Michael Melasky did not plan to be on the speakers’ circuit after he retired as a teacher and administrator from the Brewster Central School District. But an incident in his community changed the course of his life.
In 2016, on the eve of Yom Kippur, he was called to the Beth Shalom Cemetery. Vandals had spray painted anti-semitic graffiti including swastikas and SS insignias on the brick walls surrounding the property. He now speaks to students across New York about combating hate.
The presentation was attended by all 10th graders with their history classes. They sat quietly as Melasky told them the story, using friends, personal reflections, pictures, symbols, definitions, and history for context.
“You have to understand that hate is in our communities, once you understand it, you can combat it,” said Melasky.
“Does anyone know what a swastika represents to some people?” asked Melasky.
“The Nazis’ political symbol,” said Marley Beale.
“That’s right," said Melasky, “So the people who desecrated the walls of this Jewish cemetery knew what they were doing.”
He told students how people visited the cemetery after the incident to see the graffiti and talk to their kids about it: “The mom vans showed up,” he said.
“Lots of good conversations came out of this incident. Politicians and religious people from other faiths and community members all came to our synagogue for a healing service to show us that we could come together as a community to deal with what had happened, “said Melasky.
Melasky urged students to be advocates for positive change. ““All it takes is one person to say stop,” he said. “Use the 4 Cs of dealing with hate speech: Care, Courage, Confront, and Counteract.”