Speaker at CSC spreads message of tolerance
Jack Levin delivered his message of tolerance to a crowd at Chadron State College on Wednesday night. Levin, who is professor and director of the Brudnick Center on Conflict and Violence at Northeastern University in Boston, spoke for more than an hour to the audience that primarily consisted of CSC students and faculty.
He encouraged the audience to be like the Bulgarian Christians of World War II who stood up and would not allow Jews of the region to be taken to concentration camps.
“Don’t ever forget where hate begins – in the silence of ordinary people,” he said.
Levin admits that he witnessed abuse to blacks while growing up, but like most Americans did nothing to change it. By remaining quiet, he said people become enablers to intolerance.
“The truth is that most Americans sympathize with prejudice,” he said.
He said those who commit hate crimes often come from otherwise law-abiding young Americans whose prejudice clouds their judgement.
Although white supremacist groups get publicity for their hate, Levin said members of those organizations account for a “miniscule number,” of brutal hate crimes. He said about only 50,000 people are members of those groups, which account for just five percent of hate crimes. He said “bored and idol teenagers and young adults” pose a much larger threat to minorities.
During his presentation, Levin recounted brutal murders from recent history, such as the 1998 murders of James Byrd, Jr. and Matthew Shepherd.
Byrd, a black man from Jasper, Texas, was chained alive to the back of a pickup truck and dragged for several miles until his body was ripped apart.
Shepherd, an openly gay University of Wyoming student, died after being tied to a fence, beaten and left for dead in near freezing temperatures.
Category: Campus News