Tag: Community accountability
The Consequences of Restaurant Audism
By now, we know that Audism is a serious issue. What about restaurant Audism? A “hostile” environment is responsible for the people who ignited Audism has often overlooked. Restaurants knew the potential consequence of violating Deaf people’s human rights and took the chance to do so nonetheless.
As do all American restaurants, they have responsibilities to respect Deaf community which they are also part of American life. One of the responsibilities is to educate in workers and business owners, and for the democracy by which restaurant business makes those policies. When restaurant business claims to adopt anti-Audism policies, they do the opposite. The teaching of violating human right is inhumane. And they teach that hate speech is an acceptable way to continue Audism.
How will this help minimize restaurant Audism into responsible workers and business owners and appreciate Deaf people in the eye of an American life? Most recently as of June 1st, 2018, in Mississippi, a Deaf couple were mocked at a fast food restaurant (KFC) by workers who were making fun of them for being Deaf, and restaurant Audism have a strong effect on hearing attitudes toward Deaf Americans, business had a stronger incentive not to discriminate, but hearing workers resented having to deal with and complete with Deaf people.
http://www.wapt.com/article/woman-claims-restaurant-workers-mistreated-her-deaf-parents/21053795
In my most recent blog, Righting a Wrong: Racism, Audism, Starbucks, and Us: “This seems like an extreme example of what Deaf people deal with daily. We all have “restaurant horror stories.” Just as Blacks recognize that “restaurant Racism” is still part of our reality, we recognize that “restaurant Audism” still exists.”
https://audismnegatsurdi.com/2018/05/30/righting-a-wrong-racism-audism-starbucks-and-us/
It is a negative effect of restaurant Audism. The golden thread that weaves itself through each case is that impoverished society is so removed from the status quo of hearing privileges socially that discriminating Deaf people before realizing other oppressive attacks is not as viewed as entirely negative because it is so commonplace.
Therefore, it is not deemed as risky in restaurants. It does, in a lot of forgotten cases, cause the Deaf community continue to suffer and suck it up, recognizing their surroundings are not healthy. Deaf community begins to strive for a better life for themselves. It is at this point that they begin to want the American dream that upper echelons of society also want and they begin to strive for them in the same order, but with Audism last.
Deaf people put their Deaf journey before human oppression because society lacks the social education to know that dealing with Audism in restaurants to be successful citizens takes more hard work than they are exposed to in their immediate environment and they postpone knowledge about Audism almost indefinitely after Deaf community as they attempt to play “catch up” in order to realize the community accountability.
-JT
Copyright © 2018 Jason Tozier
This text may be freely copied in its entirely only, including this copyright message.
Public Art: Understanding Hate Crimes Through Deaf Eyes
I was invited to give a lecture at Gallaudet University on April 9, 2018. My lecture, Public Art: Understanding Hate Crimes Through Deaf Eyes. I was thankful for giving me the opportunity.
The lecture was about the sighting of invisible hate crimes through public art and the need to understand the concept of community accountability to challenge hate crime through art world. The sight of hate and the surge of denial and struggles that spreads through the Deaf community can be painful to behold. I strongly believe in social justice that promotes the critical examination and higher learning we all should join hands and stand against hate.
My past lectures from DC to California to Oregon to Canada to New York and many more:
Journey Through Hate Exploring the Survivorship of the Deaf
For Your Eyes Only: Hate Crime is Real in Deaf Community
Change the World: The Meaning of Social Justice for Deaf Returning Citizens
Deaf Returning Citizens as Forgotten People
Composition in Values: The Art and Deaf Studies of Leonardo da Vinci
Audism Theory: Racism and the Hidden Meaning
The Faces of Audism
Hate Crimes in the Deaf Community
And more.
-JT
Copyright © 2018 Jason Tozier
This text may be freely copied in its entirely only, including this copyright message.
Two Tales of Americas
‘Bystander’ to the Deaf Community
Yes, we can make a difference to stop hate. Is Deaf community as humanity as ever? Our impact on hate depends more on how we, as humanity, respond than as we the Deaf people do. Both are very critical right now—the question, which is more effective and community accountability? Hate is invisible to the Deaf community.
Stalking and harassment seems to be a perception among Deaf community. And, to be direct, it does show to verge on stigmatizing basically “normal” behavior. It may be even is true and sad, but Deaf community essentially using the scarlet letter of “harassment” to penalize Deaf returning citizen who they resent very much. We need to know that hate will not make us safe.
The biggest problem in the Deaf community: Bystanders—the context in which this occurs more often. They do not care about hate. They do not care about abuse their power, to understand that as soon as hate is created, it will be abused at least Deaf community who will wield it.
How can we solve this sociological problem: Bystanders in Deaf community and why they refuse to accept community accountability? Dividing into hate, separated by our own experience. Silence is not even cool.
-JT
Copyright © 2017 Jason Tozier
This text may be freely copied in its entirely only, including this copyright message.
Harassment in the Deaf Community: Guidelines for Protection and Prevention
…………………………………….So, I got harassed during Homecoming 2017 Saturday afternoon. I am getting tired of this. I was trying to have good time for a change. The person who approached towards me in a threatening mode signed to me, “YOU ARE SICK! SICK! SICK! CRAZY! SICK!” in the PUBLIC EYE. That is a hate speech as well, too. You know who you are. I did not appreciate being humiliated. The public perception is that in Deaf community is getting sick of that same person who continues to cyber-stalk my own friends because we all believe in support system.
It has been like this for long time. It is now pathological. I also acknowledge that person needs help to get rid of a spiraling depression or exacerbate the behavior the person was already exhibiting.
October is National Bullying Prevention Month. The injustice of the situation is both palpable and maddening. There is a broken mental health service system and what we deal with in Deaf community is sad but not unsurprising result.
In the wake of this person’s harassment driven by hatred as well as hyper-vigilance, the detours and rumors will always chase after me. Does not matter anymore. And whether intended or not, the message sent by the person is that the value our culture places a human life depends upon community accountability as well as in Deaf community.
Can we examine this question, can this person understand the dangers of creating and maintaining an oppression environment of harassment? Can the person be expected to conduct itself in a form that accept the community accountability for causing harassment? Can this person understand the part as a community expectations not to violate someone else? Anger is not cool. The image above says it all. Anger becomes hatred. It is becoming immature. What kind of benefits would you get that out of it?
Finally, how can we foster an environment that harassment is being promoted in this society?
More to come.
-JT
Copyright © 2017 Jason Tozier
This text may be freely copied in its entirely only, including this copyright message.
Gallaudet University: Whoever Reserve the Right to Freedom
As an ally for Deaf people of color, the last 48 hours has been mind-boggling where I had received e-mails and calls, I was even more surprised to see the bigger hidden agenda of institutional racism remains bigger problematic at Gallaudet University more than we really understand, why hide in the dark? Deaf people of color students would experience the first signs of racism after they were enrolled. I would like to acknowledge myself that I am a Deaf white man with lineage in Cherokee world. I believe in human equality.
Are the stories too familiar or too ignorant to admit it in the Deaf community? The leaders at Gallaudet University—will they acknowledge the last couple of years that the Deaf person of color has subjected to institutional racism? We ask ourselves to hold Gallaudet University accountable for ignoring strides to solve the problem too long.
For quite time, do we ever realize that Deaf people of color students been subjected to hostile environment on the campus? Why all of silence treatment about this? The information shows that they do not need a reason to worry and often sweep the rug are difficult to fathom. No way we should been absolved in easy steps. Yet, discriminatory practices on the campus proving that institutional racism is difficult to forget and move on.
Can we convince President Cordano to hire an outside Deaf consultant “with expertise in understanding institutional racism in society” to make the campus safer? Gallaudet University is not the problem. It is the central problem that whoever in charge is running Gallaudet University. Will we ever put ourselves on the front line to overthrow institutional racism and whenever we hold ourselves accountable? The clear path becomes the central of failure.
Deaf people of color I signed with the last 48 hours, they were alumni and alumnus experienced institutional racism before the day was over.
Racism is real. It is also lacks of awareness. When Gallaudet administration officials receive a complaint about institutional racism, did they take the discrimination complaints seriously enough? I guess we need to admit that institutional racism today is often unintentional. I feel like we are constantly remind ourselves what it is like to understand the fox guarding the hen house.
So, the last question of the post: Do we have a choice but to conclude that there was never institutional racism at all? In my final thoughts, Gallaudet University would improve better and start a fresh start and overthrow old thinking dilemma. Chief Tawonka quotes:
So, it means for Gallaudet community to understand the freedom that applies to Deaf person of color shall be bound to hold free. We do not need more infighting, it gets too old and tired. We need to set policies stronger to stand up against language bigotry.
When we see the selection of Vice President of Student Affairs and Community Enagement, walking by College Hall everyday in the open air, we can overcome old school thinking. So, the way we can have healthy thinking. We do not need to become tired of this. It starts with us. Leaving Gallaudet community members out of the dialogue is a problem. Leaving institutional racism out of the dialogue is bigger problem.
-JT
Copyright © 2017 Jason Tozier
This text may be freely copied in its entirely only, including this copyright message.
Did Gallaudet University Erase Hate Crime Recently?
I learned about this when I visited Gallaudet University couple of hours ago. It is being offered for $500—the university viewed it as vandalism. It was a student action project exhibit and robbed their time and education. I am very much in support of Black Lives Matter.
To me, once someone took the sign down out of pure vengeance, it means they bullied human beings down just because they are Black and it is a hate crime. Yes, Gallaudet University has been racist for long time. The English language has a strange inference of criminalization, “Legislation that makes something illegal.” For example, indicating the criminalization of Black Deaf people everyday—it is true that the society fails to educate Deaf community what Racism really meant in the highest term of learning.
From Jack Levin’s book, Hate Crimes: The Rising Tide of Bigotry and Bloodshed:
Thrill seeking hate crime: an individual joins a group activity so that the people who are most important to him–his friends, will not reject him. It is the most common type for anyone to use this.
Mission hate crime (the rarest group): the rarest version of hate crimes consists of an attack carried out by the individuals with a mission; they seek to rid the world of evil by disposing of the members of a despised group.
You decide which would be best to describe for the haters or is it both, too? What kind of hate crime policing at Gallaudet University? What works to get Deaf community to take hate crime seriously by having a policy from Gallaudet community to make a statement, “our policy is to take hate crimes seriously” and create specializing units. Specifically study and keep track of hate crime data and set a good role model by Gallaudet community. Racist, xenophobic and intolerant discourses in politics is not enough discussed at the university.
Unfortunately, Gallaudet University has been always a white privilege stronghold campus. When someone took the BLM project down, it is also a racial harassment, is it also a violation of U.S. Civil Rights laws, too? As Joe R. Feagin and Karyn D. McKinney wrote in a book called The Many Costs of Racism “Dealing with everyday Racism is more than a matter of managing internal concerns and crises.”
Community accountability needs to be recognized at Gallaudet University. We need to prevent this crisis not to let this happen again. We do not need Trump’s America to let it happen on the campus. Again, I am all in support for Black Lives Matter. Our democracy is at risk.
Thanks for standing with us against Racism and hate crime.
-JT
Copyright © 2017 Jason Tozier
This text may be freely copied in its entirely only, including this copyright message.
Stop the Viral Hate: Targeting Nyle DiMarco
Almost everyone will agree that cyberbullying refers to the situation people describe and support Nyle DiMarco in every aspect of a human form. “The cat is on the mat”—referring to someone who cyberbullies someone else who is in which a cat is on the mat. It is important that the community accountability must be shared, but the people are reluctant to draw the consequences one would expect them to draw when cyberbullying follows a phrase like “believes” or “sees”. For consider this sequence of cyberbullying propositions:
One believes that the cat is on the mat.
The cat is Tabby.
One believes that Tabby is on the mat.
Suppose the cyberbullying is allowed against Nyle DiMarco just because whether he is gay or not—what do you call it? Speak out. Applaud positive messages. Talk to others about what you’ve seen. Recognition of bias. Community accountability is a shared responsibility. Speak out consistently and forcefully–against hate and bigotry. Now imagine that Nyle had already experienced plenty of subsequent cyberbullying—in Paulo Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed, the language is clear that they do not allow him to break free of civilization, bound to their rules, must suffer oppression or die.
I believe community accountability and bring out awareness is in order. Will Nyle ever feel safe—-it is more than just hostile—more like, well, you know. I myself experienced as a subject of a rumormongering mill and cyberbullying countless of times.
There is a book sitting on my shelf, Viral Hate: Containing its Spread on The Internet written by Abraham H. Foxman and Christopher Wolf in page 135,
“Dear Darren,
Thank you for your lovely message, how nice of you to notice that I am Kind, I do try. As for the subjects you wanted to advice on–I’ll do my best but believe me, I’m no oracle. Yes I do believe that there are more than enough crazy people in the world, it always amazes me that people who wouldn’t have been allowed crayons 10 year ago now have access to the Internet, BTW what is your favorite colour crayon? Mine is blue, they taste best.
I doubt that the world would be better without gays; to be honest they would be a miss to the caring and service professions and don’t even get me started on hair dressing. Less beans would make the world a far worse place in my opinion, I love baked beans on toast and chili just isn’t a chili without kidney beans—so I’ll have to disagree with you there too. I love my tranny, I listen to the BBC Radio 4 during the day for plays and comedies and discussions while I’m working, so I’d miss that a lot. Being gay isn’t really a disability, unless you’re a stud horse or a homophobic bigot, in which case I find that most homophobic bigots hide their latent homosexuality (That means gayness) and attack people who are openly gay so they feel less insecure about themselves, but I don’t need to explain that any further to you, do I?
Thank you for the excellent advice, my page, which has 400,000+ members, with MILLIONS of post views and website hits per month will be deleted immediately; because we wouldn’t want word to get out would we?
Bye for now poppet, take care.
Wipe out Homophobia xxx”
-JT
Copyright © 2015 Jason Tozier
This text may be freely copied in its entirely only, including this copyright message
...And the Truth Shall Set You Free. 
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