Our president has accomplished a lot so far. Midterm elections in November will decide if we will keep our momentum and continue to make progress, or if we will turn backward and lose the gains we have made.
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In October of this year, President Obama signed into law the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, which makes it a federal crime to attack someone because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. As he signed the act, he made the following statement:
“…at root, this isn’t just about our laws; this is about who we are as a people. This is about whether we value one another — whether we embrace our differences, rather than allowing them to become a source of animus. It’s hard for any of us to imagine the mind-set of someone who would kidnap a young man and beat him to within an inch of his life, tie him to a fence, and leave him for dead. It’s hard for any of us to imagine the twisted mentality of those who’d offer a neighbor a ride home, attack him, chain him to the back of a truck, and drag him for miles until he finally died. But we sense where such cruelty begins: the moment we fail to see in another our common humanity — the very moment when we fail to recognize in a person the same fears and hopes, the same passions and imperfections, the same dreams that we all share.” (whitehouse.gov)
While the federal hate crimes law provides much needed protections, no law will be sufficient to remove hatred and prejudice from our society, nor the violence they produce. We were abruptly reminded of this on Saturday when three people were assaulted outside of a nightclub in Saint Louis. Their attackers gave no reason for their aggression other than to repeatedly call their victims “faggots.” Fortunately, none of the victims suffered serious injuries. (KSDK)
Violence of this kind is pervasive in our society. It will not be stopped by a law or by the police. It will only end when we address its fundamental cause, only when we stand up as a community and refuse to accept intolerance, bigotry, prejudice, and hatred. That is exactly what several Saint Louis activists are doing.
At 7pm tomorrow (12/4), there will be a vigil and a march against violence. It will begin at the corner of Manchester Avenue and Boyle with a vigil, followed by a march down Manchester to the corner of Manchester and Vandeventer. For more details, please visit the Facebook event. If you are interested in attending and need a ride, Rainbow Alliance is organizing a carpool that will leave from the Marchetti parking lot at 6:45pm.
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