Colin Lowther and Liz Waid look at ways to speak up against hate. They give helpful tips that anyone can use to stop hate speech and promote tolerance. This is the fourth program in a series of ten programs on 10 Ways to Fight Hate in your community.

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Welcome to Spotlight. I’m Colin Lowther.

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And I’m Liz Waid. Spotlight uses a special English method of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand, no matter where in the world they live.

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In April of 2021, Jenna Dupuy was hanging out in a local park. This park is in California in the United States. Dupuy was enjoying the park with her friends. But a man walked over to her. He asked where she was from. Dupuy grew up in the United States. But her ancestors were from Korea. She told the man she was Korean. Then he began making bad comments to her. After a short time, he began attacking her. She told the Triton Times:

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“He made comments to me and many other people and no one stopped him. He threatened me with physical violence. No one stopped him. I protected myself and he still was able to attack me. People only helped me after I got hurt.”

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The man broke Dupuy’s shoulder and gave her a concussion — a serious injury to her head. Leticia Clark is the Mayor of Tustin, where this incident happened. She said in a statement:

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“I want to send a clear message. Tustin has zero tolerance for bigotry or racism. I am very disturbed by the rise in hate crimes directed at Asian Americans. As a community, we cannot be silent about these crimes. If we witness acts of hate and discrimination, we must speak out, stand up and stop it.”

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Today’s Spotlight program is the fourth in a series of ten programs. In this series of programs, we are looking at ten ways to fight hate.

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Hate is powerful enough to destroy people and communities. So the Southern Poverty Law Center has made this list of ten ways to fight hate. On today’s Spotlight we look at the fourth way to fight hate in your community: Speak Up.

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The fast rise in anti-Asian hate began in 2020. In March of 2020, the President of the United States made a tweet. In that tweet, he called covid-19 “the China virus”. He continued to call this virus by this name instead of covid-19.

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Hateful words from leaders have real consequences. Studies have shown that words like this caused the rise in anti-Asian hate and attacks on Asian people in the US. The group Stop AAPI Hate records hate incidents against Asian Americans. In 2020, there were more than 3,700 attacks on Asian people. But in March 2021, that number had increased to over 6,600.

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But people like Jenna Dupuy are bravely speaking up. In May of 2021, Dupuy was a speaker at a Youth Against Hate rally. At this rally, youth from different groups gathered together to speak out against hate.

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Several youth organizations planned the rally. The SPLC believes that anyone can fight hate by speaking up like these students did. People can make posts on social media. They can make pamphlets or fliers. They can email local news stations. You can spread tolerance by speaking up. Tolerance means accepting people no matter who they are or what they believe. It means respecting every person equally.

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It is easy to stay quiet in a difficult situation. No one wants to be a target of violence or hate. And it is difficult to speak up when it seems everyone else has a different opinion. But there are many different ways to speak up.

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The website learningforjustice.org has produced a guide for teachers who want to stop hate. But these are good tips for any person. They say one way to speak up is to prepare yourself and practice. Remind yourself that you are a person who speaks up against hate. Believe it. This simple exercise can change your mind from doing nothing to taking action.

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The next step is to memorize some simple phrases. These phrases will work for different situations. For example, when you hear a hateful joke, you can say something like “I do not find that funny”, or “that offends me”, or “I am surprised to hear you say that”. These phrases can help begin a conversation about stopping hate.

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You can also interrupt hate by asking questions. Some simple questions are: “What do you mean by that?” “Why would you say something like that?” “What point are you trying to make by saying that?” Questions make the person who said the hateful thing have to think about their answer. They may not understand that the thing they said was racist. They may not even be able to explain why they said it. Speaking up can help people examine their part in stopping hate.

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You can also speak up by learning. Information can encourage tolerance. You can research facts about the effects of hate on a community. We will talk about how to educate yourself in the next program.

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You can spread this or any information about tolerance at your school, the place where you worship, or on a website. You can bring information to the people who live near you. Offer to talk with them about tolerance and hate.

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Anyone of any age can fight hate. 626 Speak Out is a youth organization. They want to encourage young people to become activists. They want young people to learn about and speak up against tough issues. Jayden Chow is in high school. He is an outreach leader for 626 Speak Out. He told his high school newspaper:

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“You have a voice for a reason. And if you have that voice, you should be able to use it for good. And especially in our modern day, you should use your voice to help others. It is especially important to educate yourself. That is not only for school, but socially as well. You need to be aware of what is happening to other people, not only those around you maybe, but everywhere in the world.”

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Speak up. Help your community to see hate for what it really is. (Speak up.) Encourage your local radio and television news stations to report hate incidents and peace rallies correctly and fairly. (Speak up.) Write to your local newspapers and magazines. Encourage them to look closely at efforts to fight hate. (Speak up.) You have the power to change your community. Speak up!

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This is the fourth program in a series of 10 programs on 10 ways to fight hate. This list is from the Southern Poverty Law Center. The Southern Poverty Law Center is a website that tracks and reports on hate groups in the Southern United States. Here are their 10 ways to fight hate.

Act, Join Forces, Support the Victims, Speak Up, Educate Yourself, Create An Alternative, Pressure Leaders, Stay Engaged, Teach Acceptance, and Dig Deeper

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Keep listening to Spotlight to hear the complete series. You can leave a comment on our website. Or email us at contact@spotlightenglish.com. You can also find us on YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter.

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The writers of this program were Liz Waid and Amelia Berglund. The voices you heard were from the United Kingdom and the United States. All quotes were adapted for this program and voiced by Spotlight. You can listen to this program again, and read it, on the internet at www.spotlightenglish.com. This program is called “Ten Ways to Fight Hate: Speak Up.”

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Visit our website to download our free official App for Android and Apple devices. We hope you can join us again for the next Spotlight program. Goodbye!

Question:

Do you know anyone who speaks up against hate? What do you think is the best method to stop hate speech?