Hate crime on campus

As many of you have heard, a hate crime was committed here at Roger Williams University in late January. A racially biased word and figure were found on the white board outside of a student's room. Public Safety was notified, and they immediately put their Bias Incidence Response Protocol into action. The perpetrator(s) still have not been caught, and although the school is doing everything within their power to find them, chances seem slim. When I heard of this incident, I felt sympathy toward the victim of this crime. No one should feel unsafe on their own college campus, especially when they live away from home and their parents. It makes me feel angry to think of just how far someone can go with their own bias.

I think hate crimes are cowardly and cruel. No single person on this planet has the right to judge another solely based on how they look or act. This may be the ‘Land of the Free', but I think anybody who abuses their freedom of speech needs a serious wake up call. If haters could see through the eyes of the individual they hurt, maybe then they would see how much of an impact they can have on a person. That old saying, "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me," only applies to a certain point. Here's a reality check: words can hurt. They may not break bones or cause physical injury, but they can bring down self-esteem and push some people to the point where they don't think life is worth living. I don't believe hate is restricted to race alone, but also to those who are different from what most would consider "normal". But truthfully, try and define normal; what one finds normal is different to another.

There is nothing more mali­cious than an act of hate. It makes my blood boil when I hear about hate crimes. I think they're spineless and just plain unreasonable. Some­times people think they can just run their mouths and do what they want without fully realizing just how dim-witted they sound. There's no logic to hate. It is an emotion trig­gered by fear and fueled by the desire to avoid change and admitting one's own faults. When I hear of hate crimes, I think of the victims of bul­lying and bias and I honestly wonder how some of these people can do the things they do without worrying about their conscience. There is no written law that says one race is superior to another, there is no law that says one has the right to bully another based on how they look or act. Bullies and racists are cowards who are too afraid to deal with some­thing that may be greater than themselves. To these people, I say it's time to get over yourself and your bias ways of thinking. If you spend your entire lives hating something or someone just because they are not like you, then you'll soon realize just how alone you really are.