AMHERST, N.Y. — We're well on our way down the road to the primary election and that means people are showing their support for their candidates, political and other ideas.

Some people are acting on them, and it could be threatening everything from freedom of speech to feelings of safety in neighborhoods across the state.

"My experience wasn't always the greatest, nut I did have a feeling of some level of community around here, but that that would be a stretch," said Morgan Dunbar outside her Hamlet of Snyder home in the Town of Amherst.

The American dream for so many those born in the U.S.: a quiet home in the suburbs. 

But the ‘burbs haven't been as quiet as they used to be.

"I had a lot of, you know, bullying for me personally, like people egging my house and all kinds of stuff," Dunbar said. "So I'm not new to this, but I hadn't experienced anything vandalism-wise for many decades."

The front porch of the Dunbar home is a love letter to people a world away and right here at home facing struggles. A recent rash of vandalism, theft and written hate speech being dropped off is not the way Dunbar wants to see anything go down.

"I might disagree with what somebody believes in, but, you know, like that old adage, I will stand up for your right to speak your truth even if I disagree with you," said Dunbar. 

Syracuse University's Grant Reeher keeps an eye on the political and conflict temperature from overseas to our front yards.

"It's freedom of speech. It's freedom to do what you want with your property," he said.

To have this kind of discourse in plain sight in our communities?

"I think it's a sign of the health of the democratic process. I think it's a sign of the amount of tolerance for different points of view and a particular community," Reeher added. "And I think it's really important that people feel, first of all, able to put the sign up, but second of all, able to put it up again or fix it if someone has come along and defaced it." 

Which means these crimes need to end, and as willing as Morgan is to head up efforts for unity...

"This is sacred ground. Like this is my home. So we can do all kinds of different things in the streets and we can do whatever you want here on the public sidewalk. That's fine," said Dunbar. "If they're not addressed, these kinds of behaviors, like, ‘hey, I'll just walk onto somebody's property, you know, steal a flag, break some property, no big deal,’ that escalates and that becomes a way that the culture kind of morphs into one that's much more dangerous to live in."

She's actively trying to broker peace and understanding in the neighborhood with a new Snyder in Solidarity group, scheduling teach-ins and other events — but how much do education and organization kind of play into avoiding any kind of escalation?

"That's the only thing that's going to save this country at this point,” she said. "I would have to search my brain for something else that would have the power to thwart this train. I'm watching this train go to catastrophe. So what do we do, you know, when we're actually face-to-face with a threat? You know, how do we respond? And that's a community conversation." 

Dunbar has been in contact with local authorities regarding the alleged trespassers, but she'd love to see transformative justice in the form of a sit-down conversation with them.