A coalition against discrimination

Hate crimes are on the rise, up almost 8 percent in one year, according to U.S. Department of Justice figures for 2006, the most recent data available.

The victims are black, Hispanic, Asian, gay, lesbian, transgendered, and members of various religions, among others. While they suffer together, they also suffer separately, because members of these disparate groups often have prejudices about each other.

"Immigrants from Latin America do not always understand [the gay and lesbian community]," said Rosi Carrasco, program coordinator for the Latino Organization for the Southwest, citing one example.

The Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights is trying to overcome that challenge and pull these groups together to do something about hate crimes, and the damage that occurs when victims internalize the negative messages.

The coalition hopes the groups can learn from each other's experience of hate crimes and hate speech and ways to fight it through a series of panel discussions.

"If we want equal rights for immigrants we need to also show that all humans have rights, regardless of what color their skin is or what their [sexual] preferences are," said Carrasco, a coalition member.

Japanese-Americans shared their experience in internment camps during World War II at the first program. Organizers said the same fear of otherness that led to the imprisonment of more than 100,000 people during the 1940s continues to spur the engine of discrimination today.

But discriminatory culture doesn't always take such a clear form as barbed-wire compounds, said David Tolen, a 41-year-old Mexican immigrant.

Tolen, who crossed the Rio Grande 10 years ago, said there is a subtlety and persistence in hate speech that permeates all aspects of life -- even the minds of those at whom it is directed.

"People call us stupid Mexicans," Tolen said. "They say, 'He can't speak English; he's not intelligent.' I hear it and I see it." And after awhile, he added, the victims sometimes start to believe it.

Carrasco said this internalization of hate speech has a particularly harsh effect on the first- and second-generation children of immigrants.

"This is affecting our communities because they are receiving messages every day that are hate messages," she said. "When people talk about immigrants in terms like 'illegal' it is very hard for their children, because it's about their parents."

Carrasco, who is a Mexican immigrant, understands firsthand both the struggle to overcome preconceived ideas about other groups and the power that comes from making the connections.

Her daughter, Tania Uzuela, who identifies with both the immigrant and lesbian and gay communities, spoke at a meeting that explored both points of tension and commonalities between these groups.

"I also had to understand many things that I didn't understand before about that [sexual orientation] issue, because of my daughter," Carrasco said.

Uzuela said, "We had a conversation right there after the forum about how she feels and that she had a lot of wrong ideas before about what it meant to be gay."

Those who identify with more than one marginalized group tend to face added obstacles, Uzuela said, pointing out that within the immigrant community there is still a stigma around homosexuality.

"There are constant messages we are getting from the government, like 'You're illegal' and 'You don't have a right to be here.'" Uzuela said. "And on top of that, getting other messages like 'Gay is bad' and 'God hates you.' It's like a double thing and you can never be OK."

Uzuela mentioned a time when a caller on a radio station compared gay people to alcoholics, saying you have to love them but they still need help.

"If you're a youth listening to these messages, how does that make you understand the way your community sees you?" she asked.

The coalition's next session will be in June, when former civil rights activists and immigrants will talk about struggles in common -- and the inter-group conflicts that often arise.

Tolen said the two groups have a lot to learn from each other: "The same prejudices that the majority have against African-Americans are the same ones they have against us. We are almost the same, so why are we fighting between us?"

"It's an ongoing conversation," said Catherine Salgado, a coalition spokeswoman. "We want to learn about everyone's fight, and how it is continuing."

Tolen identified with Martin Luther King's "Letter from Birmingham Jail" as a common moral guide, concluding, "I'm a human being. I'm not illegal. We have to accept, to understand each other. There is not another way."