The Larry King killing
I swear, the ages involved just seem to get younger and younger. I had a professor recently tell my class that she feels that homophobia is almost gone. She said look how much as been accomplished, look at how free we all are now! I say bullshit. I say that our world is seeing a new breed of hate, one that is deeply internalized within American culture, hidden behind "positive" stereotypes seen on reality TV shows that supposedly help marginalized groups attain centrality. However, what do you say to the fact that there have been more teen and child perpetrated hate crimes and killings committed in the past seven or so years then there ever were during the so called "second wave". Children are not born racist and hateful, this sentiment must have come from somewhere in their social environment. It comes from America's parents, and it comes from religion, and it comes from mis- education, and it comes from shit TV, and trash talk shows that spread hysteria and problematize the Others (those not the norm) instead of spreading truth, and especially from our government that denies gay, lesbian, bisexual, trans gendered, gender fluid, etc. folks basic rights such as the right to not be discriminated against and fired within the workplace based on perceived sexual orientation and identity. Wake up America, even if you don't individually identify as any of those groups, the ability to fire people based on perceived sexual orientation and identity means everyone. It means an infringement on every single person in this country's rights, and we should all be concerned for ourselves and for each other.
Larry King, the boy who was killed, was 15 which is the age of my brother Matt. The idea that my brother, or others his age, could do something to express themselves and their perceived identity that could get them killed in THIS COUNTRY is absolutely disgusting. This country is one of the most hypocritical that I know of. Our government goes on and on about the atrocities committed in "third world countries" and conflict areas, but denies its own citizens rights that set the stage for persecution. Isn't it this country that allows the KKK to continue? And we all know they are a brand of homegrown terrorism and hate if one ever existed. Oh Amerikka.
How do we combat this violence? How do we combat the media, the government, the religion? Its overwhelming to think about. These are things that we all need to be thinking about, even if we don't have kids, even if we didn't know Larry King, even if we don't live in California, even if we think no one we know is gay, lesbian, bisexual, trans gendered, queer, these are things that we need to think about. Things we need to CARE about, follow up on, look for innto. These are issues that we need to stand up for, not let pass us by when we realize that someone is being a complete ass. I truly believe that we all have the responsibility to educate ourselves, our friends, and our family if nothing else.
