DANVERS — It was a show of unity and love when more than 60 demonstrators (looked like 100 to me) gathered on top of the Danvers Rail Trail Bridge over Route 114 Wednesday night.
“I’m so encouraged by the tremendous turnout, I really didn’t know what to expect,” said Danvers resident and demonstrator Stephen Steinberg. “It just underscores the fact that Danvers, all of our wonderful neighbors, believe to speak out whenever we see hatred.”
DDTC members Julie Curtis, Tom Meagher and Lou Bernazzani participated in the march. (Julie, Tom and Lou are pictured in the photos below.)
Steinberg, who’s Jewish, was standing in the same spot where masked Neo-Nazis displayed an antisemitic banner on Sept. 10.
The sign incorrectly claimed that Jewish people were behind the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. It was also held from an overpass on Route 1 in Saugus that day.
This isn’t the first antisemitic act to happen in Danvers over the last few years. Hateful pamphlets were found on lawns and swastikas appeared in the middle and high schools. A hazing scandal on the boy’s high school hockey team also included instances of antisemitism.
“My mother said that 99% of people are good,” Steinberg said. “When that 1% wants to speak their mind with hate, then we have to speak reasonably, which we’re doing here today.”
Demonstrators and town officials atop the bridge were also joined by Salem Mayor Kim Driscoll, State Sen. Joan Lovely, D-Salem, State Rep. Sally Kerans, D-Danvers, and State Rep. Paul Tucker, D-Salem.
Tucker attended a similar event in Saugus, where demonstrators spoke out against the antisemitic message seen over Route 1.
“A woman came up to me (there) and she said, ’I am Jewish. I have two young kids. I drove by those people that had the banner out there, and I was shaking as I was driving my car,’” Tucker told the crowd in Danvers Wednesday night.
The woman drives on that road twice a day. She worried seeing the bridge again would bring back that horrible memory.
“The fact that we all showed up collectively as a community, she said that made a difference,” Tucker continued. “That made it OK for her to start driving on that road again.”
Donna Hopkins is a member of the Danvers Human Rights and Inclusion Committee. She was also an organizer behind Wednesday’s event.
“This makes me feel accepted,” said Hopkins, who is Jewish. “There was a time where I didn’t feel as welcome as I do now. When I didn’t feel as safe as I do now. But so much has changed over the last 10 years, and I’m happy to live here.”
Committee chair Dr. Dutrochet Djoko read a famous quote by Martin Niemöller, a Protestant pastor in Germany who was imprisoned for speaking out against the Nazis during the Holocaust.
“First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out — because I was not a socialist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out — because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out — because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me — and there was no one left to speak for me,” Djoko recited.
“When the community is suffering, you can’t just go home and eat, drink and be at peace with yourself because we are in this together,” he said.
Some of the demonstrators waving at passing cars donned yarmulkes, a round hat known as a kippah in Hebrew that is traditionally worn by Jewish boys and men. Others held signs, including Norah Hass, a 16-year-old junior at Danvers High School who is Jewish.
Hers read: “6 million less voices, but our voices are LOUDER than ever.”
“It’s nice to see that there’s this community, especially since the community around me seems very small, because we’re high school students,” Hass said.
She said she was glad to be joined by a diverse range of neighbors at the demonstration. As was Steinberg.
“I’m proud to be a resident of Danvers and the human family,” he said.
By Caroline Enos | Salem News Staff Writer
