As some of you know I went along to partake in the NOH8 campaign this week. I would have thought that the reasoning behind it was obvious, but clearly not, given I was asked by someone “why?” however it wasn’t in that “what motivated you, that’s great”, way. NO, it was more in a “God why bother?’ kind of way. In this day and age I am shocked by how desensitized we have become to the world around us... so I thought I’d list a few reason why some of us need to take our heads out of our ( . ) – please inset an appropriate body part!
Whilst the initial stimulus for this campaign was in response to Proposition 8, which eliminated the rights of same-sex couples’ to marry in California, NO H8 is about hate in all forms as you can hear Adam and Jeff state on the videotape. Displaying no innate prejudice itself, hate wears a ubiquitous face of feral virulence that discriminates against no-one in particular as it crosses all racial, sexual, religious or social- economic barriers, which ironically means that we can all be victims of its super glue grip.
Thankfully I have never experienced physical violence because of hate per se but I have been called a “nigger” in my home city of Coventry, a “honky bitch” in Jamaica, a “half breed mutt” in Vermont, and that’s only the insults related to my color. I wrote a song/poem about those events called “The Color of Hate” basically stating that color is only skin deep, but, that just below the skin is the color of blood, which is the same for everyone.
As advanced as we are, sometimes I can’t help but think we are living in a contemporary version of the dark ages. So…to the “one” who asked why, read the following press excerpts from that last year or so:
14 Reasons Why We Need Campaigns Like No H8:
1. The annual report by the Los Angeles County Human Relations Commission showed hate crimes rose by 28%, to 763, with vandalism and assault leading the way....” an alarming trend, hate crimes based on race, religion and sexual orientation all rose, increasing against nearly all groups -- including blacks, gays, Jews, Mexicans, whites and Asian” ( LA times/ July 08)
2. The deaths of Nicolas Pablo Corp-Torres age 23 and Racine Balbontin-Aragondona, age 22, and the critical wounding of three — Fransisco Javier Cofre-Fernande, age 25, in critical condition; Sebastian Mauricio Arizaga-Suarez, age 27 and David Alonzo Bilbao-Meza, age 21, was motivated by hatred of immigrants..... The accused killer, Dannie Roy Baker, is a self-proclaimed minister who apparently was moved by Republican hate speech against immigrants (Chile 09)
3. Women in townships in Johannesburg and Cape Town are reporting a rising tide of brutal homophobic attacks and murders and the widespread use of “corrective” rape as a form of punishment. ( action aid 08)
4. Three adults charged in the torturing a 22-year-old man, described as “mentally disabled” and “vulnerable,” who was held captive and brutally abused for several weeks (- Hamilton, ON, Canada February 2009)
5. Federal prosecutors today accused three New York men of randomly attacking African-Americans on election night in retaliation for Barack Obama's victory. (Port Richmond)
6. A man tried to hit a Pakistani woman with his car. The suspect was reported to have "screamed that he was 'doing this for his country' and was 'going to kill her.'" The article noted that this was one of several reported "incidents of violence directed toward Middle Easterners, or those perceived to be Muslim."
7. Hate Crimes. A 30% increase in New York last year; a 10-year study published last fall found that hate crimes in New York began to increase two years ago after declining over several years.
8. According to a police report, on March 31st, a 52-year-old Real Change vendor—who is black—was finishing his newspaper sales shift at 4th and Virginia when he was grabbed by two men wearing ski masks and pulled into an alley. “The masked men began kicking and punching the vendor, knocking him into a concrete wall. The vendor told police that during the attack, one of the masked men told him "this is what you get for fucking with a white man." The report notes that the masked men made no attempt to rob the vendor. ( seattle 09)
9. An armed group vandalized Caracas' oldest synagogue, shattering religious objects and spray-painting walls in what Jewish leaders called the worst attack ever on their community in Venezuela.( feb 09)
10. The mother whose questioning of a Thanksgiving kindergarten tradition in Claremont resulted in the elimination of the children's handmade pilgrim and Native American costumes last month has received more than 250 hate e-mails, filled with misogynistic epithets, racist jeers and other abuse. ( nov 08)
11. As 14-year-old Brandon McInerney prepares to be arraigned today in the slaying of 15-year-old Lawrence "Larry" King at E.O. Green Junior High School in Oxnard, McInerney felt King was gay, his lawyer is advancing a defense that at least partly blames school officials for the tragedy. (May o8)
12. GREELEY, Colo. — Angie Zapata was killed two weeks shy of her 19th birthday last summer, beaten to death with a flurry of fists and a fire extinguisher. (Angie was transgender)- April 23rd 09
13. Moss poured a flammable liquid on the front lawn of the victims’ residence in the shape of a cross and the letters "KKK". Klausegger handed Moss a small explosive device that Moss used to ignite the flammable liquid (victim was African American)
14. Two Pennsylvania teenagers in the fatal beating of an illegal immigrant from Mexico. (April 2009)
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