I have watched Carl's vlog Kalalau's Korner with his strong statement of his belief with AGB as a hate crime (May 22, 2009; "AUDISM is a Hate Crime") and watched Lchaimin in DVTV with her view with a question on hate crime with AGB as well (May 11, 2009; "Does AG Bell Have Hate Crimes?").
The word-Hate Crime got me thinking and I check out on the website Wikipedia for information on this topic and this is what it describe in Wikipedia:
Hate crimes (also known as bias-motivated crimes) occur when a perpetrator targets a victim because of his or her perceived membership in a certain social group, usually defined by racial group, religion, sexual orientation, disability, ethnicity, nationality, age, gender, gender identity, or political affiliation.
A "hate crime" can take two forms: "hate crime" generally refers to criminal acts which are seen to have been motivated by hatred of one or more of the listed conditions. The second kind is hate speech, which is speech defined as crime. While hate crimes are rarely debated, the hate speech concept is controversial, as criminalizing speech can be seen as impugning freedom of speech. Incidents may involve physical assault, damage to property, bullying, harassment, verbal abuse or insults, or offensive graffiti or letters.
Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hate_crime#History
The reason this got me thinking was because back in 2006, when I was in Portland State University in Oregon and I studied in Theatre Arts under one class called script analyzes in Theatre. As I study the steps in analyzing script and happen to come across a playwright called "Project Laramie," a documentary stage play story based from Laramie, Wyoming. The victim named Matthew Shepard which it passed a law called Matthew Shepard Act. This play have really made emotional impact and brought up questions in my mind. What did Matthew did to cause two young men to torture and murder Matthew? This happened because Matthew was gay. It doesn't stop here with gay issues but it had a history behind this; African-American people experienced this during the civil right movement but there's more...
Roman persecution of Christians,
The Ottoman genocide of Armenians,
The Nazi "final solution" for the Jews,
The ethnic cleansing in Bosnia
Genocide in Rwanda.
Racial and religious biases have inspired most hate crimes,
As Europeans began to colonize the New World in the 16th and 17th centuries,
Native Americans increasingly became the targets of bias-motivated intimidation and violence,
Lynchings of African Americans, cross burnings to drive black families from predominantly white neighborhoods,
Assaults on white people travelling predominantly black neighborhoods,
Assaults on gay, lesbian and transgender people,
The painting of swastikas on Jewish synagogues,
As well as attacks against European Americans,
The Murder of Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom and the Wichita Massacre.
It goes on and on and on!!
Do we look at Alexander Graham Bell as Hate Crime? My suggestion was that you read a book called, "Never the Twain Shall Meet." This is where a "fire" started between Alexander Graham Bell and Edward Minor Gallaudet (Thomas' son). AGB believe what Charle Darwin's theory where sign language is a lower form of language where Edward believe in sign language and based from George Veditz powerful message on sign language.
I would say that AGB do not agree on sign language but those who study under AGB, practice the cruelly in education. Deaf children were tie up with their hands, slapped the hands for signing,squeezing the mouth to make them to speak or using a tongue wooden stick that is too big for the child's mouth (just enough to gags up) and many more ways to punish the child that tried to sign. It doesn't stop in the past and it is still here today. Take a look under this title; "Sex Abuse Rampant at Schools for Deaf Kids." Maine got in trouble with this and end up paying million bucks and with a apologize.
Ummmmmm.....
Sound close and much alike to Matthew Shepard's case.
AGB as a Hate Crime? I dunno but those who studied and believe in AGB's Philosophy were much far with deaf children as the case of "Sex Abuse Rampant at Schools for Deaf Kids."
Hate Crime, it's time to stop! We can't let this sweep under the rug. Not to what they did to children and abuse the power over deaf children and the parents.
Thank you for your time to read this and I hope this will just cause you to think about it and lead yourself by researching this topic.
ASL Films
3 years ago
4 comments:
good post
see link for map of hate groups in the US as well as other info from the SPLC
http://www.splcenter.org/intel/map/hate.jsp
Hate speech linkage with Hate crimes is something that is being closely watched by groups like the Southern Poverty Law Center which has dramatically hit the KKK by going after its money pouch. When hate crimes have been committed, good lawyers always check hate / white supremacist websites to see if they are preaching violence and advocating for hate actions - inciting violence
if a direct line can be found between a group and members of that group then there is just cause in the courtroom to show how hate speech has lead to hate crimes
so while we cherish free speech - we have restrictions on it - that it not be speech that directly causes one to act violently and commit crimes against others
hence this is why the recent shooting in the US Holocaust Memorial Museum and the abortion doctor shooting are being investigated to see if hate speech (particularly) played a role in these murders
in terms of AG Bell association and the man - there definitely has been a legacy of anti-ASL and anti-Deaf as OK speech which did at times in our history lead to physical abuse of Deaf children
some scholars have equated the oral / aural only push (pure oralism) to equate to linguistic and cultural genocide and to be an extension of eugenics
see: Baynton's Forbidden Signs: American Culture and the Campaign Against American Sign Language
Lane's The Mask of Benevolence: Disability the Deaf community
Bell's Memoirs Upon the formation of a Deaf Variety of the Human Race
as well as Winefield's the Twain Shall Never Meet
and several other important text
thankfully thankfully thankfully no one has been advocating for the actual killing of Deaf people but many have argued that plenty have and still do advocate for the killing off of Deaf language - ASL, Deaf culture, and the Deaf soul
this is why i would like to see DR add to its #8 guideline no excessive bashing against Deaf people and ASL (audism and linguicism out)
thank u for discussing this topic
peace
patti
"religious biases have inspired most hate crimes"
Sigh - This is often repeated, along with "Religion has killed more people than all the wars" Both are false.
Stalin killed over 30 million in the Ukraine before WW II because they resisted his rule. WW I killed 7 million over various reasons, none religious. Hitler killed more non-Jewish people than Jews (though you can argue that the race reason applies there.) WW II and all the deaths there started as a fight between two groups of Euporean socialists, not as a racial or religious war.
Religion has gotten a bad name partly through false claims against religion. When you mix claims against race motives with claims against religious motives, it confuses the two issues and raises doubt about whether either claim is true.
David
"religious biases have inspired most hate crimes"
Sigh - This is often repeated, along with "Religion has killed more people than all the wars" Both are false.
I would say not ALL Religion has killed more than wars. What about this famous story of Jesus? The crucified of this man? I'm not going down to details with this and the point by saying this, a man who taught new way of thinking with love and peace. Even with the healing to the poor. The words fly to the high priest and how does that made the priest feel? I found this statement from wikipedia (link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesus#Arrest.2C_trial.2C_and_death)
"Jesus was arrested by temple guards on the orders of the Sanhedrin and the high priest"
What about the case of "Salem Witch Trials?" A 1692 case story in Salem Village, Massachusetts.
Then again, not ALL of the Religions but there are hidden case where a hate-crime happened. It is confusing but we need to question this understanding of "Hate-Crime" and understanding the meaning of this.
In the point, Religions aren't the worse case with hate crime than wars but it's an equals to any case. It's how we human use it with evils in many ways. By discussing this and to learn this with hope to avoid another repeats from today and toward to the future.
I'd hesitate before using the words "hate crime" in the same context as anti-ASL, anti-Deaf Culture topics.
What is missing: purposefully doing physical harm, including murder, or property damage.
No Deaf people are being beaten to a pulp. No one is going into Deaf schools and shooting children. No one is burning down Deaf homes.
"The way to Hell is paved with good intentions" is a better comparison.
Most who enter the field of oralism and AVT aren't motivated by hate, but by good intentions. They honestly believe that they are benefiting deaf children by training in speaking and listening. They compare it to educational disciplines such as piano lessons or rote memorization of the 3R's.
They may be misguided in many cases, but their training does not allow them to understand that. Nor do the successes that they claim or their delighted parents.
It's just not a good idea to call it a hate crime. Audism, yes in its stronger forms, but not that.
In rare cases, hate crime would apply to the actions of a few twisted people with a personal vendetta against deaf people. These are so rare that we need not focus on them, but on audism which is a much bigger problem.
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