Erase hate

June 20, 2007 in Uncategorized

"You can safely assume that you’ve created God in your own image when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do." – Anne Lamott

Hate has a long tail.

It is an emotional state with a deep history, an irrational and sad one. I will long remember hearing about James Byrd being dragged to death behind a pickup truck on June 7, 1998, his head separated from his body when it hit a curb, all for being black. I can remember where I was when I heard about Matthew Shepard being tied to a fence, beaten, and left for dead in the freezing cold, all for being gay. Have you ever been hated for who you are? In danger because of it?

There is a hate crime every hour in this country. One in six are because of the victim’s sexual orientation.

This moving video was produced for Cyndi Lauper’s True Colors tour this summer, and it is a testament to one of the most heartbreaking problems in the U.S. today. Thousands of people are attacked every year simply because of their sexual orientation, and there’s still no federal hate crimes law to protect them. We all deserve that protection, all of us–straight, gay, transgendered, black, white, Christian, Muslim–all of us.

It would mean a lot to me if you could take a minute to watch this brief video and write your Senators, and then pass this along to five friends. Just go here to send your message to Congress.

So much of 37days and all my work is about fighting hate, about valuing people for who they are, not hating them for what they are. I hope you will take a moment to support the Matthew Shepard Act–for what it means to our gay and transgender friends, and, indeed, for what it means to all of us in our shared humanity.

About Patti Digh

Patti Digh is an author, speaker, and educator who builds learning communities and gets to the heart of difficult topics. Her work over the last three decades has focused on diversity, inclusion, social justice, and living and working mindfully. She has developed diversity strategies and educational programming for major nonprofit and corporate organizations and has been a featured speaker at many national and international conferences.

7 comments to " Erase hate "


t

June 21, 2007 AT 1:39AM

thanx for sharing this

meanwhile in major cities like L.A. things are slowly moving in the right direction. A sawareness goes, my sons high school musical his first year there was the Laramie Project, the staff, teachers and administration who are homosexual are out and proud, there are support groups. Of course his is a Music/ art magnet, but, still it’s progress. We live in a city that has a GLBT Highschool. the spiritual Center we belong to is not only gay friendly, there are ministers of every color, size, and sexual orientation…we are 10,000 in committed membership and have 4 full services per week….

this sort of sharing, this link you’ve posted-
its a big part of the positive change that makes the world safer for many loved ones
thanx

K

June 21, 2007 AT 7:50PM

I suppose I’m going to be the only liberal hardhead about this…but is there any evidence that treating a violent crime differently due to this motivation is a useful deterrent, or does it just confuse the issue and more unnecessary complexity to the justice system? Specifically, what makes me unhappy is the idea that one victim of violence deserves more redress than another, simply because one was “hate” motivated, as opposed to drunken brawl/wrong place wrong time/theft/rape/what have you motive. I mean, dead is dead, in the sense that the final effect on the victim is the same. So I’d be uncomfortable with the idea that one murderer gets 25 years simply because of this, because I almost feel that the victims of non-hate crimes would get unequal protection under the law. Thoughts?

patti digh

June 21, 2007 AT 8:52PM

K – Thanks for this thoughtful note – I agree that all such crimes should carry the same weight, and that no one’s loss of life is more or less important than another’s, whether the cause is hate or coincidence. [I also believe that in most cases, legislating behavior has the perverse impact of helping individuals abdicate responsibility for their actions.] But within the context of the judicial system we now have – and given the existence of Hate Crime laws that exclude sexual orientation as a dimension to be protected – I do think it is important that those of us who are gay, lesbian, or transgendered are protected as are our straight counterparts under the law. Legal reform – as you’ve suggested – is an important next step, perhaps… Thanks again for writing.

JanePoe (aka Deborah)

June 22, 2007 AT 2:40AM

Wonderful piece on such an IMPORTANT topic. More of us need to stand up and make a statement about this … I’m working on my piece.

Keep the faith. xx, JP

Timothy

June 24, 2007 AT 12:42PM

I always enjoy your posts. You write about all the things that matter in life. I thought this one was especially important and moving. And yes, we do need legislation that protects gays, lesbians, and transgenders. I will follow up and contact my representatives.

Thanks again for reminding us that love is a powerful force for changing ourselves, our nation and world.

eva

July 9, 2007 AT 2:18AM

Hi!
I think you can`t conquer hate, because it means doing something with power. And violating over violence is violence too. Hating the haters is still hate. The best thing what we can do and should do is love. Love the one, who hates, love the hate in yourself. Love, understand, agree and let go……………love…………

amy s

June 30, 2008 AT 10:33AM

yes love all people, the haters… i see them everywhere giving my BFF, who is a lesbian…. a snide look. as well as me… or both of us…

we went to an ozzy concert, packed full of i am not sure i can define the crowd. she went for me, she didn’t want to go… she did it for me i was nervous to go alone… not the crowd (had not thought about that yet … just anxeity, been a while since a real rock concert, neil diamond doesn’t count……. so in the crowd, i didn’t want to lose her and grabbed her coat in the middle of a marsh (?) pit outside to smoke…. she got pissed and threw my hand away. in that moment i got it very quickly…she didn’t want to be targeted. later i said to her, geeze…. i am so sorry, that was stupid. we could have gotten hurt, or worse. i learned alot that night about her life, my life, and a lot of other human beings living in the midst of hate. i observe hate towards myself (like seeing persons with mental illness panhandling and spit on making fun of us in movies all sorts of examples). i am sure persons with mental illness have been hurt, killed, very sure… etc but can’t think of a specific example but it is much more obvious to me *recently* the shit she has to watch out for… and me too just simply being a women with her (being a women is another issue, could write a book on that) … yes you can’t hate the haters… however in my humble, very humble experience in life… and loving the haters… we have to educate… no matter what level, individual, groups, community’s, nations… (CIRCLE PROJECT GOOD EXAMPLE) a simple act… of sharing… educating… **effectively** might work. but putting people in the slammer… sends a huge message… THIS IS NOT ACCEPTABLE… it has consequences… DO NOT DO THIS. then maybe, only maybe (hate runs deep)… people might have a second thought before beating a fellow human being tied to a fence and leaving them there to die alone… i can’t imagine… all for just being himself…