okay, i just made the mistake of listening
to npr on my way home, i should know better after the way they handled
israel's birthday.
usually the diane reems show is pretty good though.
well, there was some asshole on the show saying that it is a bad
idea for the federal government to intervene in the case of a hate
crime where the local community isn't taking action. because if local
law enforcement isn't acting, it must not be a very serious crime,
it must be on the level of grafitti.
and i clenched my jaw hard enough to hurt and thought of two names,
Tyra Hunter and Brandon Teena.
neither of them was a white gay man college student, you're not
going to hear about either of them in the news, although more people
know Brandon Teena's name now that there's a movie.
he was gang-raped for being a transexual; when he went to the local
police about it they laughed in his face; a little later the same
men who had gang-raped him murdered him. the police did not take action.
Tyra Hunter was from DC, she was a transexual woman who was involved
in a car accident, when EMT's discovered she was transexual they stopped
treating her, stood around making jokes until one of their superiors
forced them to take her to the hospital. she died. we don't know if
she would have lived if she received prompt treatment.
the dc government stone-walled & defended their EMT's, as far
as i know none of the people who judged Tyra not worthy of the care
they are paid to give have ever been punished in any way.
it's an odd thing, really, this culture we live in, where a single
case is spotlighted, then forgotten, and others just as bad go unmentioned
for years.
but this woman on the radio made me so mad, and npr for putting
her on, this whole idea that you've got to show both sides of this
issue.
saying that local law enforcement will respond to all serious crimes
isn't a side, it's a lie, easily refuted if you've got any knowlege
of hate crimes.
and the man who wants to picket matthew's funeral, he doesn't have
the other side of the story either, you've got no business giving
him equal time with glov.
you know what the other side to matthew's story is?
this isn't the worst hate crime to happen in this
country this month.
we are arbitrary in our decision to care about mathew's
death.
we wouldn't care if he was transexual.
we wouldn't care if he wasn't white.
and yet, for all this, god damn, matthew.
i'm sorry.