WHO BELONGS ON OUR CITY SIDEWALKS? I keep harping on the connections between racially motivated hate crimes like the murders of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, and Eric Garner and anti-gay hate crimes like this one, but its taking the mainstream media a long time to catch up and see the bigger picture around hate crimes in America. All these hate crimes can be reduced to the unhealthy cultural mindset that our communities and our community streets belong to certain people -- and not others. The lives of the community members who are perceived to be entitled to belong in the community are valued. Those of those who are not, are not. Whether its a bigoted neighborhood patrol person deciding that a young black kid didnt belong in a neighborhood in Sanford, Florida, or a young Mexican man deciding that a gay couple didnt belong on a sidewalk in in Atlanta Georgia -- it all comes down to who are communities are thought to belong to, and who is perceived as not having the right to be there. Theyre all connected.
Posted on: Tue, 30 Dec 2014 23:59:03 +0000
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