in two formats and is available in multiple languages. It [can be found here.]) The California Department of Justice (Department) has tools and resources to aid and assist local, state, and federal law enforcement authorities in the investigation of possible hate crimes, including the identification, arrest, prosecution and conviction of those crimes."

The City of Gilroy needs to address this problem head-on instead of pushing the can further down the road by adopting a Ceasefire Resolution in Gaza, which would have little impact in our community.

Sincerely,

[Redacted]

Gilroy Resident

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