The Darien Republican Town Committee on Monday issued a statement condemning an expression of bigotry recently found in graffiti in a boys bathroom at the high school, and it called on town residents to keep calm.
“The Darien Republican Town Committee vehemently condemns all expressions and acts of hate and intolerance,” the statement said. “Nobody in our close-knit community should ever be made to feel unwelcome, unsupported or scared. And when it comes to our children, we feel even more strongly.”
The graffiti included a threatening comment about gays and insulting comments about females. School and town community leaders who issued a statement about the comments on Friday didn’t say exactly what they were. The community leaders also mentioned an anti-semitic statement (also not specified) made on a Darien sports group page on Facebook.
The Monday statement from the Republican Town Committee (which comes after statements issued by the Democratic Town Committee and candidates for Board of Education and Board of Selectmen) didn’t mention the online comment.
Although Darien police have been called in to investigate the incident, no one person or group of persons has been publicly identified as the perpetrator.
At another point, the statement said: “Those who have been hurt or frightened by incidents like this, we stand with you. You are our friends, our neighbors, our children or our loved ones.”
The committee also said people should keep calm about the incident and avoid making assumptions: “As upsetting as this incident has been to so many of us, we urge all Darien residents to choose calm discussion over recriminations; to seek understanding rather than make pronouncements or presumptions about motives or intent.”
While the committee called the expressions of bigotry “intolerable” and something that “should not be ignored” it added: “[L]et us also remember that the perpetrators of this and other such incidents are likely children. Let us not trample on their young souls. Hate cannot drive out hate.”
The committee also said the graffiti shouldn’t be taken as representative of the community.
Full Text of the Republican Town Committee Statement
A recent act of vandalism at our town’s high school has once again raised the issue of intolerance in our community.
The Darien Republican Town Committee vehemently condemns all expressions and acts of hate and intolerance. Nobody in our close-knit community should ever be made to feel unwelcome, unsupported or scared. And when it comes to our children, we feel even more strongly.
The inexcusable acts of a few should not be ignored, nor should they be extrapolated into an indictment of all students or our community at large.
As upsetting as this incident has been to so many of us, we urge all Darien residents to choose calm discussion over recriminations; to seek understanding rather than make pronouncements or presumptions about motives or intent.
Those who have been hurt or frightened by incidents like this, we stand with you. You are our friends, our neighbors, our children or our loved ones. But let us also remember that the perpetrators of this and other such incidents are likely children. Let us not trample on their young souls. Hate cannot drive out hate.
While we are an existentially political organization, we are first and foremost an organization of Darien residents, like you, who love our town and its people. We understand that hate and intolerance do exist in the world, and we know that ignorance is most often the root cause.
We also know that Darien has evolved over the years and is continuing to do so. Our town is overwhelmingly populated with good, thoughtful and caring people who have rejected intolerance and helped others do the same. Let us all continue that important work together.
Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that.
The statement was emailed to Darienite.com at 5:56 p.m., Monday.