Most of the communal hatred in the world is fueled by political agendas and radical interpretations, but when there is people to people meet and try to understand each other, hate simply fades away.
This notion was found to be true when an Islamophobic protester turned up outside the Noor Islamic Cultural Centre in Ohio, following hate-filled mails and threats that the mosque received for month.
Counter-protesters and the police which had been alerted were expecting protesters, when a lone woman with anti-Islam placards turned up, as reported by The Washington Post . Micah David Naziri found that she had driven an hour to be part of the protest, after an interaction that begin with comments like, “If you’re Muslim, we can’t be friends, My Bible says that.”
But soon that walls were shattered by a Muslim woman who waltzed through the haze of hate and hugged the woman named Annie. She assured Annie that, “there’s a lot of fear of Muslims wanting to spread Sharia law and that’s, by the way, not at all the truth.”
Annie was disillusioned with the protest as no one else showed up, and soon walked into the mosque with the counter-protesters. Annie joked saying, “What if I catch on fire?” she joked. “I’ll get kicked out of every Christian group I’m in today.”