To the Journal editor:

The late gospel singer Mandisa once sang that “We all bleed the same, so tell me why we’re divided.”

That lyric has gained more and more meaning each day lately. As colleges across the country are engulfed in protests over Israel’s war with Hamas and invasion of Gaza, it’s easier than ever to be divided.

Once again, we are reminded that there are no Hollywood endings for real tragedies, no clear cut good guys to root for, no simple, clean solutions for the strife that is killing not only people, but cultures and goodwill itself.

Solving today’s most pressing issues requires us to co-operate with people we’ve learned to hate. And there’s enough of that to go around. It seems the far left and far right agree on one thing: antisemitism. And whether it comes from a pro-Palestine antifa protestor or a an angry Klansman, it’s just as wrong.

But it does cut to the heart of the matter. I’ll answer Mandisa’s question: We’re divided because some people don’t believe we all bleed the same, despite mountains of proof to the contrary. Those same people will do and say anything to keep decent people from joining together to stop their bloody power grabs.

We can’t join forces with blind hatred. So we’re divided. And we shouldn’t be. We are all children of the same God. And whether we know Him as Jehovah, Adonai or Allah, we do no one a favor by committing violence in His name.

I write this now because recently, a friend of mine showed me a photo they’d taken of a post near the bus station covered in openly neo-Nazi stickers, including a portrait of Hitler. They took them down after snapping the picture, but the fact they had to chilled me.

The problem has been ignored for too long and now it here, big as life and twice as ugly. We can’t stand back and do nothing anymore. I close by repeating Mandisa’s encouragement to stand united. But let it not be united by hatred.