"The fact that the person who killed those police officers and believed in such conspiracy theories, and hated Jews and hated people of color lived five minutes from my home is really depressing me..."
Azizi


But you see...when YOU are not doing well, whether in jobs or schools....etc., hate and blame against those who don't LOOK like you, TALK like you, or BELIEVE like you is just so much easier than coping & taking responsibility. It happens more when changes are more rapid and the cultural & languages are greater, and when times in general are tough.
   It even happens in reverse among those who suffer the greatest discrimination, who often resort to blaming and hating all those who LOOK like their oppressors.

   It is really difficult to keep one's perspective and adopt a reasonable attitude when simplistic images, as in TV news, and community events stir the emotions.

I currently see it very close to me, as the Hispanic/Latino population is increasing rapidly around me...not only in neighborhoods 'over there', but on my street and in the stores where I shop. *I* know what my correct thinking and behavior should be, but
I have to remind myself the the majority of these people cause me no harm and have the same goals & basic values as myself....but this morning, I once again had to clean the pieces of broken beer bottles from my driveway, and I KNOW who caused the problem.
   When I see news reports of violence and crime near me these days, it is more & more Hispanic names involved. It would be so easy to rationalize and make sweeping generalizations about 'them', and though I am not considering moving, I don't doubt that the value of my home is being affected.
So... what is it that keeps ME from thinking & acting more like that guy who shot the police officers? Education?...maybe. MY parents were not racists, and I attended mixed schools from about the 7th grade on. (It barely entered my young head that I had NOT been in mixed racial/cultural classes the 1st 6 years) What really happened to me was seeing the Little Rock and Mississippi school crises on TV in the years when I was first meeting those of different ethnic backgrounds. It helped me get thru the next few years of school with some comprehension of what was at issue.,,,,and it's a good thing it did! Because when I was in college, George Lincoln Rockwell, founder of the American Nazi Party, spoke at my school. I went, curious to see such a person and watch him be be booed & heckled by our stalwart students......oh, was I in for a shock! He was cheered and applauded by a large portion of the audience!
I sat in stunned silence, wondering how this purveyor of hate & intolerance could be given a hero's applause. It took me years to sort out that he had simply mastered the art of appealing to the fears & prejudices already simmering in many people. It has taken me many more years to see that it is, as I said, simply much easier to blame & hate & believe the well-phrased lies & half-truths that bigots have convinced themselves of!

In Africa, Hutus & Tutsis still hate and kill each other...though without tribal/clan markings & dress, it would be difficult to tell them apart...and in Ireland, many Protestants & Catholics still nurse old grudges and beliefs, even though there is little to separate them EXCEPT where they live and go to church. And India & Pakistan? And Kurds & Iraquis? And Russians & Poles? And Serbs & Croatians?....I could go on, and so could each of us.
   When people are not happy, or have cultural stories & memories of conflict, they WILL take the 'easy' way of thinking, even when it leads to a 'hard' way of living.
I hate being a pessimist, but thinking is MUCH harder than just following old ways. We can...and must... teach, work and behave, as much as possible to set good examples and build trust & understanding....and President Obama is setting the best possible example of that every day! Perhaps in 20-30-40 years, statistics will show that improvements have been made, but we ALL know the the sad incidents of violence by disturbed individuals who can't cope with too much 'thinking' are by no means ended.

I have my personal opinions about what might ease the trends, but they are not PC, and even *I* don't like the implications. As long as the news media keeps dwelling on these stories, ideas will be planted in more heads....and as long as rising unemployment is coupled with immigration and old hatreds, it will lead to more violence...in Wichita, in Atlanta, in Memphis, in Des Moines...no place is totally safe. I know *I* am not safe.....but I am doing MY best not to provoke any problems....so I just go sweep my driveway and say little.....


.......but I am sad that it is so hard for us 'humans' to be decent to each other....