The social conditions which allow hateful graffiti to exist must be explored. We must ask ourselves how, through our complacency, ignorance or apathy, we contribute to a society in which an individual feels compelled to be hurtful by defacing a wall. All injustice affects us. We must realize this. To insure our own dignity, we must protect everyone's freedom.
Hate destroys our integrity.
If we allow anonymous violence, it will eventually reach us. These concepts can seem overwhelming to the busy UCSF student struggling to get by. But, we can protect freedom without a huge time commitment. Everyone has enough time to reject stereotypes, to refuse to go along with simplistic myths about groups of people. If we fail to express our discomfort with insensitive jokes, then we allow stereotypes to continue.