The Council Against Hate moves forward to stop backward thinking
Since introducing the idea of an initiative to combat hate crimes in the Scenic City in his April 2018 State of the City address, Mayor Andy Berke was presented a report sharpening the goals of his newly formed Council Against Hate last April.
Now, the council is gaining traction in the new year and new decade with a variety of action team meetings and events aimed at all Chattanoogans to reverse what the Federal Bureau of Investigation describes as “an increase in hate crimes not seen in recent history.”
Unfortunately, the Volunteer State and Chattanooga itself lead the nation in reported hate crime incidents recorded for bias based on race, ethnicity or ancestry. Chattanooga also ranked highest in the state with six reported incidents based on religious bias as a motivator in 2015.
The council is led by co-chairs, former Chattanooga city attorney Wade Hinton, and civic leader, Alison Lebovitz.
“There’s no more important work than this,” says Lebovitz. “It’s a sad state of affairs that we have to even have a council against hate now.”
For Hinton, accepting the mayor’s invitation was a no brainer.
“The mission and vision resonated with the things I’m passionate about,” he says. “It gives me the opportunity to work with community stakeholders about something that affects all of us.”
For Lebovitz, it took a little more convincing.
“I didn’t accept the mayor’s invitation immediately,” she says. “I wanted to make sure the council’s formation was contingent on an action plan.”
To kick the initiative into gear, Mayor Berke along with Lebovitz and Hinton, formed a steering committee comprised of a diverse group of community leaders. The report they drafted last April will serve as a roadmap to understand the factors leading to the spread of violent extremism and intolerance in Chattanooga.
The report will also advise the public and private sectors on policies and strategies that will create a more civil, safe and welcoming community for all people.
Last October, one of the first speakers the council invited was Deputy Director of the Anti-Defamation League, Shelley Rose. She gave a presentation focusing on anti-Semitism, extremist group activity and hate crimes.
According to the ADL, what’s critical to combating violent acts is what the group calls “The Pyramid of Hate.” Biased attitudes serve as the base of the pyramid. This includes stereotyping, insensitive remarks, fear of differences, non-inclusive language, microaggressions, justifying biases by seeking out like-minded people, and accepting negative misinformation or screening out positive information.
“You can see these acts as the seed or foundation for things that are not good,” says Hinton. “We all need to address these things as early as possible and bring different perspective to the table to drive change.”
“Empathy is the first step,” says Lebovitz. “You have to see someone else’s point of view; where they are coming from and a lot of times you end up not knowing they felt that way.”
Extremists groups have always been around and have always promoted hate but recently these groups have had their behaviors normalized and been emboldened to commit heinous crimes.
“It’s easy to hate a concept, idea or group,” says Lebovitz. “It’s harder to hate a person.”
Last November, the council welcomed speaker Christian Picciolini, a former white-supremacist and violent extremist. He attributes his radicalization to a lack of self-confidence and what he calls a “weird last name.”
“I was lonely,” says Picciolini. “I was the son of immigrants who were gone a lot working to keep their business going.”
As a result, he was vulnerable and searching for ICP—identity, community, and purpose. The white-supremacist movement offered him that. He details his involvement in, and exit from, the early American white-supremacist skinhead movement in his memoir “White American Youth”. It was music that ultimately led to him to change.
“My store, Chaos Records, was initially devoted to white power music but to stay in business, I had to expand my inventory and I started carrying hip-hop and other genres of music,” he says. “My clientele began to change and I was forced to interact with Jewish, LGBTQ and black customers.”
He found common ground with them as he talked with and got to know them.
“The people I thought I hated, showed me compassion even when I didn’t deserve it,” he says. “My worldview started to change. My demonization of them was replaced with humanization.”
This may all sound easy in the context of this article but as Picciolini puts it, this is a journey. “I wanted better for my kids and myself, and in the intervention and disengagement work I’ve been doing for the last two decades, I’ve been able to help others leave hate behind as I did and show them that a better way is possible,” he says.
“It’s not impossible but it’s a challenge,” Lebovitz concurs. “It starts with relationships. You can’t tell people they are wrong. Hate comes from trauma.”
In a sense, you have to almost have to play therapist or psychologist when combating hate.
“A lot of times we are asking the wrong questions,” she says. “Instead of telling them they are wrong, we need to ask them how they got here. What happened to you? You have to meet them where they are.”
She also realizes a long-term plan is not easy.
Lebovitz tells a story about how much opinions can differ about free speech in our so-called modern times.
“A friend of mine has an eight-year old and the soccer team won the state championship,” she recalls. “An old man is taunting my friend’s child. The coach challenges the man thinking the opposing coach was going to back him up but was thrown for a loop when the other team’s coach supported the old man harassing an eight-year old.”
It goes to show not everyone is going to agree and you have to tolerate differences, she explains.
The council outlines in their report that hate and violent extremism have no single cause and will not be solved by a single approach, sector or individual. Mayor Burke and the steering committee made the decision that the council’s work would be rooted in education, empowerment and impact-focused approaches.
“We didn’t want to just sit around and talk,” says Lebovitz. “We wanted to make sure the plan was evolutionary and not just one-dimensional.”
The committee came up with five strategies to further the agenda of the Council Against Hate.
First is to create and strictly enforce laws to protect targeted groups from hate crimes. The committee recommends constant evaluation of current statutes and to use public input to improve these laws. Cultural competency training is included here.
“At the root of this initiative is the fact that we need to get out of our routine,” says Hinton. “When you do that you will find similarities and may be able to alleviate some bias. When you recognize more ideas from different perspectives, you can enhance our mission for change.”
Second is to understand and define hate in our community. The committee recommends a community-wide reporting system in the form of a website and smartphone app that permits citizens to share anonymous, geo-specific data.
Third, and maybe the most important, is to engage young people in combating hate.
“I want to help create a future our kids want to grow up in,” says Hinton who has a three-year old daughter. The committee recommends students sign a pledge to live a life free of hate to educate them about violent extremism and to speak out against it. It’s the council’s hope to shift biases in adults through this measure.
“There’s no dog too old to learn a new trick,” says Lebovitz. Adds Hinton, “I would say we need adults to be optimistic. Our future depends on it. Our children are unique and diverse and they are the reason and we have to remember and remind ourselves why we do this work. It’s about our community.”
Fourth is to prepare educators to identify, respond to, and work against hate speech and extreme behavior.
“Bringing in experts to better educate the community on how radicalization occurs is an important step,” says Picciolini. “The more tools and resources stakeholders like parents, teachers, school counselors, coaches, and principals have to prevent and respond to intolerance and hatred, the better.”
Finally, the committee recommends engaging the private sector and business community.
Hinton has a leg up in this regard since he accepted a role as the first Vice-President of Diversity and Inclusion at Unum in July 2018.
“I’m encouraged by the number of citizens who have turned out initially to let everyone know hate has no place in Chattanooga,” says Hinton.
“This panel is non-partisan,” says Lebovitz. “This is about civility, respect and humanity. We don’t just want to be the Council Against Hate but the council for kindness, love and inclusion.”
Upcoming Events
The Council Against Hate welcomes former neo-Nazi TM Garret to Chattanooga on Thursday, January 9th at 5:30 p.m., courtesy of the Jewish Federation of Greater Chattanooga. He will speak about his experience leaving that movement. St. Paul’s Episcopal Church will host the event.
Council Against Hate 2020 Policy Forum featuring Becky Monroe, Director of the Stop Hate Project at The Ohio State University on Tuesday, January 21 at 5:30 p.m. in the UTC University Center Signal Mountain Room.