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VIRGINIA FIELDS HOLDS FIRST MEETING TO DISCUSS
Fields Brings Together Faith Leaders and Community Leaders Including Rabbi Rob Kaplan, Father Earl Kooperkamp, Rev. Timothy Mitchell, Rev. Pat Bumgardner, Bishop Zachary Jones, Rev. Joan Brightharp, Ydanis Rodriquez, and Yvonne Stennett
On July 5, C. Virginia Fields brought together faith leaders and community leaders from across the city to begin a dialogue about how to end hate crimes in New York City.
Said Fields, “New Yorkers must not accept bias crimes as status quo.” Last year, there were 267 reported bias crimes in New York. While this represented an overall decrease from the year before, anti-gay hate crimes were up substantially. “One hate crime is one too many. Bias attacks are devastating to the victims and the communities where they occur,” Fields said.
“No New Yorker should live in fear of these kinds of attacks. Sadly, what happened in Howard Beach is not the end of the story; it’s the beginning. We must start a serious conversation about how we can get to the underlying causes of these horrible crimes and stamp them out once and for all,” Fields added.
Last month, a Brooklyn man was viciously beaten while his attackers shouted anti-gay slurs at him, putting him in a coma. A group of young white women were chased and beaten by black teenagers in Marine Park. And just last week, an Asian woman in Brooklyn was surrounded by a group who pushed her to the ground and punched and kicked her, shouting anti-Asian slurs as they robbed her. This occurred in the same neighborhood where swastikas were painted on storefronts in May. And according to the Anti-Violence Project, hate crimes against the gay, lesbian and transgender community in New York City are up 26% over the last year.
Fields continued: “I am committed to working with our diverse communities to launch educational efforts aimed at dispelling stereotypes and encouraging broader intercultural understanding and appreciation. Punishing perpetrators of these crimes is critical, but preventing them is just as important. Studies have shown that hate crimes are not necessarily random, uncontrollable, or inevitable occurrences. There is overwhelming evidence that society can intervene to reduce or prevent many forms of violence, especially among young people, including the hate-induced violence that threatens and intimidates entire categories of people.”
Said Fields: “Today was the first step toward the ultimate goal of ending bias crimes in New York City. We will continue to meet and I am gratified that our community and religious leaders have expressed a desire to work in partnership to increase understanding among our communities and start the process of dealing with the underlying causes of these horrible crimes. I know that when New Yorkers are working together, we can accomplish anything.”
Posted by RBMF on July 11, 2005 09:56 AM | Permalink
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