News and Editorials

Three Stories of "Evil"

This morning’s Mercury carried 3 stories about bigotry: "Hate crimes hit low," "Holocaust colors outlook," and "Anti-Semitic diary belies Truman’s actions." There’s a common lesson: prejudice is complex. We could take the 3 monkeys approach — see, hear, speak no evil — or we can deal with human realities.

Lesson 1) Words and deeds aren’t the same. People harbor hateful thoughts born of conditioning and fear, that don’t always translate into action. We must judge people by their actions, not their knee-jerk reactions when confused or threatened.

Lesson 2) Hatred spreads, even from those who were victims. This becomes a big issue as we move from a "majority/minority" community to one where everybody is a "minority". We cannot afford to plan and act on an oppressor/oppressed model; we need a "unity" model.

Lesson 3) People need room to change; understanding can be learned. Sometimes by acting differently our understanding grows; sometimes it takes understanding first to change how we act. Either way we need to let people change and forgive when they do.

We have much work to do, regardless of how hate crime statistics portray our community. Fortunately, we know how it can be done.

Bart A. Charlow, President
Silicon Valley Conference for Community and Justice
July 2003