…And the Truth Shall Set You Free.

The article printed in South Africa announces that they found a way to cure Deaf people. Stop using Deaf people as lab rats.

https://themindunleashed.com/2019/03/doctor-cures-deafness-middle-ear-transplant.html

 

There has been some concerns about Gallaudet University President Bobbi Cordano–the Gallaudet community (faculty, etc) wants her to resign. Otherwise, protest would be in order if Bobbi did not follow the demands.

Islamophobia is real. Muslims come from all walks of life. Yet the white supremacy are often overlooked and not enough discussed; the culture of Islamophobia exploiting white silence of all ages, portraying their language and culture as less impressive and important than it really is.

The shooting inside mosques killing 50 people in New Zealand printed in March 2019 is part of Islamophobia forever. Deaf community around the world must be shocked by the news what happened, too. I know it does affect Deaf people around the world with the news. I am one of them. There was a New Zealand sign language interpreter behind TV news. Accessibility is important anywhere in the world. Especially when it comes to serious situation like this one. Any hate crime news must be shared.

Muslim people who come into mosques have the right to worship. They have the right to be the “voice” of anti-bias authority. Islamophobia is supposed to be bias-free and hate-free society. The society provides a widow into lives of every day human beings, including Muslim people of varying ages, educational lives, and human experiences.

Muslim human beings are targeted for hate. All by means, character assassination, too. Every day, they have been walking before the mind of hatred because of their ethnicities and religious beliefs; it is affecting them from all walks of life and deal with Islamophobia every day affected by the culture of hatred.

Why should Islamophobia viewed as the normalization in the society to attack them in the name of hate? The society we live in, it is supposed to be safe haven for anyone that should not be mocked and mimic Muslim’s skin. The killing of 50 could be easily extremely detrimental to Deaf community because it teaches us that the culture of fear is not tolerated.

When Islamophobia occurs in the world, rocking the ship, and neglect hate crime. Reminding of the hate problem, hate crime in Islamophobia is being denied due to white supremacy, how can we solve this problem? Hate crime culture is capricious, why is that?

The symptoms of Islamophobia had been gone unrecognized for time being. Through the leadership of white supremacy has instituted the policy of hate crime through pedagogical criminology and the most important of all, we all need to learn how to stand up against hatred and culture of fear. Especially white supremacy.

There is a powerful piece written by Nancy Gibbs about an article for TIME magazine, called “The Only Way to Fight Hate” reminds all of us on this one:

“Small, scared people hate, self-hating people hate, bullied and betrayed people hate, as people hate will make them large and safe and strong.”

There is no doubt what was behind this hatred: the truth of the white supremacy is pushing people through hate, and the growing of hate crime statistics across the world against Muslims is real. Despite more aggressive and often dishonest tactics, the invisible hate crimes about Islamophobia are encountering resistance in the world, and it is much need to be critically examined and how to combat against hate culture.

Can Deaf community say no to hate? No to Islamophobia? No to Xenophobia? No to Racism?

-JT

Copyright © 2019 Jason Tozier

This text may be freely copied in its entirely only, including this copyright message.

 

 

This image by ESPN is a perfect example of hearing-washing. “The gift of hearing” is exactly the reflection of a mirror.

It has nothing wrong being Deaf athlete with the natural ability and that’s greatness. That’s the gift in sports. There were many Deaf athletes that were born with gift in sports. It has nothing to do with the gift of hearing. Did I ever need the gift of hearing to win wrestling matches to win over hearing wrestlers? The deficit thinking words from Greek philosopher Aristotle: “Those who are born deaf all becomes senseless and incapable of reason.”

That kind of reaction is priceless in a way because it is OK for hearing people to hold definitive authority to label Deaf athletes.

How can Deaf people became athletes in the first place? This image shows that any Deaf athletes become incapable of reason until the gift of hearing would cure everything right away. It was a poor taste. Seen by social media giants, and it is a perfect picture shot for manufacturers to profit hundred million of dollars and spread falsehood that it would help industry to exploit Deaf athletes.

Hearing privilege is something they need to acknowledge that the words were poorly used to define Deaf people who they are. Would ESPN show a video of giving a black hearing athlete a soap to wash their black skin off and turn into white skin?

Good example of the original Pears soap image where the Black used the soap to wash and turn into white skin. PURE RACISM. That was in 1884.

Same idea by Alexander Graham Bell as well as in 1884: He was concerned about intermarriage among Deaf and stated that they shall not marry because Deaf people would be isolated from hearing society. That looks like an idea of championing gift of hearing and encouraging prohibition of marriage among the Deaf people and halt the birth of Deaf children. Isn’t that gift of hearing? That is the language bigotry. No?

Just two years ago in 2017, the image run by Dove shows a racist idea. Isn’t the very top image you see above the same way what the hearing community mocks Deaf community as what Dove did to Black community? Why or why not?

It is best way to protest is with our Deaf community that Deaf people should not used to mock for just being Deaf. In fact, being Deaf is a gift. George Veditz said himself in 1913:

“As long as we have deaf people on earth, we will have signs. And as long as we have our films, we can preserve signs in their old purity. It is my hope that we will all love and guard our beautiful sign language as the noblest gift God has give to deaf people”

The gift of hearing using the language of Deaf are seen as the effect of hearing privilege, and how the image people see of Deaf people is typically stigmatized and live in the jars. It is far more complicated than meets the eye.

On the other hand, using Deaf people in social media images is gaining privileged, did that mean with the goal of treating Deaf people as the poorer and the less privileged? If so, the more patronizing attitude towards Deaf people who happen to be human beings. Deaf people shall not be objectified as human doings.

-JT

Copyright © 2019 Jason Tozier

This text may be freely copied in its entirely only, including this copyright message.

Last Sunday, March 10^th, 2019:

First of all, I would like to thank my driver for taking me to a training series about hate crime and bias. It was nice to meet people.

Why is Deaf community quiet in the media? Then it is on a mission to address the plight of America’s most difficult criminal question: Deaf people should not be invisible while there is still time to stop hate crimes and that requires the truth for all future constituents that could become a solution.

Deaf community is in desperate straits. The statistics neglects from the truth that would not admit community accountability. It appears that we had been made to forget the human behavior that appreciates Deaf people. Why is that? The basic needs in Deaf community would require pursuit of happiness and stop cruel and unusual punishment.

Hate produces ignorance, discrimination, and prejudice. Can Deaf people share their experiences? Will we remain for the rest of our life dealing with hate crime who had been trying to take stock in our life, turning around and considering our range of experiences that had made them what we are today?

Hate crime are often viewed in invisible terms. It is not easy to be defined and solved. When people define Deaf people are often engage in denials and pressing for more stigma about the extent of social problem. The truth, Deaf people are often overlooked in these discussions is the missing dimension of the human issue.

The lack of statistics about Deaf people experiencing hate crime is the reason that the stories of every day Deaf people—yet, it is missing big picture in United States Congress, local, state, national courts, even the capitols in all states in America.

This is true for all Deaf people in America, no matter how their childhood, adulthood, and personhood had been robbed and yet to be defined by the society that they are not important to debate about. That’s the problem of denying that it has created a huge hole in culture of stigmatization.

Injustice is something that Deaf people have to deal with every day and not allowing the society to practice the culture of shame, fear, and denial, and we must continue to challenge a toxic system that has been dealt with hearing supremacy for long time and time for change, shall we?

Hate crime is the most painful wound. Why should we decide this kind of personal history might be worthy of some attention? We as Deaf people are ordinary people living in today’s world that could be easily targeted of hate crimes even if we do not know it.

-JT

Copyright © 2019 Jason Tozier

This text may be freely copied in its entirely only, including this copyright message.

Saturday evening, March 9th^, 2019, I grabbed the opportunity to watch a powerful performance called Crying Hands: Deaf People in Hitler’s Germany “based on interviews of Deaf Holocaust and civilian survivors, explores the fates of the Deaf and disabled in Nazi Germany, a neglected story of the Holocaust.”

The play of Crying Hands captured the stories where Deaf human beings had suffered as the most have under this regulated apartheid, persecution, and oppression in the name of bigotry and all of it for the benefit of the greatest generation of political cover ups in the history of the world.

The Deaf story signers in this cast were marvel and made sure the viewers felt the gravity of pain and sorrow, and it was not an easy feat. Carrying that story to Washington, D.C., one of the largest Deaf populations in America, was a masterpiece. It is OK to cry because the definition of crying, “to weep; shed tears, with or without sound.”

While I had been thinking about those times like during Nazi time–thousands of miles away from Gallaudet College where Deaf students were embracing the life of higher learning and pursuit of happiness, while Deaf political prisoners were fighting for their lives, the opposite of pursuit of happiness must have been different world. There might be forgotten Deaf political prisoners we may never knew the stories.

There is a friendly reminder that the readers should buy Crying Hands: Eugenics and Deaf People in Nazi Germany and Deaf People in Hitler’s Europe. Those books would understand more empirical evidence and the lack of a universal law.

The Deaf story signers showed with emotion, no matter dealing with the draconian punishment, would also deal with the oppression selling to the massively politically ignorant citizens of Nazi. The most painful thing in 1939, bigotry did not protect Deaf people. Bigotry was the ultimate message where the Nazi uses force of law to punish those they did not like.

Bigotry was a common name since 1590s. The terminology of hate crime was coined in 1980s. In 1939, the term of hate crime did not exist. Hate crime is now more common term than bigotry today.

The cast also brings the message to advocate and stop the growing number of hate crimes in America 2019. We need to remind ourselves whether the degree of bigotry was 80 years ago, we need to bring better message for another 80 years and forever to understand hate crimes more. We need to educate each other more.

That is an important step toward preserving Deaf people’s freedom. The story, Crying Hands was brilliant on the spot. I strongly believe that it should show the story more around America and the world itself, too. Department of Deaf Studies around colleges and universities whose curriculum should be required to read those books and watch this play. It is once in a lifetime. At least it is an academic freedom to learn the truth.

It may be a sociological problem, and the core of this story is to recognize the magnitude of hate crime that shows the abuse of power, and Deaf people should not taunt by their own disdain for the human being that they were born with.

The production of Crying Hands took courage to show the product of truth should favors in Deaf people’s world of hurt and should not be an effort to reject the truth in the name of privileges. The pursuit of justice cannot be neglected. Don’t you agree that hate in the eye of the beholder shall or shall not be ashamed of that injustice?

Thank you:

A Theatre Passe Muraille Presentation of Theatre Manu and Community Engagement Partner the Deaf Culture Centre for bringing this story.

-JT

Copyright © 2019 Jason Tozier

This text may be freely copied in its entirely only, including this copyright message.

References:

https://ca.patronbase.com/_TheatrePasseMuraille/Productions/8/Performances

https://www.dictionary.com/browse/crying