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April 3, 2011 in City
Race, religion figure in GU hate studies conference
Several high-profile experts in combating hate will address racism, violence based on religion and similar topics at a Gonzaga University-sponsored conference this week.
The Second International Conference on Hate Studies will open less than three months after a bomb was left along the route of Spokane’s annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day march. The event, however, was planned long before the bomb incident, said Jim Mohr, president of the board of the Gonzaga University Institute for Hate Studies.
“There isn’t a specific spot (about the bomb) on the agenda per se, but I’m sure that people from the area will probably mention it and include it in their talks,” Mohr said.
The keynote speaker will be Izzeldin Abuelaish, a Palestinian doctor, peace activist and father of three daughters who were killed when an Israeli tank fired into his family’s home in Gaza in 2009. Abuelaish has written a book, published this year in the United States, called “I Shall Not Hate: A Gaza Doctor’s Journey.”
Other speakers include Ken Stern, the American Jewish Committee’s specialist on anti-Semitism and extremism, and Charlene Teters, a professor at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, N.M., a founding board member of the National Coalition on Racism in Sports and the Media and a Spokane Tribe member.
The conference starts Wednesday and ends Saturday at Northern Quest Casino and Resort in Airway Heights. About 125 academics, students and human rights activists have signed up to attend the event, which costs $199 for students and up to $289 for adults. For information on registering, visit guweb2. gonzaga.edu/againsthate/conference2011.htm.
James Wynecoop, executive director of public safety and chief of police of the Kalispel Tribe, said security will be tight, considering the bomb found in Spokane in January. He said he will be in contact with the FBI and Airway Heights police about the conference.
He said Kalispel tribal police officers will be on site and may be stationed within the conference. He said the casino has more security than most locations.
“We have one of the best surveillance systems in the state,” he said.
The first conference on hate was held in 2004. About 70 people attended, said Mohr, who is the student achievement director for the Community Colleges of Spokane’s Institute for Extended Learning.
Mohr said hate studies is the examination of “the human capacity to define, then dehumanize or demonize” other people. The program is working to create a program that would allow Gonzaga students to earn a minor in the field.
“In a multicultural society like ours, there isn’t room for hate,” Mohr said.
Bobbie League, an institute board member and the planned giving officer for the Spokane Guilds’ School and Neuromuscular Center, said Gonzaga is a pioneer in the field.
“We have to be willing to stand and walk alongside people who experience hate in their communities,” League said.
MAC faces angry crowd 
leekinny on April 03 at 10:14 a.m.
Bravado driven nationalism that disguises hate in an illusion of the defense of mom and apple pie does not improve its immorality. Hate is evil, it always has been and it always will be the largest obstacle to fitting through the needles eye.
.
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‘An eye for an eye for an eye would make the whole world blind.’
Gandhi
“In struggling for human dignity the oppressed people of the world must not allow themselves to become bitter or indulge in hate campaigns. To retaliate with hate and bitterness would do nothing but intensify the hate in the world. Along the way of life, someone must have sense enough and morality enough to cut off the chain of hate. This can be done only by projecting the ethics of love to the center of our lives.”
Martin Luther King, Jr.
“As an essential part of its fight against all forms of terrorism, the international community is called to undertake new and creative political, diplomatic and economic initiatives aimed at relieving the scandalous situations of gross injustice, oppression and marginalization which continue to oppress countless members of the human family. History in fact shows that the recruitment of terrorists is more easily achieved in areas where human rights are trampled upon and where injustice is a part of daily life.”
John Paul II
“If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality.”
Desmond Tutu
crazyivan44 on April 03 at 12:08 p.m.
It is also equally as important to note that isolated incidents in a region don’t equate to an epidemic and that 99.9% of people do not participate or support in any way these “hate crimes”.
Policy should not be driven by some sort of perceived guilt from the past.
leekinny on April 03 at 1:43 p.m.
“Policy should not be driven by some sort of perceived guilt from the past.”
What kind of policy?
What do you mean by “perceived guilt”.
Why so defensive over discussing this broad topic?
We all struggle with a wide variety of prejudices that may manifest themselves in hateful actions, among some. The more this is brought out into the light the better it will be.
Hate is easily shown today, among the right wing, towards immigrants and Muslims, without restrain or embarrassment.
crazyivan44 on April 03 at 3:42 p.m.
I would look at it as a counter argument more than being defensive.
I am referring to our national and domestic policy that you regard as “bravado”, I have a difference of opinion.
By “perceived guilt” I mean the notion that many are afflicted in this country with a belief that somehow the actions of those that lived before them have put blood on their own hands and they feel the need to apologize for something they had no part of. You do not need to apologize to sympathize. This statement is not intended to be directed at you, it is directed at the country as a whole and those in power that are apologizers, our President being one of them.
I agree that open discourse is good, to a point. At what point does it become something that is shoved in your face and becomes something that drives a deeper wedge than it actually heals? This newspaper alone brings up the “troubled past” of North Idaho any time there is an incident with a white supremicist group and by the way the articles are written you would think that the KKK runs rampant. There is a very small handful of those folks left and they are kept on the run for the most part. Yes they do despicable things and they are horrible people, but there are very very few of them left and the trouble they cause is miniscule today vs. what it was years ago.
As far as your insinuation of being defensive, I would counter that in numerous posts on different subjects you have been very pointed in your accusations regarding the “right” and the “conservatives” in this country and have made unsupported statements that I can tell you are categorically false in many instances, and are stereotypes in others. There is good and bad in all affiliations and in all people. That is your opinion though and that is fine, I am simply stating mine.
leekinny on April 03 at 6:34 p.m.
The whole idea of some of us being more equal than others, or the worse position, also embraced by the right, that many of us, who don’t succumb to their warped ideology and fears, aren’t real Americans and, are the enemy within, is dangerously threatening to our nation.
Fear and suspicion of anyone not like them has been catastrophic in every country it has existed in and is equally cataclysmic here.
For the party that claims to be the ‘America-first crowd’, this is an extremely irresponsible tactic, to the well being of the ideals of the country they claim to love.
leekinny on April 03 at 6:51 p.m.
This is a Gospel reading. I couldn’t pass putting it up. It talks to all of us, even those who have great difficulties with the right wing. Everything Christ talks about here is exactly what conservatives attempt to denigrate liberals with, what they seem to believe, is the derogatory expression of ‘bleeding heart’.
Jesus said to his disciples:
“To you who hear I say, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.
To the person who strikes you on one cheek, offer the other one as well, and from the person who takes your cloak, do not withhold even your tunic. Give to everyone who asks of you, and from the one who takes what is yours do not demand it back.
Do to others as you would have them do to you. For if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do the same. If you lend money to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, and get back the same amount.
But rather, love your enemies and do good to them, and lend expecting nothing back; then your reward will be great and you will be children of the Most High, for he himself is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.
“Stop judging and you will not be judged. Stop condemning and you will not be condemned. Forgive and you will be forgiven.
Give, and gifts will be given to you; a good measure, packed together, shaken down, and overflowing, will be poured into your lap. For the measure with which you measure will in return be measured out to you.”
Luke 6-27-38
crazyivan44 on April 03 at 7:43 p.m.
Again, you are rebuking the right wing with no substance. You speak of right wing fear, but you talk of people thinking you are the enemy. Who thinks you are the enemy leekinny?? Howard Dean spoke at a symposium on March 31 and stated that the Tea Party was a threat to our nation, but he is not a conservative, he is calling a conservative group a threat. So who is calling you the enemy?
I go to church every Sunday. I am involved in a community small group every Wednesday. I believe the teachings of Jesus Christ, the gift of salvation, and that we are called (hopefully with eager hearts) to show the love of Christ through our actions to others. I believe nobody is perfect, that everyone makes countless mistakes, and that anyone can be redeemed. I strongly disagree with the notion that a government should redistribute wealth or impose excessive regulations on everyone because of the actions of a few, I believe that is up to you and me and any organizations that we believe in and feel called to support to accomplish the social needs of our culture. So because I am someone you would consider from the right wing and have conservative viewpoints and believe in limited government and individual responsibility, are you saying that you are judging my faith? Are you judging my heart?