Spring Break
Editorial: Tolerance is a responsibility
Issue date: 10/23/08 Section: Editorial/Opinion
10/23/08 - Spic. Nigger. Mick. WASP.
Obscene. Offensive. Hurtful. Intolerable.
Hate crimes are not something you usually associate with the University of Rhode Island. But even racial intolerance can hit a small academic community tucked away in the heart of Kingston, R.I.
Yesterday, URI Provost Donald DeHayes sent out an alarming e-mail concerning racist comments about presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama being left on a university computer.
The culprit of the incident is yet to be found, but URI police have been asked to investigate the matter. DeHayes also said the incident could be chalked up as a hate crime.
It's true, students are all entitled to their political views under the First Amendment. But to make malicious remarks based on race or ethnicity is not and should not be tolerated - even if the victim will never see it. The comments directed toward Obama are not just hurtful to his supporters, but to everyone. Every student, faculty and staff member at this university has a right to be angry - outraged, even - at the ignorance and disrespect of the perpetrator.
This country is a melting pot of ethnicities, and Rhode Island is no exception to the rule.
On this campus alone, there are at least a dozen student groups that specifically support the understanding of different races, sexes and religions as part of their missions.
Although the incident on campus might not seem as extreme as a beating or a stabbing, hate crimes come in many different forms and this is one of them.
In 2005, the Federal Bureau of Investigation reported that 7,163 hate-crime incidents occurred in the United States, leaving 8,795 victims. During a separate Bureau of Justice Statistics study, it was discovered that an annual average of 191,000 additional incidents took place involving the use of derogatory language or hate symbols.
Hate crimes are a serious matter, whether they're a couple of words on a computer about a national political figure or a student using violence and derogatory names against another student.
Every time an incident like this occurs, society takes one step backward from its strive toward an accepting, equal world. Maybe true equality will never be achieved. There will always be people who are stubborn in their ways and are too ignorant to learn more about what they don't understand. But people are people. Ninety-nine percent of human DNA is the same. It's that 1 percent and our experiences in different environments that make us unique.
And it's up to students, this nation's future, to help spread the knowledge and acceptance that we've grown accustomed to in a world where we've come so far already.
Obscene. Offensive. Hurtful. Intolerable.
Hate crimes are not something you usually associate with the University of Rhode Island. But even racial intolerance can hit a small academic community tucked away in the heart of Kingston, R.I.
Yesterday, URI Provost Donald DeHayes sent out an alarming e-mail concerning racist comments about presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama being left on a university computer.
The culprit of the incident is yet to be found, but URI police have been asked to investigate the matter. DeHayes also said the incident could be chalked up as a hate crime.
It's true, students are all entitled to their political views under the First Amendment. But to make malicious remarks based on race or ethnicity is not and should not be tolerated - even if the victim will never see it. The comments directed toward Obama are not just hurtful to his supporters, but to everyone. Every student, faculty and staff member at this university has a right to be angry - outraged, even - at the ignorance and disrespect of the perpetrator.
This country is a melting pot of ethnicities, and Rhode Island is no exception to the rule.
On this campus alone, there are at least a dozen student groups that specifically support the understanding of different races, sexes and religions as part of their missions.
Although the incident on campus might not seem as extreme as a beating or a stabbing, hate crimes come in many different forms and this is one of them.
In 2005, the Federal Bureau of Investigation reported that 7,163 hate-crime incidents occurred in the United States, leaving 8,795 victims. During a separate Bureau of Justice Statistics study, it was discovered that an annual average of 191,000 additional incidents took place involving the use of derogatory language or hate symbols.
Hate crimes are a serious matter, whether they're a couple of words on a computer about a national political figure or a student using violence and derogatory names against another student.
Every time an incident like this occurs, society takes one step backward from its strive toward an accepting, equal world. Maybe true equality will never be achieved. There will always be people who are stubborn in their ways and are too ignorant to learn more about what they don't understand. But people are people. Ninety-nine percent of human DNA is the same. It's that 1 percent and our experiences in different environments that make us unique.
And it's up to students, this nation's future, to help spread the knowledge and acceptance that we've grown accustomed to in a world where we've come so far already.
