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Drop by Drop Upon the Heart

Drop by Drop Upon the Heart

A response to a class discussion on recent hate crimes

 Hate is not the thing with feathers.  It is not natural, it is not innate to anyone. It is learned, which is what is most frightening about the three heinous hate crimes that rocked the U.S. in the past three days. In our own hometown a man shot and killed two black people at a Kroger in a racially motivated attack. The man that mailed pipe bombs in an attempt to assassinate a former president, a presidential nominee, a former attorney general, a billionaire and members of a news organization was captured. A man shot and killed eleven Jews in a synagogue. 

Many have come to the consensus over the past three days of hatred and gradually over the past couple of years that some newfound hatred is gripping America. It can certainly feel that way. There is evidence that hate crimes are on the rise. That is startling. Not to copy Franklin Roosevelt, but the scariest thing from this might be that fear will penetrate streets, neighborhoods, and homes. As Brazil recently showed, scared people call for drastic measures. They elected a president promising to cut down on crime, but he also has said that Brazil's brutal military dictatorship didn't kill enough people and that he wouldn't rape a congresswoman because she was too ugly. But crime floods the streets of Brazil's largest cities, America is still relatively safe. But if people feel threatened, they will take drastic actions. 

I know that I am not in a position to tout that "oh America is so safe and hate crimes are so rare!" being white, male and living in a safe neighborhood. But these past three days of hate have been brought about by the actions of three people. Three people out of a population of three hundred and twenty-some million. The actions of three people won't convince me that there is a new hatred in America. Most people in the world aren't filled with loathing for any other group of fellow humans. Most people have moral compasses. (Although I think now some people may have a magnet held up to their's). Most people are good and motivated to be so. So why now are hate crimes increasing in number across the U.S.? I don't have a great answer, no one really does. It again seems something is wrong in this great society we have built. But what peaceful time is there to harken back to when all people of America and the world lived in peace and harmony together? There has never been a time without people with radical fringe views contradictory to American values. But relegating these views to the radical few is progress.  

After the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., Robert Kennedy said "the vast majority of white people and the vast majority of black people in this country want to live together, want to improve the quality of our life, and want justice for all human being who abide in our land." His entire speech from the back of a truck in Indianapolis is relevant now. RFK was shot and killed sixty-two days after delivering that speech. 

But the 60's are remembered for the triumph of the Civil Rights Movement, the moon landing and other great societal, political and technological progress. John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King and Robert F. Kennedy helped define that decade. Their assassins did not. The actions of three people trying to counter a world in which all peoples live together in harmony will never define the first country built on enlightenment ideals and equality. 

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