ZUR -- Commitment: Richmond Responds to Hate

Ahate group came to protest in Virginia last week, and Richmond responded.

More than $10,000 was raised for the institutions that were picketed. Thousands of people joined Facebook groups and spread messages online. Hundreds attended pro-diversity rallies and counterprotests. The response was overwhelming and touching, and it sent a clear message that the Westboro Baptist Church and the vile sentiments its members espouse are not welcome in our community.

So what now?

When hatred is so clear, so overt, and so in-your-face, our course of action is obvious. This community clearly responds, firmly and boldly. But hate groups don't just show up for one day. Their work is ongoing, with constant efforts to recruit new members and poison more young minds. The Southern Poverty Law Center tells us that there was a 40 percent increase in the number of radical groups in this country between 2008 and 2009 alone. Twenty-two of those groups had active chapters in Virginia last year.

Our work, then, cannot stop just because four representatives of the Westboro Baptist Church have left town. We must continue to act in ways that support inclusion by bringing people from diverse backgrounds together.

In some ways, this is the harder work. It requires us to be introspective and, many times, uncomfortable. It forces us to reflect on difficult interactions that we have with colleagues in the workplace, wondering whether or not they have to do with social identifiers like gender, race, religion, or sexual orientation. It challenges us to ask whether or not our neighborhoods are truly inclusive, with people reflecting a range of backgrounds and traditions. It brings up questions about disparities in educational quality, when we see widely variant outcomes based on race and class, both locally and nationally.

These challenges don't just disappear because a hate group has left town. Without that one-day impetus, can the same amount of money be raised? Would the same number of people join groups online and attend rallies?

What a positive response it would be to the Westboro Baptist Church's visit if we could answer "yes" to those questions. Let its visit affirm our community's commitment not just to one day of counterprotests, but to a lifetime of work toward a truly inclusive metro Richmond area.

Many individuals and organizations have worked diligently for years so that such a vision might be realized. At the Virginia Center for Inclusive Communities, we have been conducting programs that promote understanding and respect on all issues of diversity, for all age groups, all across Virginia since 1935. And, on the same day that the Westboro Baptist Church was in town, our organization was not only supporting an anti-hate rally organized by students at VCU, but we were leading educational workshops at an area high school, two local colleges, and a youth center. It is work we will continue doing tomorrow, next week, next month, and next year.

And it is not one organization's work alone. Our region is enriched by the presence of Hope in the Cities, the Interfaith Council of Greater Richmond, the Richmond Peace Education Center, ROSMY, the Virginia Holocaust Museum, the Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy, and many others. That's just a small sampling of a long list of groups that are working to make Richmond a more inclusive place all year long.

Indeed, that is the best way to respond to hate. Not only with a one-time rally, but with a sustained, ongoing effort to make this community a better place to live, learn, and work.

Please do your part to make Richmond's response to hatred a lifelong commitment.
Jonathan C. Zur is president and CEO of the Virginia Center for Inclusive Communities. Contact him at (804) 515-7950, and find out more at www.inclusiveva.org.