You picked the wrong town

Hate attempted a comeback this week. It failed. Late Monday evening, an IU student and member of the Helene G. Simon Hillel Center found his car covered with swastikas and the word "Jew" in blood-red paint.\nWe at the Indiana Daily Student hope this was a tasteless joke. The mere thought of somebody entertaining this pathetic mindset in an enlightened place like Bloomington turns our stomachs. It is possible this was only a despicable prank. After all, most self-respecting neo-Nazis can correctly draw a swastika.\nBut if there is someone on our campus who cannot stand to live in peace with innocent college students, we would like him or her to pay attention. We have a message:\n You are welcome among us because we, unlike you, are tolerant of other's beliefs. Stay in Bloomington and learn the error of your ways. Examine our history closely and speak with the different groups on campus. Eventually, you will realize your cause is dead and will never rise again.\n But there are conditions to you staying in this town. While here, you will not force your prejudices onto others with your symbols and slogans. Instead, you must use the education and growth inherent in college to clear the fog from your eyes. Above all, you will not inflict pain on others with your ignorance. \nBloomington has seen hate crimes before. Your message is not new to us. We did not tolerate it before, and we will not tolerate it now. Your cause will get no sympathy here.\nWe hardened ourselves against people like you many years ago. One day in 1998, residents woke to find white supremacist flyers underneath their windshield wipers. One year later, Benjamin Smith, a soldier of the hate group formerly known as the World Church of the Creator, shot IU graduate student Won-Joon Yoon as he entered the Korean Methodist Church July 4.\nDid Bloomington residents cower in fear or fall in line with the Creator's ideals? Not on your life. Instead, we joined together to fight your kind. Within weeks, thousands of Bloomington United signs covered the town to make our feelings known.\n"NO hate," they declared. "NOT in our yards, in our town, ANYWHERE."\nTwo thousand people walked in a candlelight vigil from campus to the Korean Methodist Church, where Yoon was shot. Smith committed suicide and his inspiration, Matthew Hale, is in prison.\nBloomington has been relatively quiet since then. Hate mongers learned we would not listen, and for the most part, they have left us alone.\nNow it is time for you to learn that lesson. Please stay on campus and discover the power of diversity. Find out for yourself how people's differences enrich life immeasurably. Most importantly learn this:\nIn this town, you and your beliefs are alone.