License to Hate
Today is the One Hundred Thousand
Poets for Change event. The idea is for poets, writers, singers, composers,
filmmakers, clowns, mimes, and performance artists to create a piece of art to
bring about a positive change in the world. This is my third year participating
in this event.
In thinking of this event in years past, I
covered subjects I was passionate about, including tolerance:
http://letrasalaluna.blogspot.com/2013/09/tolerance.html
racism, sexism, islamophobia, homophobia, gun control and women’s issues:
http://letrasalaluna.blogspot.com/2015/09/coexist.html
This year I did not have to soul
search about what topic to discuss. It is in the headlines every day in the
United States. This year the topic is hatred. The title of my contribution this year is “License to Hate.”
License to Hate
Hatred is an iniquitous force of darkness
in humanity. Hatred between one another, as well has hatred on both a national
and a global scale.
If you live outside the U.S. and have
followed current events, you know who our President is. I will not mention his name on this site
or in any other public arena or social media account. I have respect for the office but do not
have respect for the man holding the office. That being said, let me begin.
Since the current President was elected,
hate crimes have been on the rise. In this essay, I will focus on hate crimes
in three main categories: religious,
anti LGBT+, and racial.
I
Regarding incidents of religious hate
crimes, anti-Semitic incidents have risen 86% in the first quarter of 2017.
*Source: http://www.pbs.org/video/3003740547/
There has been a 197% increase in anti-Muslim
hate groups since 2015.
*Source: https://www.splcenter.org/hate-map
The Southern Poverty Law Center wrote a
five part series on religious extremism, entitled “Hate in the Name of God”:
II
Regarding anti-LGBT+ hate crimes, they
too are on the rise. 2016 was a deadly year in the LGBT+ community. In June of
2016, forty-nine people were gunned down in the Pulse nightclub in Orlando,
Florida, during the annual Pride celebration. In addition, the National
Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs (N.C.A.V.P.) reports a 17% increase in hate
crimes from 2015.
*Source: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2017/06/12/2016-deadliest-year-lgbtq-pulse/373840001/
In
the LGBT+ community, the website Buzzfeed reports:
“In
the last 12 months, 41% of trans people – or 2 in 5 – have been subjected to a
hate crime because of their gender identity. So large is the proportion that
when the figures for trans people are added to those of lesbian, gay, and
bisexual people, 21% of LGBT people overall – 1 in 5 – have experienced a hate
crime in the last year.”
The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against
Defamation (or G.L.A.A.D.) reports on the murders of transgender individuals:
“In
2016, the deaths of 27 transgender people were reported. That's a rate of more
than two transgender people killed every month. This number does not include
transgender people whose deaths were not reported due to misgendering in police
reports, news stories, and sometimes by the victim's family….The
victims of this violence are overwhelmingly transgender women of color, who
live at the dangerous intersections of transphobia, racism, sexism, and
criminalization which often lead to high rates of poverty, unemployment, and
homelessness.”
III
The third type of hate crimes is racial.
There has been a faction in the U.S. known as the “Alt-Right”, which can be
defined as people who have radical right points of view. It has been used in
the U.S. as a code word to mask one of its true intents, white supremacy. After
he was elected President, the current President put several people in the
White House and the Administration who define themselves as “Alt-Right.” It has
been decades since racial prejudice of this caliber has had a home in the White
House.
Since the Presidential election last
November 8th, hate crimes have risen exponentially. The website
Think Progress shared this graphic, which shows data in a three month span:
The Huffington Post reports that hate
crimes have continued to rise:
“… since the 2016 election, the Southern Poverty
Law Center reported over 1000 acts of hate and hate crimes aimed at African
Americans, immigrants, Muslims, and Jews. Sadly, many of these hate crimes took
place in schools and colleges.”
The Center for the Study of Hate and
Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino, tracks hate crimes in
the United States. Some states saw an increase in hate crimes in 2016, while
others experienced a decrease. My home state, Indiana, had a 123% increase in
hate crimes.
It is important to note that these statistics, while staggering, are low. They are not a true representation of what is happening in the country. Not all hate crimes are reported to the police. Once reported, not every crime is designated as a hate crime.
As incidents of hate crimes have risen,
the number of hate groups around the U.S. has grown as well. This map from the
Southern Poverty Law Center charts the number of groups, the type of group as
well as their geographical location in the United States.
On August 12 of this year, the U.S. witnessed
an act of hatred the likes of which had not been seen in decades. The country was
shocked to witness a racial protest in Charlottesville, Virginia. Several hate
groups, Neo-Nazi groups, white nationalist groups, militia groups, and many
other hate groups took part in a nighttime rally; they gathered to protest the
removal of a statue commemorating the life of Robert E. Lee, the General of the
Confederate Army in the Civil War in the U.S.
The
images of hate groups in Charlottesville, Virginia reminded the
country of hate groups from a bygone era. White men marched in the streets
carrying tiki torches, an item that is normally used to provide ambient
lighting for backyard dinner parties.
As the men marched to the Robert E. Lee
statue, tiki torches in hand, they shouted words of hatred, white supremacy,
Nazi slogans, and racial epithets. The next day, August 13, the protesting
turned deadly. The hate groups again returned to Charlottesville, Virginia, to
protest the removal of the statue. That day counter protestors, those opposed
to white supremacy, came out to protest the hate groups present.
The rally got out of hand that afternoon.
The hate groups that were protesting were ordered to leave the area. As they
were departing, a white supremacist was caught on camera shooting at a person
of color.
After the white supremacy
groups and hate groups were asked to leave, protestors on both sides began to
leave the area. As cars were driving through the area, making way for the throngs
of counter protestors to cross the busy street, a driver intentionally rammed
his car into the car in front of his, causing a chain reaction crash with another
car. That final car went lunging into the counter protestors. Nineteen people
were injured in the crash. There was one who passed away from their injuries.
Her name was Heather Heyer. She was thirty-two years old.
After the hate rally in
Charlottesville, the President of the United States spoke about the incident. He
said there were bad people “on both sides” of the issue. Yet in actuality,
video footage from the event show violent aggression coming from the hate group
members.
Since the riots, the Reverend Rob
Lee, the 4th great nephew of Robert E. Lee, spoke about his ancestor
and name sake, General Robert E. Lee:
“My name is Robert Lee the Fourth; I am a descendant
of Robert E. Lee,
the Civil War general whose statue was at the center of
violence in Charlottesville.
We have made my ancestor an idol of white supremacy,
racism and hate. As a pastor it is my moral duty
to speak out against racism, America’s original sin.
We have made my ancestor an idol of white supremacy,
racism and hate. As a pastor it is my moral duty
to speak out against racism, America’s original sin.
Today I call on all of us with
privilege and power to answer God’s call
to confront racism and white supremacy
head on.
We can find inspiration in the Black Lives Matter
movement,
the women who marched in the Women's March in January,
and, especially, Heather Heyer, who died fighting for her beliefs in Charlottesville. ”
and, especially, Heather Heyer, who died fighting for her beliefs in Charlottesville. ”
Since Reverend Lee spoke publicly, it was
reported that many in his congregation took umbrage with his speech. Reverend
Lee has since resigned his post in his church.
When asked about the above speech in a recent talk show interview,
Reverend Lee remarked:
“…if you’re silent in these issues, you
become complicit in these issues.”
In thinking back on the world’s history,
it was just 84 years ago when the Holocaust began. At the ending of World War
II, 72 years ago, the world said: “Never again.” Never again would the world
condone genocide and ethnic cleansing.
Yet despite this pledge, it has happened
again. Ethnic cleansing and genocide happened in Yugoslavia and Rwanda in the
1990s. It happened in Darfur in 2004. It happened in Iraq and Syria in 2016. It
is happening right now in Myanmar.
In last year’s election, many compared
our current President to Adolf Hitler. At first glance, the comparison is
comical. Yet, in looking at the President’s message, his history of
scapegoating others, his hatred of others that are not like him, the comparison
is apt.
Steven Goldstein, the director of the Anne
Frank Centre for Mutual Respect, recently spoke on this comparison in Newsweek:
“Hitler targeted and killed millions of
Jewish, disabled and gay people in the 1930s and 1940s. Equating him with Trump
‘would trivialize the Holocaust,’ Goldstein says. ‘By the same token, it is
responsible, and indeed our moral imperative, to point out parallels between
actions taken by the Trump administration today and the actions taken by
Germany in the 1930s before the Holocaust,’ Goldstein says. ‘1930s Germany
imposed a series of escalating steps of oppression, including demonization,
discrimination and isolation of vulnerable communities, that evoke what we are
seeing today. That comparison is just, and not to make the comparison would be
a dereliction of our duty to ensure
'never again' to any people.’”
'never again' to any people.’”
Leaders of nations around the world have
also made this comparison:
“Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto
said in 2016 that Trump's "strident rhetoric" was similar to
Hitler's, and North Korean state media has called Trump's "America
first" foreign policy "Nazism in the 21st century." And, most
recently, several critics posted on Twitter that Trump's late July speech to
Boy Scouts about loyalty reminded them of the Hitler Youth,
a branch of the
Nazi Party.”
Since the election last year, every movie
and documentary I watch about World War II is a frightful reminder of the evil
humanity has done on this Earth. These movies and documentaries also stand as a
warning for the future, to not let anything like it happen again.
I hear people’s conversation in the news
and in person. I hear them say, “It couldn’t happen in America.” Do not fool
yourself. It can happen again. It is happening around the world as we speak.
Americans, be mindful of what is happening
in the country. Watch the President to see if ever denounces hate groups. Watch
those in his party to see if they support his white supremacist, racist views,
or if they make a stand.
Since the Charlottesville riots over a
month ago, people have continued to express their license to hate. A white man
has now been charged with a hate crime for calling a person of color a "slave" while at a Starbucks.
A white man recently killed a black man,
shouting at him: “I’m going to strip you naked and whip you like the slave you
are.”
Perhaps the most disturbing incident in
recent weeks, the one that touched and angered me the most, was that there was
an attempted lynching of a bi-racial child. He is only eight years old.
If you witness an act of racism against
another person, there are steps you can take. The following video, made by the
Southern Poverty Law Center, offers ten steps on how to fight hatred:
1.) Act
2.) Join Forces
3.) Support the Victims
4.) Speak Up
5.) Educate Yourself
6.) Create an Alternative
7.) Pressure Leaders
8.) Stay Engaged
9.) Teach Acceptance
10.) Dig Deeper
It should be abundantly clear why I chose
this topic today. There is so much hatred in the world today, in the United
States, that I cannot be silent on this issue. Those who are against white
supremacy and hatred should not be silent on this issue.
“He who passively accepts evil is as much
involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it.
He who accepts evil without
protesting against it is really cooperating with
it.”
-Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
I am a white American and I condemn
racism, white supremacy and hatred in all of its forms. I condemn hatred of any kind, towards any
person or group.
It is important to say it. It is crucial to take a stand
against hate. If you condemn white supremacy say it. If you condemn the hatred of others, say it. If you are white and if you are against racism and white supremacy, speak out against it.
I am reminded of a quote from the late
Maya Angelou: “Words are things.” I have erased the word “hate” from my
vocabulary. I believe that even using the word can have consequences.
Do I hate the messages spread by hate
groups and white supremacists? Yes, absolutely. Does that mean that I hate the
people in these hate groups? Absolutely not. We happen to disagree on racial
issues. Because I disagree with someone, it does not mean that I hate them.
“Let no man pull you low enough to hate
him.”-Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
The number one contributor to hatred and
racism is fear. Fear of the unknown. Fear of the different. Fear of what we do
not understand. With all the differences in the world, we are all the same. We
are all human. Human beings are not born hating one another. Human beings are
not born racist. Racism and hatred are learned behaviors. People are taught to
hate. As people learn to hate, they are also capable of unlearning their hatred
and racist views.
I am reminded from a film, “The Eichmann
Show”, now streaming on Netflix. The movie dramatizes the televising of the Adolph
Eichmann trial, which took place in 1961.
The film shows how the trial was
broadcast on television, and includes actual footage from the trial. The
following quote is from Milton Fruchtman, who worked in the televising of the
Eichmann Trial, which is in one of the last scenes of the film:
“For each of us who has ever felt that
God created us better than any other human being
has stood on the threshold
where Eichmann once stood.
And each of us who has allowed the shape
of another person’s nose,
or the color of their skin, or the manner
in which they worship their God
to poison our feelings toward them, have
known the loss of reason
that led Eichmann to his madness.
For this was how it all began with those
who did these things.”
Do not give in to fear. Educate yourself
on what you do not know or understand. Educate yourself on the Black Lives
Matter movement. Educate yourself on white privilege. Educate yourself on the
LGBT+ community. Educate yourself about issues that have nothing to do with
you.
We are all human beings that must live
and co-exist on this Earth. The existence of diversity and difference enriches
our culture and our species. Fear of the unknown, fear of what we do not
understand, does not give us a license to hate.
“We face, therefore, a moral crisis as a
country and a people. It cannot be met by repressive police action. It cannot
be left to increased demonstrations in the streets. It cannot be quieted by
token moves or talk. It is a time to act in the Congress, in your State and
local legislative body and, above all, in all of our daily lives. It is not
enough to pin the blame on others, to say this a problem of one section of the
country or another, or deplore the facts that we face. A great change is at
hand, and our task, our obligation, is to make that revolution, that change,
peaceful and constructive for all.
Those who do nothing are inviting shame, as
well as violence.
Those who act boldly are recognizing right, as well as
reality.”
-John F. Kennedy, from his Civil Rights
Address, June 11, 1963
-Assassinated November 22 1963
“When you hate, the only person that
suffers is you,
because most of the people you hate don’t
know it, and the rest don’t care.”
-Medgar Evers-Assassinated on the night
of President Kennedy’s
Civil Rights speech, 1963
“I refuse to accept the view that mankind
is so tragically bound
to the starless midnight of racism and
war,
that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a
reality…
I believe that unarmed truth and
unconditional love will have the final word.”
-Martin Luther King Jr.-from his Nobel
Prize acceptance speech-1964
Assassinated in 1968
Organizations:
Council on American-Islamic Relations: https://www.cair.com/
Human Rights Campaign: https://www.hrc.org/
Anne Frank Center for Mutual Respect: http://annefrank.com/
Southern Poverty Law Center: https://www.splcenter.org/
Matthew Shepard Foundation: https://www.matthewshepard.org/
N.A.A.C.P. Legal Defense Fund: http://www.naacpldf.org/
G.L.A.A.D.: https://www.glaad.org/
American Civil Liberties Union: https://www.aclu.org/
Resources:
https://www.splcenter.org/20160421/whose-heritage-public-symbols-confederacy
https://www.adl.org/education/resources/tools-and-strategies/anti-bias-resources
http://www.teachingforchange.org/anti-bias-education-articles
https://www.naeyc.org/publications/books/supplements/antibias
https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/this-is-what-you-should-do-if-you-see-a-muslim-per/
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