Judy Shepard worries that we’re S.I.C.: Silent, indifferent, complacent

[DonViejo]

By Jonathan Capehart November 2 at 3:18 PM

For the past 18 years, Dennis and Judy Shepard have worked hard to try to cure hearts of hate. To try to get people to see beyond their differences to exhibit the compassion, empathy, understanding and civility we expect from others. It was a task they didn’t ask for, but one they embraced after their openly gay son, Matthew Shepard, was lured to his death by bigots who robbed, beat and left him to die on a prairie fence outside Laramie, Wyo., in October 1998.

But before Judy Shepard presented me and actor Sean Hayes with our “Making a Difference” awards at the annual dinner of the Matthew Shepard Foundation in Denver last month, she expressed " target="_blank">concern. “The rise in hate crimes, I think, I would (attribute) to the incivility of what’s going on in our political scene the past few months,” she said.

What’s going on in our political scene is a Republican presidential nominee who has run a racist, xenophobic, misogynistic and otherwise intolerant campaign for the White House. And the horrifying tenor and tone of his bid have polluted political discourse and torn at the fabric of this nation.

Hate crimes against Muslims are up 78 percent, according to a study by California State University, San Bernardino. A survey released in April by the Southern Poverty Law Center showed that the presidential campaign was producing a troubling trend. Not only is it “producing an alarming level of fear and anxiety among children of color and inflaming racial and ethnic tensions in the classroom,” but also “Teachers have noted an increase in bullying, harassment and intimidation of students whose races, religions or nationalities have been the verbal targets of candidates on the campaign trail.”

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https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/wp/2016/11/02/judy-shepard-worries-that-were-s-i-c-silent-indifferent-complacent/?utm_term=.24ea00f5e054&wpisrc=nl_popns&wpmm=1

[awoke_in_2003]

1. Rec for exposure. nt