环球英语 — 614：Ten Ways to Fight Hate: Look Long Range
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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.
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What happens when a community changes?
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Waterloo is a city in Iowa, in the United States. In the late 1990s people from other countries began immigrating, or moving, there. The new immigrants were often of a different race than the original residents. They needed jobs, houses, health care and other resources provided by a community. But the situation in Waterloo became very tense. There were not enough resources in the city to share. Some people who were originally living in Waterloo blamed the new immigrants. The community needed to act.
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Human rights groups in Waterloo joined together. And in 1998, they formed study circles. Study circles are small groups of different, diverse, people. These people meet together. They discuss important issues in the community. They do not always agree. But they always respect others' opinions.
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The study circles changed the city of Waterloo. Thousands of people living there joined the study circles. The people involved worked to solve particular problems. They wanted to improve race relations. They wanted to improve relations between the police and the community. And they wanted to prevent violence among young people. After taking part in study circles, more businesses in Waterloo employed different kinds of people. Teachers in the community recognized how race relations could affect the children in their classrooms. Police aimed to respect all members of the community equally. The city of Waterloo CELEBRATED the differences between the people living there.
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The city of Waterloo recognized that a community could not operate with so much racial hostility. They looked toward the future. They looked long range.
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Today's Spotlight program is the eighth in a series of ten programs. In this series of programs we are looking 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 eighth way to fight hate in your community: Look Long Range.
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Many people know that it is important to plan for their future. They may save money or particular resources for emergencies. Or, they may set general life goals for their future. People make particular decisions to complete those goals. These decisions affect their future.
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Tolerance.org says that planning for your community's future is also very important. Every community has problems. But when people do not look at or deal with the problems, the problems seem bigger. They become more difficult to solve. And the future of the community looks frightening. This is especially true with the problem of hate in a community. So, Tolerance.org encourages communities to Look Long Range. That is, it is important that communities look toward the future when they deal with hate.
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The problem of hate does not usually come from outside a community. Instead, hate begins INSIDE a community. Groups of people may blame each other for problems in the community. They begin to hate each other. Or, people may feel as if they have no voice in their community. They feel unsupported and powerless. Differences and change can cause fear. And fear can lead to hate.
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Communities CAN deal with fear and hate. Tolerance.org says that a tolerant and united community can stand against hate. A community that accepts people no matter who they are or what they believe does not accept hate. Hate cannot exist if people do not let it. Stopping hate in your community will improve your community's future!
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But where can you start? Tolerance.org says that the first step to changing your community is to change yourself! You can change the way you speak about people who are different than you. You can also change the way you think about people who are different than you. Do you have an opinion about a particular group of people? These opinions are biases. They can negatively influence your actions in your community.
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Changes in individuals are very important. But changes in the whole community are important too. And there are many things people can do to encourage communication and tolerance in a community. You can encourage, organize and help your community to celebrate differences too. Communities can have diversity events. Invite different people groups to speak about their cultures. Have a community meal. Include foods from ethnic groups represented in your community.
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At the beginning of this program we talked about study circles in Waterloo, Iowa. Study circles are safe places for different people to talk with each other about their opinions and beliefs. People from different groups can come together and get to know each other. In normal life, people may not be able to talk openly with people of different ethnic groups. But this kind of communication can help people change the way they think. It can change the way they act toward particular groups of people. People who join study circles gain understanding of different people. They gain hope for a better future. They know that they can help to solve problems and conflicts in their community.
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Everyday Democracy is a group that helps communities discuss issues with each other. Study circles are one way to start community discussions. You can start a study circle in your community. In fact, you can start any group to talk openly about the issues in your community. These groups should accept every person. They should respect every person's opinion. And when people in a study circle talk they do not always have to agree on everything. That is even part of the fun!
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People in a community should be able to live together in peace. How will you help plan and influence the future of where you live? Look long range when you think about hate in your community.
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This is the eighth program in a 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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Keep listening to Spotlight to hear the complete series.
And be sure to visit Tolerance.org on the internet.
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