Shelby Devlin: We all must stand against hate mail sent to mosques

In regard to the hate mail sent to the Fresno Islamic Cultural Center and other mosques, stating Donald Trump is going to do to Muslims what Hitler did to Jews. The Holocaust is considered the world’s deadliest genocide, responsible for the deaths of about 6 million Jewish people and at least 5 million others. There have been multiple other genocides around the world since then, including Cambodia, Rwanda, Kurdistan and, most recently, Darfur.

These groups of people have done nothing wrong to receive the awful treatment they got and neither have American Muslims. In the previous genocides, the people who were attacked were first made into scapegoats, then dehumanized and finally demonized. These people are grouped together so the hatred and dehumanization goes beyond just a few. The effects this has on individuals can never be removed.

Citizens of the United States all have the same right to be here and should receive the same rights no matter their ethnicity. As a country, we need to work together to protect each other and not allow history be repeated.

This story was originally published December 7, 2016 at 1:40 PM with the headline "Shelby Devlin: We all must stand against hate mail sent to mosques."