Hannah Eliason is a scholar of human rights, authoritarianism, and violence prevention living in Hopkinton. She was previously a Peace Fellow with the International Center for Religion and Diplomacy.

History always seems far away, almost untouchable, until you relive it. With non-Jewish Holocaust victims in my family tree, interfaith collaboration and solidarity have underpinned my experience from a young age. Growing up on Dunklee Street behind Temple Beth Jacob allowed me to make connections with children my age from different religious traditions. Throughout my life, I have often asked the uncomfortable questions about humanity that most people ignore, leading me to become a genocide studies scholar.

All this to say, as a child, I never could have imagined the anger I would feel seeing neo-Nazis parade around downtown Concord doing the Hitler salute and watching them through my phone screen fly a racist banner over an overpass. My anger continued to grow as students at Dartmouth College were subject to intimidation and police brutality as a tactic of restricting academic freedom and censoring political opponents. The New Hampshire that I know and love seems to be slipping away with each day, highlighting an urgency to protect our community.

New Hampshire has historically been a swing state with a broader community that regularly engages with colleagues across the political aisle. Yet, in the last 10 years, the Granite State has become a hotbed for political polarization, disproportionate police responses and educational repression. We live in a state with only 1.1 million people, yet there are a total of sixteen active hate groups who regularly threaten other residents. These groups include but are not limited to the American Nazi Party, Jihad Watch, Moms for Liberty, Patriot Front, Proud Boys and the National Socialist Club, a neo-Nazi group.

Fear is an excellent political mobilizer. This tactic has been used time and time again, and no one is ever safe from it. However, it is possible to build more durable and resilient communities that can withstand disagreement as long as the discussion is grounded in human rights and mutual respect. During this uncertain moment, Granite Staters would benefit from building a community that celebrates everyone instead of targeting specific identities. We must have the courage embrace community-based values and imagine what our state could look like without accepting white supremacist and neo-Nazi ideologies. As political polarization tears apart American communities, let New Hampshire chart a different path forward. Let our little state show the rest of the country what we already know: how to care deeply about each other instead of sitting by as white supremacists hold our state hostage. To do this we must work together, across the aisle, and put aside our differences to discover our commonalities.

However, it is difficult to combat hate when our lawmakers and politicians use racist, sexist, anti-LGBTQ and anti-democratic talking points and agendas. For example, Gov. Kelly Ayotte has demonized immigrants to stoke fear over perceived threats from immigrants. While Gov. Ayotte was previously known as a moderate, her political flip-flopping belies a dangerous agenda. She has taken photos with leaders of Moms for Liberty, a well-known hate group that lobbies for educational reform that brings the U.S. back to the 1940s in terms of education. We need our lawmakers to lead with an old-school style that encourages debate, respects political opponents and works towards building a better community for everyone, not just New Hampshire’s wealthiest.

As a peacebuilder from Concord, I have spent hours lobbying my representatives trying to get a statement released about the June 13, 2023, Teatotaller neo-Nazi attack on Main Street a block down from the state house. I spent an equal amount of time lobbying the state legislature to get a statement released about the police brutality against Dartmouth students on their campus last spring. In regard to both of these pressing issues, I have never received a response. While this silence is disheartening, it is not surprising. The silence seems to be the message, and I will continue to call anyway.

Even though New Hampshire is surrounded by states and countries that guarantee basic rights to their citizens, we must face the fact that no one is going to come help address the white supremacist threat here. We must lean on each other to build a more resilient community. The government works for us, its citizens, so please call our representatives, senators, governor and state legislators. Flood their systems expressing your anger with this dangerous reality in our community.