The Laramie Project

Fighting Hate and Intolerance
10/15/06

“Matthew Shepard has been in hell for 2924 days. Eternity - 2924 days = Eternity” is proudly proclaimed by Fred Phelps on the Westboro Baptist Church’s “Perpetual Gospel Memorial to Matthew Shepard” website. “Place your mouse pointer over the image to hear Matthew scream "FOR GOD'S SAKE LISTEN TO PHELPS!!!” The page further instructs.

OK, I’ll wait a moment to let that information sink in. If you are a person of intelligence and compassion you now have a sick feeling in your stomach and the start of a headache. In a few moments you will feel the start of an unfiltered anger welling up within your breast that will soon change into a sinking sorrow. Shake your head in disgust, now reread the first paragraph and contemplate the hate that it took one human to write such a thing about another human. If this gauntlet of emotions and actions has not gripped you then stop reading now because the rest of this essay will carry no meaning for you.

On Friday the 13th my wife Debbie and I sat in the William Inge Theatre watching the William Inge Center for the Arts Theatre Department at Independence Community Colleges presentation of “The Laramie Project.” The Laramie Project is a play by Moisés Kaufman and members of the Tectonic Theater Project about the reaction to the 1998 murder of Matthew Shepard in Laramie, Wyoming, widely considered to be a hate crime motivated by homophobia. The play draws on over 200 interviews conducted by the theater company with inhabitants of the town, company members' own journal entries, and published news reports. On this night my wife and I watched the thirteen actors on stage portray more than 40 characters in what would have to be described as scripted "moments," rather than traditional acts and scenes.

We listened to the people of Laramie, Wyoming deny prejudice while their underlying words and statements screamed it. We saw rays of hope as new motivation was achieved by some from the horror that had taken place on that October night in 1998. While others preferred to stay within their safe cocoons distancing themselves from the thing that they know they are guilty of. And therein lies the root of the significance of the hate which was inflicted upon Matthew Shepard.

The Laramie Project is not so much a play about a hate crime but more a look at ourselves and our motivations as a species. We have an instinct that runs deep within our psyche to be suspicious of and despise anything or anyone which is different from what or who we know. When we are faced with those people or things that make us feel threatened or insecure we have three reactions that millenniums of breeding have instilled in us; Flight, Fight, Fright. All three are separate yet all three interact and connect with each other.

Let’s create a situation to study these reactions. A man is walking down the street in a neighborhood that some consider hazardous. Walking towards him are three men. A basic survival instinct kicks in and the man must now make a decision, Flight, Fight, Fright. The man becomes frightened by the prospect that these three men may mean him harm. So his next reaction will be either Flight or Fight. Reason dictates that he would be one against three so the flight instinct kicks in and he moves to the other side of the street. A few more steps and the three men also cross over to the other side of the street. Now the man knows deep down that these three mean him harm and his fists ball ready to fight because he is frightened and he can see no place where flight would save him.

But is the man really in danger? Should he be frightened? Should he have taken flight? Should he be prepared to fight? Let’s look at it from the other side.

Three friends are walking down the street in the neighborhood they grew up in. Approaching them is a man who they do not recognize and who is looking around furtively. The three of them are a little leery because a stranger in this neighborhood could mean trouble so an edge of fright grips the three of them. But they know that as a group they should be able to defend themselves against one man and fight their way out of any situation that may arrive. They quickly decide among themselves that they will go over to the home of one of their friends who lives across the street to take flight and avoid a situation. As they prepare to cross the street the approaching stranger crosses also but they know that if they hurry they can reach their friends house before the stranger reaches them. They are now more frightened than they were before but their flight will take them to safety and if need be they will have one more friend on their side to help them fight.

Misconceived fear, misdirected flight and misjudged fight reactions could lead to a misunderstood confrontation. To think, it all started due to our basic instinct to hate.

There are those that want us to believe that hate is so ingrained within our souls that we can never rid ourselves of it and unfortunately they are right. We can never rid the hate from our souls but we can redirect the hate and place it where it belongs. If we can readjust our thinking we can reapply the hate and instead of being an unhealthy instinct turn it into a helpful and healthy reaction to the injustices of the world. There is an old adage; “Hate the act not the individual.” So how do we do that?

Should I hate Hitler because he was instrumental in having my relatives killed in Auschwitz? Or should I hate the perverse mentality of the prejudice and hate of a few that lead to the death of my family members? When you lay the blame where it belongs then suddenly it is not about hate directed at one individual or a group of individuals. It then becomes about hate directed at the thing that is the product of the hate. You can try to change an individual but it is better to first change the situation. Once the ugly thing that was produced by the hate is eliminated then the individual (s) consumed by the hate no longer have a foundation to stand on. Once Hitler and his cronies lost the power to manifest their hate their fate was sealed.

So what good would it do us to hate people like Russell Henderson and Aaron McKinney who killed Matthew Shepard? It would do no good whatsoever because it changes nothing. But we can hate the act and work to change the things that gave birth to the act or what was produced by the act. It is at that point that the act of hate loses it’s power and we have control over it and it’s consequences.

We, as a nation, had an opportunity on October 15th, 1998 (just three day’s after Matthew Shepard’s death) to address the issue of hate crimes. The Republican Congress voted down a hate crime bill. The Republican congressional leadership takes credit for stopping the hate crimes bill. In a document which was produced by the US House Republican Policy Committee and posted on the House Internet site in 1998 which is a fact sheet of legislative successes of the Republican Congress it states under the title, Reinventing Big-Government -- Presidential Priorities the Congress Stopped: "Hate crime" proposals that criminalize motive rather than punish violent crime. This was a first attempt at addressing “Hate Crimes” and subsequent attempts have met with different levels of success and failure but still not enough has been done to date. Judy Shepard, the mother of Matthew Shepard has publicly stated on George W. Bush's opposition to hate crimes laws including sexual orientation. "His stand is indefensible."

Until we step up to the plate and take a stand against hate and intolerance and demand that our policy makers take the same stand it will continue to be an uphill battle. It is hard not to look at people like Fred Phelps and hate him and his type for their actions and therein lies the Catch 22 of learning to redirect your hate. But how, we ask ourselves can we not hate those type of people? But in your hate of them you have now become them. So change the hate to pity for them and hate the acts they produce and combat those acts.

There is a way to simply combat the hate generated by people like Fred Phelps but it takes the cooperation of the “Third Estate”, the press. People like Fred Phelps and his ilk thrive off of the publicity they generate. To stop these people simply stop feeding their egos, stop reporting on their actions. Think about it. Would psycho’s walk into our schools if they knew that no one would report it? Would terrorists blow themselves up if it were no longer publicized? Would Fred Phelps protest if no one was listening? If the news media would stop sensationalizing hate then the individuals consumed by hate will no longer have a foundation to stand on and will soon have their fate sealed.

Each of us has the power to battle hate in each of our own individual ways. When does your battle start and what will you do to win the war on hate? Remember no act is too small to accomplish a righteous goal! In closing I would urge you, if you have not already done so, go to your local video store and rent the DVD “The Laramie Project” and watch it with those you care about, especially your children.

"The elected official works for the people! You do not make promises to your boss which are beyond your power to keep and expect to hold your position."

-Jim George- Democratic Candidate, Kansas State House of Representatives District #12