Ways to Stop Hatred (Street Harassment) according to Tolerance.org and what I do in my personal life to stop hatred:
This is in relation to my earlier article about street harassment. My goal is to stop this blatant disrespect of women everywhere. No matter what color you are or what you are wearing guys feel that it is necessary to objectify women in public. This movement is going to take more than just a few female to change the way females are treated in public. It is going to take all citizens if this country to improve the way of life for women. I, personally consider this a hate crime, purposely singling out women in public to basically tell her that she does not belong out here alone. According to Tolerance.org there are ten ways to stop a hate crimes from happening.
1) Act: DO SOMETHING. DO SOMETHING. DO SOMETHING. Do not just sit around waiting for others to act for you. Do not just empathize with the person who is being harassed. Say something, for example, if you are with a group of your friends and they make a derogatory commitment about women, tell them to stop regardless if they call you names. Do the right thing. You conscience will tell you if something you are doing is right or wrong unless you do not have a conscience (I believe there are very few people that do not have one). If you have doubts about your actions, it probably is. You may be surprised that you are not the only one that feels this way.
2) Unite: Nothing like uniting for a common cause. There is strength in numbers. Contact people on your college campus, church group, athletic league. The more people the better, the more ideas that can formulate. Also contact groups that are direct targets of street harassment. Contact law enforcement and form a positive healthy relationship (because you want law enforcement on your side). Declare a “Hate-Free” zone (hang a poster displaying the words “Hate-Free Zone.”)
3) Support the Victims: Victims of hate crimes may feel they are alone and that no one understand what they have gone through. Give your support by giving a shoulder to cry on. If a victim needs moral support while filling out a police report.
4) Do your Homework: Find out everything you can about the harassing group to better fight against them. Some views that certain groups possess: They want to limit the rights of certain groups. They want to divide society along racial, ethnic or religious lines. They believe in conspiracies. They try to silence any opposition. They are anti government and fundamentalist. According to the Southern Poverty Law Center most hate crimes are not committed by hate groups but by “freelancers”, hence the guys who commonly use derogatory language towards us in the public realm. They are considered a hate group even though they do not meet or know each other.
5) Create an Alternative: Do not attend a hate rally, when I first read this tip I wondered why would I do that to begin with but some people may get the idea to give hate groups a direct opposition. DON’T DO IT. Fight people the legal way. NO NEED FOR VIOLENCE.
6) Speak up: Expose the hate. Draw attention to yourself with a positive message.
7) Lobby Leaders: Elect officials that are against hate.
8) Look Long-Range: Peace starts at home. Do not think about a peaceful society if your home life is not chaos. It may take awhile to unlearn behaviors but everything it hard at first.
9) Teach Tolerance: In the classroom, at home, and after-school activities. This should be started in childhood.
10) Dig Deeper: Do away of with your own prejudice. In order to fight against hate, you have relieve yourself of it.
These 10 ways to stop help hate can also be viewed on http://www.tolerance.org/10_ways/index.html website.
My next step in stopping hate is by publishing as many article as I can about hate and getting as many people involved as possible. I have already performed number 10. I make a point not to be in the company of anyone who professes hate speech. This list does not only apply to street harassment hatred but toward ending any type of hatred locally, nationally, and globally. One day we can truly judge people based on character not on color or religion. I get two people, then another person get two people and we have snowball effect. There are plenty of resources on the Tolerance.org website. You can also download a poster copy of ten ways to stop hate. Post on your myspace, web page, facebook, or hang one on your door. to see the list in its entirety go to Tolerance.org.
Sources:
www.tolerance.org
www.splcenter.org
http://www.tolerance.org/10_ways/act/index.html
http://www.tolerance.org/10_ways/unite/index.html
http://www.tolerance.org/10_ways/support/index.html
http://www.tolerance.org/10_ways/homework/index.htm
http://www.tolerance.org/10_ways/create/index.html
http://www.tolerance.org/10_ways/lobby/index.html
http://www.tolerance.org/10_ways/looklong/index.html
http://www.tolerance.org/10_ways/teach/index.html
http://www.tolerance.org/10_ways/dig/index.html
