"While waiting
at the Mellon and Stanton bus stop around 10:30 on Friday night three young men
passed him without incident. When the bus didn't arrive he decided to try
another stop at Penn and Negley. To get to the stop he walked on the opposite
side of the street to where he saw the three men learning against a fence
opposite the Union Project. When he turned the corner to walk down Negley, with
his back facing the men, he was attacked from behind by one of the men with
punches to the face and back. He managed to fight back enough to release
himself and run into traffic with hands up screaming "help." The
attacker laughed and the many people around, plus traffic he ran into, did not
respond. "
My friend who was
attacked is very visible as a gay person. Based on his appearance and his
walk, he is often harrassed and threatened in our neighborhood (and of course
in other neighborhoods as well). On Friday night, there were many people
at the corner of Negley and Stanton, yet these men chose the one visibly gay
person to attack. Additionally, they did not take or attempt to take
money or anything else from him. My friend feels very strongly that the
attack was motivated by ignorance and hate toward gay people.
*It’s
Simple and Complicated to End Hate - A Message from Betty Hill*
This week I learned of another hate crime in the neighborhood- a group of
drag performers were walking between one club and the next, and were taunted
and verbally abused and then physically hit, pushed and kicked by a group of
men coming out of another club. This is the second incident of physical
abuse I’ve heard about in Bloomfield
in the past six months. I wonder if
there are more. At Persad, we hear from our consumers from all over Western
Pennsylvania
on a regular basis that they have been the victims of
discrimination, intimidation and violence.
Interestingly, there were only six GLBT-related hate crimes reported in
Pennsylvania
last year. This lack of reporting makes it look like we don’t
have a hate crime or discrimination problems in our state, but those of us
that know the community know that isn’t true.
So, why do these incidents go unnoticed and unreported?
1. *We blame the victim*. This dynamic is common to all victim related
crimes. We are so afraid of the vulnerability of random acts of violence
and they make us feel so unsafe that we believe the incident could have
controlled or prevented. “Maybe if the drag performers were not out late
on the street? Did they have to be so obvious with their costumes and cross
dressing – weren’t they asking for it? Were they drinking?” We have to
stop this! There is no reason that GLBT people shouldn’t be able to go
out at night, have fun, and walk the streets in whatever attire they choose
without getting beat up. As long as we blame the victim and fantasize
that we can control the violence that happens, we fail to put the blame
where it belongs - on the person who is violent.
2. *We are not safe to be “out”.* In order to report a hate crime, you
have to acknowledge that you are being targeted as a GLBT person (or
perceived to be)….so you have to say that you belong to the group. If
you don’t feel safe to be out and you don’t want others to know that you are
GLBT, you will want to avoid talking about the incident at all. Until we
make members of our community safe and protected to be who they are, we
can’t expect people to report who they are at the time they are feeling the
most vulnerable.
3. *We don’t trust the police and the justice system*. I’ve heard so
many victims say that they have had bad experiences with the police and
response systems that they don’t call them when they need them. Sometimes
because of ignorance, sometimes because of attitudes, the system blames the
victim or fails to understand the situation and further victimizes the
victim by arresting them, further abusing them, or just failing to respond.
Our community has some terrific police and some police with bad
attitudes. But we can’t ignore the system that is supposed to protect
us. We must report situations and demand response. And every time we
get an inadequate or discriminating or abusive response, we have to call the
system on it and work to change it so that it works for us! Every time!
4. *The police often do not ask and do not encourage hate crime reporting*. I’m
not sure what the problem is here. It does not seem to be on their radar screen.
In the social context of homophobia and transphobia, I think that some
officers don’t think about it. Some may not be trained. Some may have bad
attitudes. We need to demand that the local government response personnel
– police, fire, rescue, etc. -- have training on GLBT diversity and are
sensitive to hate crimes and prepared to protect victims.
It’s simple and complicated to change the culture and the system. Persad’s
Community Safe Zone project is working to eliminate hate crimes in our
communities. If you are a victim of a hate crime, there are resources to
help you. We want everyone to be safe to walk the streets of any
neighborhood. If you work in one of the response systems – police, rescue,
fire, justice system, etc, and your group needs training, Persad is happy to
provide it. If you want to get involved in changing your neighborhood, we
would like to hear from you.
Betty Hill
bhill@persadcenter.org
412-441-9786 x212