Striking Back at Hate

Act. Unite. Support the victims. Create an alternative.

This is advice offered in “Ten Ways To Fight Hate,” a slender manual published by the Montgomery, Ala.-based Southern Poverty Law Center, a nonprofit legal and educational organization that monitors hate groups and promotes the teaching of tolerance.

The center calls its booklet a community response guide to hate crimes. We can attest that the advice is worthwhile--because we’ve seen it practiced here in the San Fernando Valley.

Following the summer’s rampage allegedly by a white supremacist that left five women and children injured at a Jewish community center in Granada Hills and a Filipino-American postman dead on his route in Chatsworth, Valley residents could have written the book on community response to hate.

“Ten Ways To Fight Hate” advises: “Do something. In the face of hatred, apathy will be interpreted as acceptance.”

Valley residents did not hesitate to act, from those who rescued and sheltered children under fire to those who sent sympathy cards--by the hundreds--to the family of the slain Joseph Ileto.

Across the city, Angelenos united in rallies and marches. They lobbied leaders in state and federal office to strengthen gun-control and hate-crime laws. They visited the injured and cheered the youngest victim when he went home after six weeks in the hospital.

And two months after the shootings, the community continues to respond.

“Look long range,” the Southern Poverty Law Center guidelines advise. “Create a response team. Hold annual events.”

Cal State Northridge, the site of a rally only days after the shootings, last week hosted a “Week of Dialogue” with discussions on race, prejudice and violence.

“Dig deeper,” the guidelines suggest. “Look into issues that divide us: economic inequality, immigration, homosexuality.”

The Metropolitan Community Church in North Hollywood earlier this month presented “La Novia” (“The Fiancee”) and three other short theater pieces performed by gay, Latino actors. The plays address homophobia and gay men’s yearning for acceptance and are intended to spur discussion among Latino families.

“Teach tolerance,” say the guidelines. As a trio of young skinheads went on trial last week, accused of the hate-inspired killing of a black man behind a Lancaster fast-food restaurant, the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office and the Museum of Tolerance launched a pilot program in the Antelope Valley. Called Juvenile Offenders Learning Tolerance, or JOLT, the program will teach young first-time offenders of “low-level” hate crimes--not involving injury or major damage--and their parents anger management, conflict resolution and other skills. It will also require offenders to write letters of apology or make restitution to victims when appropriate.

All Angelenos should be proud of these actions against hate--and inspired to even greater efforts.

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To Take Action: You can find “Ten Ways to Fight Hate” on the Web (https://www.splcenter.org), or write the Southern Poverty Law Center, 400 Washington Ave., Montgomery, AL 36104, or call (334) 264-0286.