To end hate crimes, you need to end hate

I think we should hire car salespeople to teach us how to eliminate hate crimes based on discrimination.

I'm serious.

Writing laws is easy. Social change is not.

There is much hype about more hate crime bills again this legislative session that propose the same old government solutions for eliminating discrimination — more punishment.

As Dr. Phil would ask, "How's that working for you?"

First, it's important to know what problem the hate crimes bill is supposed to resolve. Is it to punish perpetrators of hate crimes (in which case, such laws already exist)? Or, is it to prevent hate crimes in the first place? If it is the former, then good luck, because all the state will be doing is expanding the "civil rights industrial complex" — more toothless administrative structures, more "diversity sensitivity training" and more legal wrangling. Federal and state bureaucracies have served only to escalate the polarization in our communities over civil rights.

Been there. Done that.

On the other hand, if the problem we want to resolve in the state is to prevent discrimination, then that's where you call in the car salespeople.

Let me tell you why.

I once asked one of my neighbors, at that time a manager for a local car dealer, to come tell my community organization graduate students how to solve a community problem. He told them it was the same as selling cars: Simply listen closely to what the customer likes, what the needs are; then establish a trusting relationship and begin tailoring the product to meet the needs of the prospective customer. There is no hard sell, no confrontation. The students came away with an understanding that getting people to buy into a solution is a marketing problem, not one of confrontation.

At times, advocates who identify closely with victims of discrimination are outraged, as we all are, that it happens. Some seem more concerned about venting their outrage and thus end up alienating those who might help solve the problem. What is lost in the "fight" for tougher sanctions is the bottom line — preventing discrimination. Let's deal with causes, not the results of discrimination.