A candle light blessing, “to shine a light on hate this holiday season” will be held Thursday from 5:30 to 6 on the beach near Iggy’s in Oakland Beach.

Two events this summer, both of which happened in Oakland Beach, prompted Samantha (Sam) Grabelle to do something in response to the distribution of anti-Semitic and racist flyers. In a phone call Monday, Grabelle, who lives in Gaspee said she felt the community should show its unity following reports of the incidents.  She was surprised by the reactions she received. While the incidents happened virtually in their backyard, she said her Jewish friends and others were ambivalent and responded as if this had happened a world away.

If others weren’t going to do anything, she and her son, Julius, decided to observe the fifth day of Hanukkah and light the fifth candle on the Menorah while saying a blessing on the sands of Oakland Beach. She wasn’t planning a rally or thinking those who might join her would be part of an organized program, but she wanted people to know what was happening. She contacted state Senator-elect Matthew LaMountain who recommended she speak with his counterpart, Senator-elect Mark McKenney whose district includes Oakland Beach.

At the time of the incidents McKenney was troubled by the nighttime flyer drops that appeared to be targeted at individuals based on their religious beliefs or color. He wanted to speak out, however, police recommended it would be best not to over react as this would play into the hands of those who did it.

Learning of what Grabelle has planned, McKenney emailed officials to let them his thoughts and what is planned Thursday evening.

“This is no longer a single incident; our community has now experienced multiple hate crimes. Moreover, some residents appear to have been specifically targeted,” McKenney wrote. Meanwhile, as we’re in the Hanukkah and Christmas season, we have Kanye West and white supremacists are in the news. I‘m sure some folks are condemning these outrageous incidents in their own circles. Yet we’ve not spoken out, as a community, against the injury that’s been done - to all of us - here in our hometown.”

McKenney outlined what Grabelle planned, writing “This is not a march – it’s a gathering that’s in keeping with the Hanukkah “Festival of Lights” & Christmas “Light of the World” concepts.  I’ve told Sam I will join her. I hope you will, too.”

McKenney who met with Jody King and his wife Liana on Monday at the Warwick Public Library said “it is time to speak up forcibly against it.” The Kings live on Ottawa Avenue. As Jody climbed into his truck early on the morning of Nov. 17 he noticed postcard sized flyers strewn across the street. The flyers decried the Black Lives Matter movement and called on whites to take back the country. Jody is Black. About a week earlier flyers encased in plastic zip bags and containing pellets thought to be rat poison were found on nearby streets. The pellets turned out to be pellets for a wood stove. The flyers were of an anti-Semitic nature.

Both incidents were reported to Warwick and state police and the FBI.  No arrests have been made.

Grabelle called the distribution of the flyers as “hate crimes” and from the moment the first incident was reported she wanted to say, “hate is not welcome here.”

“We’re not trying to speak to the people who did it. This is a small community that was attacked. There needs to be some love,” she said.

Jody King plans to share some thoughts before the lighting of candles. He said if the weather is uncooperative that Dave Gravino would welcome the gathering on the porch behind Iggy’s Boardwalk facing Greenwich Bay.

Coincidently, Grabelle notes, Thursday is the fifth day of Hanukkah and the fifth candle symbolizes love.

“It is so appropriate,” she said. She plans to read the blessing of love while lighting the candle:

(Reader) We light these candles to celebrate our coming together. They reflect the light in our lives and the warmth we find in our community. They connect us to our many traditions and to all humanity.

(All) May our time together bring us joy and a renewed sense of commitment to our friends and loved ones, and to all humanity.

(Reader) As these candles give light to all who behold them, so may we, by our lives, give light to all who behold us.

(All) As their brightness reminds us of all that can be bright in our lives, so may we, by our actions, make the world a brighter and warmer place for all.

She is hopeful Julius will read the poem:

Where is my light? My light is in me.

Where is my hope? My hope is in me.

Where is my strength? My strength is in me – and in you.