Hate Crimes and Holidays: Give a Gift of Hope

[Note: As of 5-1-03, this site appears to be no longer in operation. I'm leaving the article up, because with or without a website, victims of hate crimes still need our support and compassion.]

My email program dings, informing me I have new messages. A chain letter. A couple of notes from editors and clients. A recipe from my mother who never gives up trying to make me into a cook. An advertisement for Viagra (?!). And a letter from the Hate Crime Network:

This is to notify you that an incident was just reported to the HATE-CRIME NETWORK. According to the report:

An 11 year-old Arab male in California was recently involved in an apparent racially-motivated incident at school. As the young man was leaving basketball practice, a group of kids taunted him. They called him "nigger" and told him that his father would "die in the war as should he"-and claimed that they would laugh when it happened. They took away his science project and destroyed it. When he ran after the kids, one hit him in the head with a basketball and another child punched him in the stomach. He was threatened with further violence when he fought back...

I click on the link to send a message of support to the victim and type in a note. The phrases I use are old, formulaic even: "I'm so sorry...thank you for having the courage to report this...what happened to you was wrong...you did not deserve it...you're in my thoughts."

The words themsleves don't really matter all that much. What matters is that the victim of a crime designed to silence and intimidate, has spoken out and is receiving nation-wide support from myself and from dozens of other internet users.

Such is the beauty of the Hate-Crime Network. The Hate-Crime Network is a project of LAMBDA GLBT Community Services developed to address the unique needs of hate crime victims.

Hate crime victims face more than the sting of blows and the pain of hurtful, ignorant words. They must also deal with the high wall of silence and denial surrounding bias-related incidents.

Often, victims aren't even sure if they should report such incidents, or where to do so. What do you do when you're a black man in the deep South and the perpetrator is a police officer? Or when the courts have ruled that a cross burned to threaten and intimidate constitutes free speech? What do you do when you're a gay teenager being assaulted by peers in a school that forbids teachers to discuss homosexuality?

For a complete listing of article comments, questions, and other discussions related to Debra L. Stang's Lesbian Issues topic, please visit the Discussions page.