To the Editor:
At the end of your article on the Library Board reconsidering the banning of Bethlehem Neighbors for Peace (BNP), you quote the director saying, “Clearly, they (BNP) are not about peace. They are about rabble rousing. It’s a very misnamed organization.” I think that shows his own prejudice, which led to the banning in the first place. BNP has always been criticized by people who don’t like our positions against the war in Iraq, Afghanistan, Gaza and elsewhere. We have been constantly promoting peace since we were founded more than 20 years ago.
The ban was caused by the fact that we held a meeting with a speaker on Gaza who, like BNP, is for a ceasefire and some people came to disrupt and did disrupt. These people were not there to hear the speaker, they were there to disrupt the meeting. They were not sanctioned but BNP was. Director Kissinger says he did a “complete investigation” of the incident, but he did not speak to anyone from BNP. That does not seem very “complete.”
Perhaps some of the “reconsidering” of the BNP ban had to do with the protests, at the library, at the board meetings and in the community. It is a shame that BNP had to resort to protests just to defend our right of freedom of speech at our library.
The new policy on use of the library by community organizations is not a good policy. It is meant to further restrict the usage of the library and it should be opposed by the community.
Joe Lombardo
Member of Bethlehem
Neighbors for Peace
