2022-12-19 Message from the SJ Hub Co-Stewards on Recent Hate Crimes in the US

Dear NTL Members, 

We at NTL are incensed over the most recent homophobic and anti-Semitism hate crimes in the United States. In Colorado, five people were murdered and 19 injured by a gunman at a LGBTQ+ nightclub.  Also, Kanye West, a celebrity, made anti-Semitic remarks and the media has shown signs that state, “Kanye was right about the Jews”.  We reach out with condolences to those who are directly affected by these assaults on their communities.

Hatred and fear of homosexuality and gender fluidity, along with anti-Semitism, racism, sexism, and xenophobia of any kind create a toxic underground river of molten lava that runs unabated beneath U.S. culture. Periodically it erupts in violence that results in death and destruction of people simply going about living their lives in a country that is supposed to guarantee their right to pursue happiness, as long as they don’t harm others. The periodically erupting molten lava is a symbol of the deep-seated fear-based hatred that infects so many in the US and which provokes them to maim and kill those whom they perceive as a threat. Such fear and hatred are a disease, an infection rampant throughout the system. As individuals and as an organization, it is our responsibility to name it, to speak out against it, and to take right action in our own spheres of influence, wherever they may extend.

This statement has been created by the Social Justice Hub

Janie Payne & Claire Halverson
Co-Stewards, NTL Social Justice Hub
NTL Institute for Applied Behavioral Science