“On the wrong side of town”

Published 7:24 am Wednesday, October 21, 2015

To the editor: 

This morning while stopping to support a new, local business I was speaking with two people from the community having casual “coffee” conversation. Little did I know that a few moments later my eyes would be swollen with tears after hearing about an incident that took place in our county. In utter disbelief, I listened as I heard about a young gentleman that was refused service in an eating establishment for being “on the wrong side of town.”

We read daily about this hatred between people more and more throughout the world but when it happens in your own backyard, it is outright disturbing. Intolerance is a dirty little fact of our community. This story, however, takes things to a completely different level and I can be silent no more.

For each of us who carry love and respect for people who are from different places in the world, have different colored skin or different faiths, I would like to extend a sincere apology to any of you who have been subjected to any type of discrimination. It is disgusting and something that should not have to be hidden for fear of job loss, retaliation or any other reason.

For those of you that support this type of behavior by either keeping silent, looking the other way or even worse, trying to cover this up, I say to you, “Be ashamed.” I have no doubt that people who do nothing are just as ignorant as those with these archaic thoughts.

Mindy Wiener

Green Creek, N.C.