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Welcome to Spotlight, I'm Ryan Geertsma.
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And I'm Liz Waid. Spotlight uses a special English method of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand no matter where in the world they live.
Fighting hate begins with me. It begins with me. With me. With me. Only I can fight the hateful feelings inside myself. I can change my attitudes. I have courage. I know what is right. I can fight hate. It begins with me. With me. With me. With me.
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Today's Spotlight program is the last in a series of ten programs. In this series of programs we have looked at ten ways to fight hate.
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Hate is powerful enough to destroy people and communities. So Tolerance.org has made this list of ten ways to fight hate in your community. On today's Spotlight program we will look at the tenth way to fight hate in your community: Dig Deeper.
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No one wants to have hateful feelings toward other people. No one wants to judge people who are different. No one wants to have bad thoughts about particular races, religions, or nationalities. But we all do. We may not even know the feelings are there. But no one is perfect. We all have opinions and feelings about other people.
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Tolerance.org wants all people to dig deep inside their hearts. They want people to find the harmful feelings inside themselves and then change them. Tolerance.org believes that each person must decide for himself if he will be tolerant or not. Tolerance means that every voice matters. It means that all people are valuable no matter who they are or what they believe. Every person can learn, accept, and practice tolerance.
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Tolerance.org lists "Dig Deeper" as the tenth way to fight hate. But they really believe that it is the first step a person must take to be more tolerant of other people.
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So what are some ways for people to dig deeper and change their harmful thoughts? Well, Tolerance.org says that a good way to discover harmful feelings is to ask questions ... to yourself! They want people to look hard at their lives and their experiences to answer these questions. Here are some examples of questions we all should ask ourselves about what we think and feel.
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Do I spend time with people of other races and religions? Do I have friends who are different than me?
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Do I live near people who are different than me? Do I work with people who are different? Do my children go to school with people who are different?
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Do my friends and family tell hate based jokes or laugh at people who are different from them? How do I react to their jokes? Do I have the courage to tell them to stop?
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Where do I get information about other cultures? Do I read about other cultures from books or magazines? Do I get information from real people of that culture? Or do I depend on films and television programs to tell me about other cultures?
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Do I take time to learn from other people's experiences? Do I listen to people who have different opinions than me? Am I willing to hear all people's stories and opinions?
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How often do I feel like a minority in a group of people? Do I know how it feels to live in a place where no one is like me?
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Tolerance.org believes that people must be willing to ask these difficult questions about their lives. They believe that these kinds of questions help people dig deeper into their own thoughts and feelings. People may discover harmful feelings that they did not know about. And they can work to change them.
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Clinton Snipes was one person who decided to dig deeper. His story is in the film "Not In Our Town." "Not In Our Town" is about race relations in Billings Montana, in the United States. The film tells how the people there responded to increased violence and hate in the area.
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As a young man, Clinton was a member of a racist group called the KKK. This group of white people attacked people of different races. One night, police arrested Clinton and put him in prison.
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In prison, Clinton met a black man. The black man did not agree with Clinton's racist ideas. But, he still treated Clinton with respect and love. Two days before Clinton left the prison, the man came to talk to him. He told Clinton:
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"You know that we have had many problems together. I know you are not going to change. But I wish you the best."
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Clinton was shocked. He says:
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"After that I tried to imagine life differently. I started to regret the things I had done. I started thinking about some of the victims. I thought about how I had affected those people. I thought about how hate was affecting me. I felt a lot of pain, a lot of misery. I was not happy. I had no direction in my life. I was tired of hurting."
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Clinton began to understand that hate was destroying him. After that, Clinton encouraged people to be tolerant of each other. He hoped that they would listen to him. He hoped that people could learn from his experiences.
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Tolerance.org knows that there are many problems in communities all around the world. These are problems like sickness, poor quality housing, hunger, and violence. But they also believe that these kinds of problems can be solved if people with different ideas work together. When a community decides to first deal with hate, many good things will follow. They know it is a long and difficult process to fight hateful thoughts and actions. But they ask the very important question: why not start today? They say the most important step is the first one.
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Will you make that first step? What steps can you make to examine your own thoughts and feelings? What steps can you take toward fighting hate today?
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This was the last program in our series of ten programs on ten ways to fight hate. This list is from Tolerance.org. Here are Tolerance.org's ten ways to fight hate.
Act, Unite, Support the Victims, Do Your Homework, Create an Alternative, Speak Up, Lobby Leaders, Look Long Range, Teach Tolerance, and Dig Deeper.
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