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I've got a friend who believes it is a sin to drive an SUV -- the ubiquitous Sports Utility Vehicles that have become so popular.
He can go on at length about the environmental threat of these gas guzzlers -- the way they crush little responsible cars
when they collide; how the fender on some of them is at just the right height to strike the innocent driver of a economy vehicle.
For him SUV's are a threat to all humans and planet earth. He tackled me one day about the "What would Jesus drive?"
bumper sticker campaign. "Would Jesus drive an SUV?" he asked rhetorically. "Hell no!" he answered vehemently.
He especially hates Hummers. Don't get him started about Hummers
After one particularly explosive rant, I got to thinking. What if someone with my friend's passion but without his civil
reserve were to take his convictions to the next level? What if a screw turned loose and someone with a passion to rid our
world of these deadly threats began to destroy SUV's, with or without passengers? What if a few copycats picked up on the
business and it spread?
Imagine a few bombs wired to a few ignition switches. Midnight explosions as gas tanks ignite. A family barely escapes
when a sudden fire spreads to the adjacent bedroom. A Bronco blows up at a Fayetteville soccer field in full view of children
and parents. Next to the charred remains, a message: "Beware all SUV's."
What effect might that have on you if you drive an SUV? Would you start looking under the hood before starting your vehicle?
You might start locking the garage at night. Or parking somewhere that wouldn't be so out in the open. At the soccer game,
would you keep an eye on the parking lot? Maybe you would you just stop driving your SUV or trade it in on something less
threatened?
Then, what if they caught one of the SUV attackers? Maybe some local who never hurt any real human beings, just blew
up a few cars. Do you think his crime is bit more serious than some other form of property destruction? If you've been nervously
driving your SUV, do you want some extra attention given to this particular criminal. Would you like to see them stick it
to him with some serious time, and maybe some serious psychological help? Of course you would.
If you can imagine your emotions in such a scenario, you've got just a little taste of what it feels like to be a member
of a group that has been attacked by a hate crime. I admit, the SUV illustration is pretty contrived. But it's hard to find
a way for comfortable, straight white folks like me to connect with what some of our neighbors live with all of their lives.
Some of our neighbors know that they are targets. Some of our neighbors know that there are some crazies out there who hate
people like them so much that they will do violence to them. I don't live with those fears.
Some crimes are different. Some crimes target whole groups of people, not just individuals. Some crimes intend to send
a message of fear and intimidation to a whole class of people. They are more like terrorist acts than they are like common
crimes.
Actually, you have been the victim of a hate crime. Nobody tried to kill you and me on September 11. But how did you
feel the first time you got on an airplane after those attacks? Did you look around to see if anybody looked suspicious?
Were you a bit more afraid than you used to be? Those people didn't just attack the World Trade Center; they attacked all
Americans. We all felt some sense of being victims of their violence. Many of us felt afraid in a new way. We have neighbors
live with a degree of that same fear and insecurity all of their lives.
People who object to the category of hate crimes object to giving some people "special rights" as a "protected
class." The only people who need "special rights" are people who have become "special targets."
Classes of people who have been attacked by terrorist acts need to be protected classes.
When a cross burns in front of a torched African American church, every black person feels attacked. When Matthew Shepherd
gets beat up and hung on a fence to die just because he's gay, every gay person shudders and every mama of a gay child worries.
When some good ole boys jump out of a pickup on Dickson and attack two girls holding hands, heterosexual folks like me don't
feel less secure. But every gay person in town wonders if it's safe to go to Dickson Street again.
You may think it's a sin to drive a SUV, but you know it's wrong to blow them up and terrorize every SUV owner. You may
think it's a sin to be gay, but you know it's wrong when gay people are terrorized by violence.
Some crimes are different. Some crimes target whole groups of people. Refusing to recognize the difference is in some
way to participate in the terrorism. It is a form of condoning violence against certain groups. You may not like them, but
please, don't participate in the campaign of violence and terror against them. Crimes against whole groups of people are
special crimes; they deserve special attention.
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