There is one race, and that is the human race

 

‘There is one race, and that is the human race’

No matter how many times we say the above, there are a minority amongst us who continue to spread hate.  It is unfortunate that based on what makes us unique and different, people continue to discriminate and oppress – whether that is because someone is of a certain faith or gender, from the LGBTQI communities and/or is disabled. 

According to the Merriam Webster dictionary[1], the word ‘hate’ has been defined as ‘extreme dislike or disgust’ and ‘intense hostility’.

We don’t have to look too far back in history to know the evil that has been committed because of hate; Jews in the eyes of Nazis and Tutsis in the eyes of Hutus (in the Rwandan genocide).  When we see other humans as less or inferior or subhuman, that is when these types of atrocities are committed.  This psychological process is called dehumanization and it means that certain groups of people do not consider other groups of humans worthy of trust, respect, love and moral consideration.  Fundamentally, dehumanization creates feelings of ‘them and us’.  The idea of ‘shared community’ and compassion for each other fail to exist due to this process of dehumanization.

We at Amina MWRC know first hand what hate can look like for the women we work with.  We continue to work with women with intersecting identities and we understand how discrimination can operate to disadvantage them at an institutional level as well as at a personal level.

We do not tolerate campaigns of hate and refuse to participate in games of scaremongering.  We know that there are allies that work with us to help keep the communities we work with safe from harm.  We also recognise that we, along with our allies have some way to go to create a Scotland in which there is zero tolerance for hate.

[1] https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hate (accessed 03/04/2018)