Candlelight vigil against hate and intolerance brings state, town, school and community members together in a message of solidarity

Over 300 people gathered for a candlelight vigil against hate last Thursday evening in Northport Village Park, an event initiated by Northport Village board members, and the mayor, after a succession of hateful and hurtful incidents occurred within the community.

“We all have an obligation to speak out against hatred and bigotry no matter when or where we find it,” said Northport Village Mayor Damon McMullen at the onset of the vigil. “Thus I call upon all of us to remember our responsibilities to ourselves and each other by speaking out against bigotry and intolerance whenever and wherever they occur.”

Village officials asked local organizations Not In Our Town Northport and the Huntington Anti-Bias Task Force to help organize the event, and arranged for several impactful speakers and local elected officials, including Northport Village Trustee Dave Weber, Town of Huntington councilmembers Eugene Cook, Ed Smyth, Joan Cergol, and Mark Cuthbertson, Senator Jim Gaughran, Assemblyman Keith Brown, Suffolk Legislator Susan Berland, Board of Education President Larry Licopoli, and Northport-East Northport Superintendent Robert Banzer. Northport High School student Isabella Corea opened the evening by singing the National Anthem.

Rabbi Ian Silverman from the East Northport Jewish Center spoke of the precious and equal value before God of all human beings, and asked members at the vigil to “stand fast” when intolerance and bigotry is aimed at others. Six weeks prior, children from the congregation’s religious school, as well as their teachers and some parents, were verbally assaulted by a man who yelled anti-Semitic slurs at them. The group had come to Northport Village Park to participate in a religious ritual traditionally performed on the first day of Rosh Hashanah.

“May we remain in the vanguard of caring about others in the manner in which we wish for them to care for us,” said Rabbi Silverman, before introducing Pastor Rachel Vione of the First Presbyterian Church of Northport. The pastor spoke too about the creation of humans in God’s image, as precious beings without divisions based on skin color, sexual orientation or religion.

Officials from the Northport-East Northport School District, including Superintendent of Schools Robert Banzer and Dr. Larry Licopoli, school board president, then spoke. Earlier in the month, the superintendent addressed an incident in which “several hateful words and symbols, including a swastika and racial and homophobic slurs,” were found in a student bathroom at Northport High School.

The vice principal of Northport High School, Mr. Terrence Hinson, shared his personal experiences as an educator in Northport at the vigil, and said his heart sank when he witnessed the hateful messages written on his school’s bathroom walls and stalls.

“[My heart] aches for the community that I have grown to love. For years I have been saying how wonderful it is to live, work and study in Northport. While I still believe that, I am not ignorant to the fact that there is much work to be done…,” he said.

“Make no mistake, I can certainly find employment and satisfaction in a district that has far more diversity than our own. But I do believe that I can and have made an impact on our student body. I am committed to ushering in a new era of love, peace and acceptance. And in the words of Dr. King, ‘I have decided to stick with love, because hate is too great a burden to bear.’”

April Heyman, a founding member of the LI-Pride-PTSA and parent of a transgender child in the Northport-East Northport school district, said she hopes the PTSA can be a support system for the school community and their families, and just one way to combat the isolation and bullying that often comes with being a member of the LBGTQ+ community.

“I've experienced firsthand the searing pain of what bullying and intolerance does to a child,” she said. “Before my child had even reached high school, after bravely coming out at age 12 as transgender, he’d been taunted, had hands put on him, called every derogatory slur imaginable, through social media sent a burning pride flag, and told to die.”

Despite the incidents that have occurred and the fact that they may occur again, April applauded the “most beautiful community” she has found here in Northport and said the PTSA was born from the love and acceptance she has experienced here

“The LGBTQ youth in our community are some of the bravest people I've ever met. We want you to know that we see you, we love you, and we will fight for you,” she said.

Veronique Bailey, the president of the Huntington NAACP, took to the podium and applauded her fellow Girl Scouts, a local troop that met before the vigil to make signs of love and encouragement before heading over to the park to watch the event.

Of the recent events, said Veronique, it’s not enough just to say to stop it. “We want to understand the implications of that hate. How do we interrupt it?” she asked the crowd, suggesting that in addition to not tolerating the hate that exists here, across the nation and the globe, that we also focus “on how we are learning to appreciate people, how we are learning to value others…”

“We have to acknowledge and appreciate each and every individual that makes up the fabric of Northport, of Huntington. Every one brings value. And until we understand and appreciate the value, hate will continue to spew,” Veronique said.“We have to encourage each other to step out of our comfort zone. Change happens in that uncomfortable place. We have to step out of our comfort zone and say ‘who are you?”

The more we get to know people who don’t share our sexuality, religion, race, etc., she said, the more we get to know one another better, the more “we show other people we’re not only accepting people, but we’re including people; we’re not just including people, but we are welcoming them into the fabric of who we are, because they make up Northport, they make up Huntington, they make up this country. We all belong here.”

She said, “We must start breathing the same air, interrupting hate by appreciating each other and saying we are here together...showing other people that we are one, through our actions. Through dismantling hate by showing love and appreciation for each other.”

Veronique ended by asking the audience not to forget those that have been victimized, to comfort those that are on the other end of that hate. “Support them. Continue to share your light and love with one another,” she said.

The vigil concluded with representatives from Not In Our Town (NIOT) Northport reading a community pledge against hate and intolerance to the crowd, as members of the crowd turned on their LED candles and paused for a moment of quiet reflection.

“Look at how a single light can both defy and define the darkness,” said NIOT Northport cofounder Molly Feeney Wood, quoting Anne Frank. She used the quote to explain that separately, we are just single lights, “but when one light becomes two, and then spreads to 10, and then 100, we have come together to resist the darkness. These single lights that we shine here together represent hope, trust, and community. They are bright enough for everyone to see, so they know that we embrace love over hate, no matter what.”

As Molly spoke, members of the Northport High School Chorale, directed by Mr. Dana Warren, walked up the steps of the bandstand and ended the evening with a performance of “Stand By Me.”