Re: Are some ideas wrong? and do you really value diversity
From: Fred-List manager (fholsoncohousing.org)
Date: Sun, 27 Nov 2016 06:20:22 -0800 (PST)
Emily Johnston <enjohnston [at] gmail.com>
is the author of the message below.  It was posted by
Fred, the Cohousing-L list manager <fholson [at] cohousing.org>
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Ty,

I didn't read the list for the last couple of weeks, so excuse me if I'm
making points already made...but I had to respond to this. While your
points about neighborliness and diversity of opinion and worldview are
important, you're simply wrong when you say "The suggestion that because of
the election suddenly we now need to deal  with people who are racist,
white  supremacist, and this or that phobia is  nuts."

>From the Detroit Free Press
<http://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2016/11/24/feds-detroit-prosecute-hate-crimes-cases-have-risen-statewide/94333606/>
(and there are many such articles around the country):

The Michigan Department of Civil Rights' community outreach program
documented 30 hate incidents in Michigan in the 10 days after the Nov.
8 election, compared with only about seven on average during an entire year.
<http://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2016/11/19/hate-crimes-michigan-post-election/94089362/>

In addition, the department received 40 phone calls of hate crimes on the
Monday after the election.   On average, it  gets about 23 calls a day.
There have been reports of hate attacks
<http://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/detroit/2016/11/23/local-priests-assistant-bishops-detroit/94329230/>
against Latinos, Arab Americans, African Americans, Indian Americans and others
across the region, including in Hartland, Royal Oak, Grand Rapids and
elsewhere. This week, community advocates are investigating a racist flyer
against Mexican Americans in a school in Rochester.
Like a lot of people--especially reasonably comfortable white people--you
may think that the sky *can't* fall, because it has never fallen on you.
But on many people, in many places, under many circumstances (some of them,
of course, occurring in the name of more left-wing values), it has indeed
fallen, and if you think it can't happen here, you're not paying attention
to our racial  history. I wholly agree that not everyone who voted for
Trump is an evil racist. But it's our job to make sure that the sense of
impunity now evidently felt by those who ARE racist, misogynist, or
homophobic doesn't lead to horrors of the sort that people eventually look
back and say "but how could that have happened?" Because this is how it
happens.

Being intolerant of intolerance is essential...which doesn't mean we write
off the large swath of the population who voted for Trump--nothing so easy
and lazy as that. But calling "hypocrite!" because people are vocally upset
about Trump even as they cherish diversity isn't meaningful in historical
terms; it's just as easy and lazy. This election was nothing if not a
wake-up call for all of us to understand the lives of others (in other
circumstances, outside of our own circles) notably better than we have
been...but we should by no means do so uncritically.


>  On Nov 23, 2016 at 10:55 AM, Ty Albright <tmalbright [at] verizon.net> wrote:
>  >
>  > I must share my frustration about some of the comments recently
> made on this  list in reaction to the  recent election.
>  >
>  Possibly because I live in "fly over" country and  arguably participate
> in a  > different  "culture" my opinions are different from many who  live
> in other  > parts of the country.
>  >
>  > However I can tell
>  you that the tone of many of these discussions are  > offensive and
> demonstrate the lack of  inclusion and diversity that many  > claim  to be
> seeking and promote as desirable.
>  >
>  > The suggestion that
>  because of the election suddenly we now need to deal  > with people who
> are racist, white  supremacist, and this or that phobia is  >  nuts.  The
> suggested concern being expressed by some about  how they hope  > that
> those types of  people don't move into my community or how could we  get  >
> along with people who have such  wrong ideas is hypocritical.
>  >
>  I believe the more important question is do you really value  inclusion.
> Can  > you live with others  even if they do not share your personal
> political  > beliefs?  Apparently we live in a country  divided on
> political beliefs; so  > should  there be a test so only those who agree
> with your views (and  not the  > wrong views) are allowed to  live in your
> community?
>  >
>  Wake up and smell the coffee people.  People who disagree  with your
> world  > view are everywhere,  and walk amongst you (this applies to
> everyone  > regardless of your views).  You don't  have to agree
> politically or be  > friends  with your neighbor, but if you want community
> you should  be  > inclusive and to be a good  neighbor.  Stop assuming the
> sky is falling.
>  >
>  > p.s. for those who
>  need to know - I did not vote for Trump, but he is now  > our
> president-elect and I still like my  neighbors.
>  >
>  > Ty - in Dallas
>  >
>  > Ty Albright Project
>  Management
>  > Little Red Hen LLC
>  > 214-336-7952

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