Intolerance often begins not with a violent act, but with a small indignity or bigoted remark. To move forward as one community, we must work against the stereotypes and prejudices that cause these actions. Hate is learned. It can be unlearned. We must engage our schools, houses of worship, and other community institutions in the crucial task of teaching our children moral values and social responsibility, and preventing the development of the prejudice and stereotyping that leads to hate crime.
Tolerance is easy to talk about, but often hard to practice.
The U.S. Departments of Justice and Education have initiated a middle school program to promote tolerance. And right here in Maine, Attorney General Drew Ketterer has started a program to teach high school students about tolerance and hate. I came up here to Portland to talk to the students in this program. One teenage girl told me that she had never thought to speak up. But as a result of listening to the experience of other students mistreated because of their race, gender, ethnicity or sexual orientation, she now speaks up when things are said that denigrate and demean.