Erase Hate: 10 Years After Matthew Shepherd's Murder

Ten years ago today, Matthew Shepherd was robbed, pistol whipped, tortured, tied to this fence in a remote, rural area outside Laramie, WY and left to die a death fueled by hatred:

Matthew's dad Dennis Shepard describes his late son:

"Matt’s gift was people. He loved being with people, helping people, and making others feel good. The hope of a better world, free of harassment and discrimination because a person was different, kept him motivated."

   - Read about MATTHEW'S LIFE

   - Learn the facts about THE HATE CRIME

The foundation founded by his parents is working on this 10th anniversary to help focus attention on the effort to speak truth to hatred:

We live in a time in America where there seems to have an unlimited amount of hatred, whether because of opinions or who we are or who we love.  Sadly, a great deal of that hatred is stoked by people of faith - as Jonathan Swift noted:  “We have just enough religion to make us hate, but not enough to make us love one another.”

 Ta-Nehisi Coates had a post on Thurs The Unthinkable, about the imapct of the hatred that is seeping into the U.S. political race:

When the McCain campaign cast the spell of diabolical jingoism, they have no idea of the forces they are toying with. We remember Martin Luther King's murder as a sad and tragic event. Less remembered is the fact that ground-work for King's murder was seeded, not simply by rank white supremacy, but by people who slandered King as a communist.

This was not some notion bandied about by conspiracy theorist, but an accusation proffered by men who were the pillars of the modern Republican Party:

As late as 1964, Falwell was attacking the 1964 Civil Rights Act as "civil wrongs" legislation. He questioned "the sincerity and intentions of some civil rights leaders such as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., James Farmer, and others, who are known to have left-wing associations." Falwell charged, "It is very obvious that the Communists, as they do in all parts of the world, are taking advantage of a tense situation in our land, and are exploiting every incident to bring about violence and bloodshed."

Falwell was not alone. These men didn't kill Martin Luther King, but they contributed to an atmosphere of nationalism, white supremacy and cheap unreflective patriotism that ultimately got a lot of people killed. Confronted with Aparthied South Africa, men like Helms and Falwell used the same "communist" defense. While Mandella wasted away in prison, they dismissed the whole thing as a communist plot.

This challenging video really speaks to me on this day we remember someone's son and the imperative to do all we can to erase hate, in all parts of our lives:

Comments

[Ocean Soul]

It's been over 10 years now and there is still a huge hole in my heart over the loss of Matthew.

I think it was the day one of the murderer's girlfriends testified he had told her Matthew begged for his life, but they still left him to die...Yeah, it was that day I knew once and for all there can be no God.

RIP Matthew Wayne Shepherd. A part of me died with you.