When a violent crime occurs, we react. To our friends and neighbors, through spoken and written word, through traditional and social media. Or, we stay silent. We skim an article, and go back to our lives.
How we choose to react depends on many things. What are the factors that drive us to speak out, or remain silent in the face of human tragedy? How does our race and racial identity affect our reaction and response?
Are we more likely to speak out against a crime if it is perpetrated against our own race/group/community?
Is it racist if we only speak out when it is our community affected?
How does the media distinguish between 'hate crimes' and 'violent crime' in portrayal of the event?
Opinions:
From: 'Hate Crimes Always Have A Logic: On The Oak Creek Gurudwara Shootings' by Harsha Walia on Racialicious
ReplyDeletehttp://www.racialicious.com/2012/08/06/hate-crimes-always-have-a-logic-on-the-oak-creek-gurudwara-shootings/
"The crimes of white supremacists are not exceptions and do not and cannot exist in isolation from more systemic forms of racism. People of colour face legislated racism from immigration laws to policies governing Indigenous reserves; are discriminated and excluded from equitable access to healthcare, housing, childcare, and education; are disproportionately victims of police killings and child apprehensions; fill the floors of sweatshops and factories; are over-represented in heads counts on poverty rates, incarceration rates, unemployment rates, and high school dropout rates. Colonialism has and continues to be shaped by the counters of white men’s civilizing missions. The occupation of Turtle Island is based on the white supremacist crime of colonization, where Indigenous lands were believed to be barren and Indigenous people believed to be inferior. The occupation of Afghanistan has been justified on the racist idea of liberating Muslim women from Muslim men. Racialized violence has also always targeted places of worship–the spiritual heart of a community. In Iraq, for example, the US Army accelerated bombings of mosques from 2003-2007 with targeted attacks on the Abdul-Aziz al-Samarrai mosque, Abu Hanifa shrine, Khulafah Al Rashid mosque and many others. And so I repeat: the patterns of hate crimes have a sense, have a logic, have a structure – they are part of a broader system of white supremacy."