Hate speech

Homophobia. Antisemitism. Islamophobia. Racism. Denigration of women. Xenophobia. Do we keep silent, or do we speak up? It's our choice.

These posts can be difficult to write and just as difficult to read. We'd like to think better of ourselves, believe we would have enough backbone to stand up for Elizabeth Eckford, the Black student in the photo. Not like Hazel Bryan, who's screaming at her.

Often we want to speak up. Words get stuck in our throat.

Although I am most certainly "preaching to the choir" here, knowing how cowardly I can sometimes be, I'm hopeful that these posts challenge you--and me--to do what's right when confronted with hate speech.

The Major. We should work with every fiber in our being to silence the voices of hate. Regardless of their source. Written in November 2009 after Nidal Malik Hasan's rampage at (then) Fort Hood, Texas, and the horrific Islamophobia that followed.

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Image credit: Black student Elizabeth Eckford is jeered by white student Hazel Bryan as she attempts to enter Little Rock Central High School. This photograph was recommended by the Pulitzer Prize photography jury for the 1958 Pulitzer Prize for Photography, but the Prize board rejected it in favor of "Faith and Confidence." Photo by Ira Wilmer Counts, Jr., September 4, 1957. Associated Press. This work is in the public domain because it was published in the United States between 1931 and 1963, and although there may or may not have been a copyright notice, the copyright was not renewed. If there is updated copyright information, please contact me.

No part of this post may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the copyright holder, except for the “fair use” of quotations that are properly cited and credited, including identification of the translator if applicable. No part of this post may be included in any Large Language Model without proper licensing from the copyright holder, Denise Elaine Heap.