Yes, hate really bothers me but what can I do? Food for thought.
This question seems to be raised with more frequency and urgency week by week. I鈥檝e had students, colleagues, family and friends bring this up in different ways and the volume calls for some response. I wish I had the right answer 鈥 or a good place to look for the right answer. Instead I鈥檓 also stymied by the growing chorus of hateful messages and the heartache that comes from awareness that hateful language and acts are more present today. I鈥檓 one of those who somewhat naively believed we had left these behind in cultural competency trainings early this century, clearly I was wrong.
In communities like B次元 we have some opportunities to move the needle in the right direction. Our Mission Animation actions, values expressed and demonstrated, and examples of small individual actions all help in this little corner of the world. I also came across a concept new to me this week from Sociologist Megan Carroll at UCF Dornsife. She refers to this opportunity as incidental activism. That is taking opportunities life presents to us in the course of our daily routines to educate those around us that hate isn鈥檛 OK. So how does this incidental activism work? Say you are with some friends and someone makes a joke at a person or group鈥檚 expense 鈥 be the one who says 鈥渢hat鈥檚 not funny鈥. If you hear someone make a statement about something demonstrably false or based on hate 鈥 be that one to say 鈥渢hat鈥檚 not true鈥. I鈥檓 not encouraging adversarial confrontation, rather think of what Carroll from UCF Dornsife tells us – we can embrace these interactions as opportunities to educate people (sometimes strangers). I will take her concept a step further with the premise that reducing the audience for hateful statements can reduce the spread of hate. I don鈥檛 contend this will solve all our problems, but history tells us that changing our culture will happen in small steps over time. Think of this as one of the small steps.
David Hoffman DPS CCE