Hate

Why do people hate other people? Why do they hate people they have never met? Why do they hate people they know little or nothing about? I am trying to figure out why we have to hate at all in light of an article my wife sent me a few days ago. You can find it here: http://nbc4i.com/2016/12/03/couples-house-trashed-tagged-with-swastikas/

The sad part is, hate crimes are up over 35% during this election year. Do I think hate, hate crimes and the election of the President Elect are related? Without a doubt. When you have a candidate and a large amount of his supporters talking and chanting all sorts of hateful things (I won’t repeat them here), it is bound to happen. Hate that is. When our leaders ok this behavior by doing it themselves or letting it happen and encouraging it; by selecting potential staff that have ties to hate organizations, than this is what happens. 

Your typical citizen, that doesn’t like someone else because of how they look or who they love or what they worship, feels it is now ok to act on their hate. Look no farther than the link above for proof of this. Look at all the cartoons and photos and articles, that are hateful, and are passed around on social media now days. Folks, hate comes in all shapes and sizes.

When people fear, and I mean genuinely fear, for their safety because someone was elected that enables and encourages hate, then we have a problem. When President Obama was elected, did Americans genuinely fear for their safety from other Americans? Not that I’m aware of. Did that happen with any other recent president? Not that I’m aware of. Why did it happen this time? Why did so many people vote for hate? What do they fear?

You see, the story above hits very close to home. I’m a white male and have an African American wife. When will this happen to us? When will we be attacked because someone hates to see us together? When will our house be broken into and destroyed? Why do they hate us so much yet don’t even know us?

I’ve thought a lot about this and I feel hate is promoted everywhere these days, especially in social media. This happens by “liking” or passing along cartoons, pictures, false stories, etc. that makes fun of or disrespects another race, culture or religion. Why do that? Why promote hate? Stopping hate happens one step at a time and one of those steps can be to stop using social media to promote it.

You know what, it is also a bunch of bullshit if you say “I didn’t know that was offensive or would hurt someone’s feelings”. Yes you did, you just chose to ignore it.
This is simple folks, walk in the other person’s shoes; love your neighbor like you love yourself; treat others how you want to be treated; if you can’t say something nice than don’t say anything at all; He who casts the first stone… These are all basic sayings that we learned at home or at church or both and if applied, would resolve hate or at least make this country a country that can respect all of its citizens instead of just some of them.

I’ll say this as a white male: White people, it is time to get a clue and start to understand how other AMERICANS, other PEOPLE, that are not white, deserve every kind of respect and opportunity that you get. If you think it is already that way and races other than whites have all the advantages that whites have than you had better start opening your eyes and ears and minds and start seeing how things really are. Again, look at the story above. Would that have happened to those folks if they had both been white?

Now let me point out that there are a lot of great folks out there that treat everyone well and don’t hate. There are a lot. But there are also folks that give you a dirty look or a look of hate when you walk by. There are places where you won’t get served, no matter how long you wait. There are places where store clerks will follow you around to make sure you don’t steal anything. There are things you can’t do, like stand in a parking lot and admire a car you like. Why do all these things happen? 

Because of the color of your skin. You say this doesn’t happen around here or I never see it. Will it does. All these things have happened to my wife and I on numerous occasions. This is something personal, something that happens and continues to happen and it happens all over. It isn’t hate from afar, it is hate that is right in our faces.

What was painted on the walls of that couple’s house? White Power. Who did this? White terrorists. No other way to see it. When people fear for their safety because of a far right or extremist group in their society or maybe even their society as a whole, some Americans may think that that sort of thing only happens in an Islamic country and the terrorists, why they are all Islamic. But no, in this country, a lot of the terrorists are white and probably call themselves Christians and the story above is just one example of many many stories happening more and more frequently across the country this election year. 
The President Elect’s slogan was “Make America Great Again”. What time was he referring to? From my perspective with what I’ve seen and what I wrote about above, I’d say the Jim Crow years in the south, as a start.

This was a bit of a ramble but my point is, don’t hate. Get to know your neighbors, get to know people that don’t look, love or believe like you do. Because when you do, you just may find the best friend you will ever have and you know what, we can all use more friends in this world.