Hate won't go away until you do this ...

Hate has always existed. It's nothing new.

It didn't begin with Donald Trump and it isn't going to end with Joe Biden. The notion that somehow hate speech and violence wasn't an issue prior to 2016 is delusional, and laughable if not so disconcerting.

And the idea that hashtags and bumperstickers are going to change the world is as shallow as it is arrogant. It's also dangerously lazy.

You want to end hate? Great! Get ready to do the work, not just say the words. Get ready to look inwardly. Stop looking at everyone else, stop your finger-pointing and stop the narcissistic belief that you're more enlightened and better educated and therefor entitled to pass your own sweeping judgments. Stop looking for other people's biases and start examining your own justifications.

Stop seeing yourself as a social justice warrior and instead start working to become a personal peace advocate. Do the work of everyday self improvement, then go out and be an example of interpersonal excellence because hate withers and dies in the sunlight of connection. It thrives in the darkness of disassociation.

The desire to help is a wonderful thing. The rich, white politically-elite belief that "they" are incapable of succeeding without our benevolence is itself systemically racist. Mind that fine line.


Ultimately, rallies won't end hate. 

Retribution won't end hate.

Regulations won't end hate.

Pointing out offenses won't end hate.

Pointing fingers won't end hate.

Political rhetoric from feckless, self-important bureaucrats won't end hate.

Media talking points won't end hate.

The only real way to end hate is a personal commitment to improve, to move forward a step at a time, every day. It takes all of us, but it starts inside each of us. It takes inward reflection above outward detection.