I am heartsick!. . . facing yet another example of hatred and violence perpetrated against women. Whether or not the vicious acts that took place in Atlanta, Georgia rises to a legal definition of hate crimes, it is obvious that a specific ethnic group, Asian women, was targeted.

When hate is allowed to prosper, how can any of us be surprised at what it produces?

But who are the producers?

We can all lay blame at the feet of those who proudly and loudly sanction hate, who prosper from it, who play off others’ fears and insecurities to provoke more hate.

We can point fingers at people who prefer to highlight differences to create hierarchies—better and lesser; higher and lower; good and bad; superior and inferior; white and black; white and everyone else; able-bodied and disabled; male and female; binary and non-binary.

We can name the names of people we hold responsible for creating an atmosphere in which hate can thrive---but that rarified air would also need to be written with our names—-unless we had worked diligently to thwart the creation and proliferation of the hate.

If we let it slide by us---let it go on without a challenge---let it continue without rising up to halt it or call it out or write/speak/march against it, we’ve enabled it.

Women have always been easy targets for cowards. Atlanta is just the latest example, surrounded by Syria, Afghanistan, China, Myanmar, India, and other states in the US. Women are killed by their loving partners worldwide, as well as by wars, famine, suffocating, or outright murderous cultural traditions.

Whether or not we are ‘othered’, it’s dangerous to be female on this planet.

And it’s doubly dangerous to be other than white on this planet, regardless of gender.

We collect statistics on increasing incidences of hatred, violence, bigotry, discrimination, misogyny, xenophobia, and any other terms we use to calculate the flourishing of the malignant atmosphere that has gripped the United States and many other countries most recently. But numbers alone will not change minds or behavior---standing up, speaking out, being counted in a positive way---we all have a role to play here!

Hatred and vile acts cannot be allowed to win!

What can/ what will each of us do?

I’d be interested to hear your thoughts . . . .