The Hebrew Bible teaches us many important morals, but there is nothing so simple and yet so deeply profound, as God’s direction that we shall not oppress a stranger, for we all know what it means to be a stranger, as the Israelites were once strangers in the Land of Egypt. (Exodus 23:9).

It is a direction to observe in others our common humanity, our shared experience, and our mutual vulnerability in one another. It is a principle that spans the world’s great religions, and it is also a matter of basic decency.

And yet, there are some in this community who instead have decided that common humanity is not their priority, and oppression of the stranger is their calling card.

They have decided to latch onto hateful tropes and blatant lies and litter on our homes and vehicles with hate speech-filled flyers. These flyers have been dropped in neighborhoods like Allied Gardens, Del Cerro, San Carlos, and others.

And what irks me so much is that these hateful people leave these fliers around our community in the most cowardly way: in the middle of the night, in the hope that most of us will turn a blind eye to it. Their aim, though, is for some of our neighbors to be radicalized to believe these antisemitic messages. They do this believing the rest of us will do little to address this assault on our Jewish neighbors.

I refuse to stay quiet and let this continue to happen.

With rising hate crimes and a staggering increase in antisemitic violence and rhetoric in San Diego, it is incumbent on government to respond with what power we have to protect everyone – neighbor and stranger – from this violence.

Unfortunately, current law does not give our Police Department and City Attorney much leeway to stop these litterers. Even with the best investigation, the only punishment legally available to police is an infraction, which does little to deter those who seek to instill a deep and abiding fear in our Jewish neighbors.

As a former prosecutor and Deputy City Attorney, I know well that one of the core purposes of criminal law is to deter conduct that is counter to community morals and violates the rights of others.

That’s why recently, I called a press conference to announce my plan to bring an ordinance to the Public Safety Committee in the coming months that would make it a misdemeanor to litter with hateful intent. This ordinance would make hateful littering punishable by up to a year in county jail and a fine.

Crafting an ordinance like this takes time, and I want to be careful to do it right so that it holds legal muster. I am working as fast as I can, however, to bring this ordinance through the various legal and procedural hurdles because with every new round of hateful flyers, the threat of the hate speech turning into real acts of violence increases.

The painful memory of the 2019 Poway synagogue shooting is still ever-present in the entire San Diego community, while just recently, a local rabbi was attacked in a random, senseless assault. I’ve received many emails and calls from residents, including from descendants of Holocaust survivors and victims, letting me know their fear of this hate escalating to real violence.

It is my duty as the Councilmember for District 7, as a steward of the community’s safety, as a former prosecutor who knows just how destructive hate crimes are, and as a devout Catholic who loves his neighbors, to do what I can to ensure this hate does not go unaddressed, and that criminal conduct does not go unpunished.

As German Lutheran pastor Martin Niemoller warned us, and as is engraved on numerous Holocaust memorials around the world, if we don’t speak up when they come for those who are different from us now, these people will come for all of us later.

To end on a positive note: let us not forget also the incredible humanity shown by some members of the community in the midst of this hate.

In the wake of one round of flyering, two young boys, Devin and Nathan Schiel, stepped up for their community in a major way by riding around on scooters and removing the flyers. To celebrate Devin and Nathan’s exemplary leadership, it was my honor to declare August 1, 2023 “Devin and Nathan Schiel Day” in the City of San Diego.

– Raul Campillo represents District 7 on the San Diego City Council.

Editor’s note: This opinion piece was written prior to hostilities breaking out last weekend in the Mideast.