RSS 2.0 FeedNovember 25, 2010, Weekly editorial
Small Business Saturday is November 27
Mayor Michael Bloomberg held a press conference last week to announce his support for an American Express initiative to declare the Saturday after Thanksgiving “Small Business Saturday” and encourage everyone to shop at local businesses “where everyone knows your name.” American Express is giving American Express cardholders a $25 credit to encourage shopping at small businesses on that day. And according to Crain's New York Business, American Express Chief Kenneth Chenault welcomed his competitors to join in the initiative.
This reminds us of September’s “Spend $25 on the 25th” campaign sponsored by the New York Press Association and New York Conference of Mayors, in which Freeport Mayor Andrew Hardwick, your community newspaper and several local businesses participated. So, we also encourage our readers to spend their holiday gift budget locally, where their gift keeps on giving all year in the form of support for the local economy and local tax-supported services.
Thankful to be an American
Thanksgiving is a holiday that celebrates all of the religions practiced in this great country. We follow the example of Native Americans and English Puritans sharing their favorite foods as they celebrate the harvest. But most of us are not English or Native American but Russian Jewish or Irish Catholic or Mexican Protestant or African-American Baptist or Korean Methodist or Chinese Buddhist or Pakistani Muslim or Hindu Indian, etc, etc. We add our own spices to the traditional New England menu.
This is the time to celebrate brotherhood, so it was especially unfortunate to learn of teens plastering white supremacist, pro-Hitler and anti-Semitic stickers in downtown Bellmore a week ago. As the person who confronted them put it, they “debased” his town, and the neighboring towns as well.
Years ago, when one family suffered from someone throwing a rock through their window at a lighted menorah, the neighbors were outraged and wanted to show their support for the Jewishfamily. They went out and bought menorahs and lighted them in their windows too. If any of the young people who threw those rocks lived in those homes, they learned that their parents would not approve of their actions. Perhaps they also realized what hurt they had caused.
The worst part about an anonymous bias attack is not knowing who it could be and suspecting others sympathize with the attacker. Only if we all speak out strongly against these kinds of actions will the victims know how tiny a group of racist bullies really is.
