The wave of hate crimes and racially motivated incidents throughout Pennsylvania in recent months has left me shocked and saddened. With the state and nation becoming more and more diverse, we should be celebrating our differences, the richness of cultures that make our society better. But some people are reacting to this diversity with anger, threats and acts of violence.
What’s even more disturbing is that many of these acts are being committed by young people.
In the Dover Area School District, York County, there have been two incidents of ethnic intimidation in the past two months. In December, a 14-year-old boy at Dover Intermediate School was charged with two cases of ethnic intimidation. The teen allegedly drew a swastika on a bathroom wall and wrote “KKK and White Power," and left a threatening message with a racial slur on a 12-year-old boy's cell phone. “I'm going to hang you and light you on fire,” was the alleged text to his classmate, who is black.
And just days ago, a 12-year-old boy, who is white, is alleged to have sent three threatening and racist text messages to a 12-year-old biracial girl while riding on a bus. According to the girl’s mother, who contacted the Pennsylvania Legislative Black Caucus office, the boy called her a porch monkey in the first text message and a bitch in the second. Finally, after she ignored him, he reportedly texted, “I’m going to hang you” -- showing he was serious and not going to give up.
Here is a boy who was barely a toddler at the start of this decade, the second decade of the 21st century. Yet, he is spewing hatred that was better left in the 20th century, or in centuries before.
I do not think the blame should rest solely with these children alone. After all, children do not pick up this behavior in a vacuum. People don’t come into the world thinking this way, filled with hate. They learn it at home from their parents, and from other adults in the community. We are products of our environment, our experiences, and we act on what we learn. We must cultivate responsible citizens the way a gardener grows healthy plants. Both must be nurtured, given attention, constant care and the proper nourishment in order to flourish and become a source of pride.
Sadly, the incidents at Dover are not isolated. This is a statewide problem.
In August 2010, a 19-year-old Philipsburg man was charged with burning two crosses on the lawn of an 18-year-old white woman in Clearfield County. The young man was reportedly angry that the woman had a black friend visiting her house.
That same month, the U.S. Department of Justice indicted three men for burning a 6-foot cross outside the home of a white family in a Pittsburgh suburb. The family has a black foster child who plays football for the local high school.
Last October, the William Penn Senior High School marching band of York was attacked while marching at the Manheim Farm Show in Lancaster County. The band members, who were black, white and Latino, were the victims of racial epithets and derogatory comments by the predominantly white crowd of spectators observing the parade. Spectators also threw rocks at the William Penn students and sprayed them with soda.
In April 2009, a Pittsburgh man was charged with murdering three police officers and wounding two others following a domestic dispute outside his mother’s house. The man, who is alleged to harbor racist views and whose writings appeared on a white-power website, reportedly believed President Obama would ban guns.
And in 2009 an all-white Schuylkill County jury acquitted two white youths of all serious charges in the July 2008 beating death of Mexican immigrant Luís Ramirez. This came despite strong evidence that the teens had murdered the man, including claims by witnesses that racial epithets were used during the violent assault. The teens were later indicted on federal hate crimes charges and convicted by a federal jury last October. Last month, two police officers were convicted for attempting to cover up the crime.
James Carville once said that “Pennsylvania is Philadelphia and Pittsburgh with Alabama in between.” Unfortunately, his statement rings true today. Pennsylvania needs to be a leader in job growth and education, not a capital of hate and racial intolerance. During this Black History Month, we should strive to do better. We cannot afford to become the new “Old South” of the North.
At a time when we have an African-American president, first lady and family, that should serve as an indication that the country is moving forward. However, we wonder what some people mean when we they say they want to “take our country back.”
It’s time Pennsylvanians stand up and condemn hate crimes.
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