Pierce asks who will stand with her against intolerance & incivility

LACONIA — A community conversation on how to respond to signs of intolerance and uncivil dialogue will continue on Wednesday, October 19 at the Laconia Middle School in a follow up to Wednesday night's gathering at Lakes Region Community College. More than 100 people turned out for a presentation about the state of hate and intolerance in America.

Carol Pierce of the Laconia Human Relations Committee says that the community forum sets the stage for the work that lies ahead for the city in trying to promote civil discourse and respect.

She said that one thing she took away from the forum was a sense of "who will stand up with me" when it comes to dealing with the issues that must be faced in order to gain traction in shaping the attitudes of young people in the community towards tolerance.

"Standing up against violence and hate is the taking the first step toward prevention" said Pierce following a presentation by Lecia Brooks and Michel Marsh Garcia of the Southern Poverty Law Center.

The two had spent Tuesday and Wednesday in workshops with students, teachers and parents in Laconia public schools to promote “Respectful Schools,” an initiative of the Laconia school district, Lakes Region Community College, Laconia Human Relations Committee, Laconia Police Department, Lakes Region United Way, N.H. Catholic Charities and Laconia Middle School PTO.

Brooks told the group that hate groups are on the rise nationally, with over 1,000 now identified as such by SPLC, a 50-percent increase since the year 2000.

She said that there are identifiable five hate groups operaring in New Hampshire, including the American Third Position in Ashland, a Northeast White Pride group, a Ku Klux Klan chapter and two anti-Semitic groups in Richmond.

She said that a number of factors are contributing to the rise of hate groups, including a change in demographics which is transforming American society and will by 2040 see minorities actually becoming a majority nationwide. California has already reached "majority minority" status.

"We see that trend moving into the South and the Midwest and the kind of tension it produces. And it's not going to stop and that frightens some people. What we have to do is talk to our young people and prepare them for that change,'' said Brooks.

"Hate groups promote hate crime and the first step towards those crimes is the dehumanizing individuals, like school bullying does,'' she said.

She said that the election of Barack Obama as America's first black president has also fueled the rise of hate groups like the National Socialist Movement, whose web site traffic quadrupled after his election. Militia groups have grown fivefold in the last three years.

Other factors in the rise of hate groups include the immigration, mostly of illegals, from Hispanic countries in Central and South America, the demonization of Islam following the terrorist attacks of 9-11 and continuing high unemployment, which hate groups exploit to gain new members.

Brooks said that New Hampshire gets low marks for its teaching of the history of the Civil Rights movement in its schools but that is a statewide issue, not a local one and urged schools to adopt civil discourse in schools as part of their curriculum.

Alan Robichaud of the Lakes Region United Way said that he was pleased by the large turnout for the meeting and the way Laconia schools are dealing in a pro-active manner with issues of tolerance and diversity by promoting inclusion.

"There is a level of anger in our society and in our discourse which I don't think I've ever seen before. What we're trying to promote is a process in which we can treat each other with civility while talking openly about our differences," said Robichaud.

CAPTION

Leica Brooks of the Southern Poverty Law Center speaks at Lakes Region Community College about the rise in the number of hate groups nationally and how communities can respond to them. (Roger Amsden photo for the Laconia Daily Sun)