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Spirit of Ma'at: "Freedom & National Security" — Vol 2 May 2002 The violation of minority group freedoms since 9/11 with Kelvin Datcher by Marylyn Rands
Kelvin Datcher writes an online column that encourages people from all walks of life to "fight hate and promote tolerance." Called "Backlash," his column has been documenting some of the incidents since 9/11 that indicate a radical increase in threats to the civil rights and freedoms of Arab Americans and Muslims — or even people who bear superficial resemblances to these groups.
Marylyn: Kelvin, we'd like to know something about how 9/11 has affected the freedoms of Arab and other Middle-Eastern minorities in this country. From your past experience, did you expect this "backlash" you talk of? Kelvin: Unfortunately, as soon as we watched the second airplane crash into the tower at the World Trade Center, we anticipated some incidents. We knew that within three days of the bombing of Oklahoma City, there were hundreds of reports of hate crimes towards Arab Americans and Muslims in this country — even though, as it turned out, the person responsible for that wasn't Arab or Muslim at all. Interestingly enough, today [April 19, 2002] is actually the anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing. So on September 11, we were aware that this backlash might happen — and it did. Initially, it was acts on the streets, all across this country. Harassment, violence. Several murders are being investigated as hate crimes in the aftermath of 9/11. Several groups, Arab-American groups in particular, have said that the rounding up of five thousand men by the U.S. Justice Department, and also acts by local law enforcement, reeked of racial profiling. These acts have cast a dark light on the Arab American and Muslim community by implying that they are responsible. Many Arab American leaders believe that the policy of casting such a large net around five thousand men — men who the FBI even said probably had nothing to do with 9/11 — made all Arab Americans among us feel as if they had something to do with this terrible attack. Marylyn: What other groups have been targets of this backlash? Kelvin: The Sikh community, particularly, has been victimized (see Sikh.org). Their appearance, with the turbans and long, unshaven beards mandated by their religion, closely fits our stereotypes of Arabs and Muslims. Actually, however, the Sikhs are an Indian religion that's hundreds of years old and has nothing at all to do with Islam or the current crisis in this country and the world. They just happen to fit the current Arab/Muslim stereotype. Asian-Pacific Americans also have become targets. Marylyn: Who are the perpetrators of these acts? Are they persons who generally go around committing hate crimes, or are you seeing this with other people, as well? Kelvin: We know that generally hate crimes are committed by young men against young men. That is the pattern. However, one of the unfortunate things since 9/11 is that we have seen people of all ages, and also some women, as offenders in hate crimes. And we have seen the victims being not only men but also women and children. That's very shocking. The profile of both victims and offenders has really expanded. Marylyn: Is the violence usually women against women, or children against other children? Kelvin: No, not necessarily at all. It's been individuals. It's men against women. Men against children. There have been several cases in and around schools in this country where men have harassed young Arab Americans or Muslim children walking to school. Marylyn: What is the link between 9/11 and the increase in these cases? Why are more people now feeling that it's okay to express hate? Kelvin: I think it stems from the very nature of terrorism. What terrorism seeks to do is to give you a sense of powerlessness and a sense of fear. You don't know who to strike back at. So for people feeling anger and hurt, it's justifiable to lash out at anyone who is convenient. And so Arab Americans and Muslims and Sikhs have been convenient targets because of their appearance. Marylyn: Are hate crimes committed partly because people feel that in this environment their neighbors are not going to criticize them? That they will get away with it? Kelvin: Yes, I do think that people are emboldened. One gentleman murdered a Sikh man in Mesa, Arizona, on September 15. When he was being arrested, he said to the cops as they were putting him into the squad car, "You arrest me, and you let the terrorists go? I'm for America all the way." It's as if he were invoking a sense of patriotism on behalf of the cops, saying, "You guys are not being Americans here. You guys are going after the wrong people." This was after he had allegedly shot one Sikh man, shot at another man of Lebanese descent, and then shot into a family from Afghanistan. He prodded at the cops with the perspective that, "You guys should not be after me. You should be after them." Marylyn: Murder is a good example of what people think of as a violation of civil rights. But civil rights pertain to more than just violent crimes, right? Kelvin: Yes. Human rights are spelled out clearly in an article by Claire King that was written for the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) on December 10, 1998. It's a powerful article. "According to [educator Nancy] Flowers," (the article reads) "most Americans identify human rights with freedom of speech and association, due process, and protection from torture and arbitrary detainment. Here is the U.S., we are not accustomed to thinking in terms of human rights when we talk about adequate food, living wages, free and equal education, disability rights, safety from crime, capital sentencing, equity for women and sexual minorities, housing, abortion, environmental concerns, immigration policy, religious tolerance, social security and medical care. "Getting Americans to consider social, economic and cultural factors as topics directly related to the UDHR is the mission of Human Rights U.S.A, a collaborative group..." (see splcenter.org/teachingtolerance//tt-16.html). In 1985, we were asked by South Africa to come in and provide human rights education. And after Nelson Mandela's release, in 1990, we collaborated on a textbook, Human Rights for All, that came out of this experience in South Africa. It has been adapted for use in the United States, East Africa, Latin America, Eastern Europe, and the former Soviet Union — countries that knew they could not have a true democracy without having human rights. However, fewer than ten of our states have mandated human rights education. Marylyn: Knowing the lack of education in our country on civil rights and our fears about what's happening now, what are some of the things we can do to help people deal with their anger and fear and to be more tolerant? Kelvin: One of the first things we do is we get people to take a look at themselves. Some people hear us when we talk about looking at ourselves as if we are accusing them of being racist. What we want people to know is that all of us are vulnerable to bias. We all have our own biases. I travel a lot around the country, and I remember that I had a flight about a month or so after September 11, and I passed a man who was wearing a turban and he had a mid-Eastern appearance. I looked at that gentleman, and as he was walking by I turned and looked again. And I know that before September 11, I would never have done that. It kind of shocked me that I did that. Now that I think about it, I'm very disappointed in myself. But you know, I kind of got to the place inside where I thought, it's okay if you look twice before you act once. And that's the thing. Before you act, take a moment to look twice. Marylyn: That's a good way to put it. Because we do all have our biases, and certainly race in this country has always been a sensitive subject. Kelvin: Race has always been a dominant issue. Always. And yes, we all have our biases, and so we need to take a look at them. We need to go in and figure out why we have them. I think we all understand on an intellectual level that biases and prejudices are not useful and that they're self-destructive. But biases and prejudices do play on our emotions. Sometimes our emotions get ahead of our intellect. Jesse Jackson gave a speech years ago where he said he knew there was a problem when one day he was walking down the street in the evening and he knew someone was behind him, and he turned around and saw a white man. And he was a bit relieved that it wasn't a black man. This is a great example that we all have these biases. We're all exposed to the same media, the same images out there. Marylyn: Do you have material at the Center that can be used for teaching tolerance? Kelvin: Oh, absolutely. This is one of the great uses of the Web and of technology. Tolerance.org was launched to fight the perversity of technology, because hate groups were using this great technology to spread hate. And so Morris Dees, co-founder of the Southern Poverty Law center [SPLC] and its chief trial counselor, when he conceived Tolerance.org, thought of us as an antidote to some of the poisons that were out there on the Web. One of the ways we are able to use the Web is we have tests on our site (see tolerance.org/hidden_bias/index.html) to detect hidden bias. These tests were developed at Yale University and the University of Washington. The website gives you an interactive way to measure your biases. Different tests ask about black versus white, body image, Asian Americans, gender bias, age bias, and gay versus straight. And just after 9/11 we launched a test for hidden bias against Arabs and Muslims — our perceptions of Arabs and Muslims. Each test takes only five to seven minutes, and you get your results right away. We don't put these tests up in order to point a finger and say, "Hey you're biased." What we're doing is simply giving people a chance to take a look at themselves in the privacy of their own homes, and make themselves aware. And then we provide them with recommendations for how they can deal with their biases. Marylyn: And you have materials for teaching children, right? Kelvin: Yes. One of those is a magazine called Teaching Tolerance. We just celebrated the tenth anniversary of this magazine. It is a phenomenal tool. The magazine goes out free twice a year to over 600,000 teachers. And these are teachers who have written to us to ask us to send them this magazine. So we know that in thousands of classrooms these materials are being used to help open the world to our young children.[1] We also have a curriculum site for K through 12, and are working on college materials right now, because we receive so many requests from colleges, students, and the ministry. And we want to be able to provide them the kind of resources we're able to provide for K through 12. It's challenging, but I think it's going to be worth it. Marylyn: What tools do you have for people who find that hate crimes or incidents are becoming frequent in their schools or communities? Kelvin: We have a couple of great tools we have been able to distribute all across the country. The major one is "Ten Ways to Fight Hate." One thing I will say, we are not the experts in terms of community action. What we have done in that area is to talk with community leaders and churches all across the country, and incorporate the lessons that they have learned and the practices that have worked best for them. So the things that we recommend are things that have worked in communities across the country, but we have simply put it into a format where it can be shared. People who want to address these problems can read about what worked in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, or Montgomery, Alabama. It makes me happy when I travel around the country and see people who already have copies of "Ten Ways to Fight Hate," and who have found ways to take the stories and the recommendations and make them relevant to their community. For example, in Alaska, after some troubling incidents, they established a Tolerance Commission that worked for a year to figure out what was going on and how to make things better. They found our guide, "Ten Ways to Fight Hate," and they worked with us and came up with "Ten Ways to Make a More Tolerant Alaska." They made it directly relevant to Alaska. It was a marvelous effort. Marylyn: If somebody from another country were to request your materials, can you mail them? Kelvin: Oh, absolutely. However, not everything we offer is relevant to everyone in every country, because laws are different. Marylyn: But the way Alaska adapted them could be used as an example of how a country could adapt them for its own particular needs? Kelvin: Exactly. As well, every community, every nation, has people who have done extraordinary things. We all have our own great stories. And we need to make sure that we tell them. Marylyn: You mentioned a second tool for communities. Kelvin: Yes, it's called "101 Tools for Tolerance," and it gives a lot of practical examples of things you can do in your community, your church, your school, your workplace, your home. For example, take your family out to an ethnic restaurant and learn more about that ethnic group than just the food. Little things like that give people a chance to do something different, to learn in a non-threatening way. Otherwise, if we haven't actually met people from a particular group, we fall back on the stereotypes. It wasn't until the late 1980s that we began to see a lot of people of color in popular television and movies. But kids these days can flip on the television and they're bound to see someone of a different group on one of those channels, coming into their homes. The Cosby show is a great example. We can see an African American family doing very well, and so that challenges our stereotypes about them. And so children, even children who live in homes where their parents are not especially tolerant, are now exposed to so much more. Marylyn: There is one other thing I noticed on your site that would be helpful for communities. It's your police training program. Kelvin: Yes. That is a new effort launched by the Tolerance Project. We know that in most police departments, both human and financial resources are very limited. A lot of police departments don't have the money to send police officers off to a three- or four-day training. Or they can't give up the manpower. So what we have created here, along with the University of Alabama, is an online hate-crime training course[2] that they can take at their own pace and in their own town. They don't have to pack up and leave town for a couple of days. This training is very important in terms of people being able to recognize hate crimes when they happen. It also will give us an idea of how many hate crimes are happening in this country, where they are happening, who are the victims, and who are the perpetrators. And it will give us more information on preventing crimes. We have had some great officers from across the country who have helped developed this online training program. Marylyn: Is there anything else you'd like us to know about the Tolerance Project? Kelvin: Well, I think you've been pretty thorough. I would like to say that when the rights of one American are threatened, the rights of every American are threatened. Marylyn: Thank you, and good luck to you. We appreciate your efforts very much. Footnotes:
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