AT THE start of a new year, a series of hate incidents have once again exposed the seedy underbelly of hatred at the University, bringing about a cycle of demonstrations and vociferous condemnations against intolerance. While these demonstrations are important to focus attention on the immediate acts, they often fail to acknowledge that each act of hated is rooted in long standing inequalities based on race, gender and sexual orientation.
Students should see the recent hate acts in the context of a long history of social injustice that fuels hate incidents and not just as the immature acts of a group of bigots. By forming coalitions designed to combat the historical inequities that breed hate, students can attack the root of hatred and violence and create real cultural change at the University.
In this light, when an African-American student finds a threatening racial epithet written on the door of his room on the Lawn, we should not just express outrage at the bigot who committed the crime, but also at the culture of racial separation and hierarchy that created Jim Crow.
When a man in a passing car attempts to intimidate a group of Asian students by yelling "chink" at them, we should see that his hatred stems from a cultural belief that labels Asian Amiercans as"permanent foreigners" forever casting them as outsiders. When a gay student has to go to the hospital after an unprovoked assault leaves him with a bleeding head injury, we should view this through the lens of a culture that describes anything outside of the heterosexual norm as being suspiciously abnormal.
In addition to this, it is important to acknowledge that hate at the University goes beyond the most egregious and well-publicized incidents. Indeed, the main reason that incidences of hate have gained increased attention this year is not because this year has somehow randomly had an abnormally high number of incidents.
Rather, as Black Student Alliance President Aaron Blake said, "It's not happening more; it's just being reported more often." Indeed, a study conducted by the Commission on Diversity and Equity concluded that 91 percent of African-American students at the University have "been subject to or witnessed a variety of negative experiences related to their race," while 40 percent had been personally subjected to racial epithets. With this in mind, the myth that intolerance is no longer a problem at the University should be erased.
As Blake noted, "People like to believe that racism does not happen at U.Va. It is only when you arrive that you realize that we live in an environment that stands contrary to the accomplishments of the civil rights movement. It is very dangerous being a black student of the University."
With all this in mind, it is clear that we all have a moral imperative to stand up to the culture of hate. The most significant way students can combat this problem is to come together and combat the social inequities that continue to create hatred.
An important move toward establishing a community of students united against such injustices was taken with "The First Step" meeting held Wednesday nightby the Minority Rights Coalition. In this meeting members gathered together from the Latino political advocacy group, La Alianza, the Queer Student Union, the National Organization for Women, the Asian Student Union and the Black Student Alliance in order to present the priorities of their groups and promote cooperation in the suppression of acts of hate.
Navdeep Singh, a vice chair for the MRC, expressed the importance of cooperation in combating cultural intolerance when he said, "We see a lot of commitment from the leaders. The objective is to get all of the members involved to join together and to work together."
By focusing on challenging the cultural assumptions that underlie intolerance, groups like the Minority Rights Coalition can unite students in a long term movement that addresses the root causes of hatred. Ultimately, as important as demonstrations in response to incidents can be to expressing community outrage, long term change will only come when students challenge the assumptions that underlie racist, sexist, and homophobic thought.
As Blake said, "It's really simple. All you have to do is say it's not okay."
Hopefully, the University can live up to this call to action, and stamp out the culture of hate once and for all.
Adam Keith is a Cavalier Daily associate editor. He can be reached at akeith@cavalierdaily.com.
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