fontgoddess

Hello. I'm a person who lives in Laramie, grew up in Laramie, and was in Laramie when the Matt Shepard murder happened. I've been pondering a response for the 10 year anniversary, ever since the New York Times reminded me that the anniversary was coming up.

This MeFi post gave me the push to finally compose a response: Remembering Matthew Shepard | MetaFilter.

( long thoughts here )

There are escalators in Wyoming.

Because I'm a nerd, I've decided to do a Wyoming escalator census. Watch for updates here.

[originally posted here, explanatory news article: Racism goes on trial again in America's Deep South | Special reports | Guardian Unlimited]

Hi. I'm from Laramie, WY. I remember what it's like to have the whole world looking at your town and proclaiming that it's full of backwards, ignorant, hate-filled people. All this while your town is taking a good, hard look at itself and not liking everything it sees, either. But it's harder when the world (and the media) is there dissecting your every move and thought. Then, they don't take into account the inherent complexity of the situation, including the fact that your community has many good things about it too, otherwise no one would live there. *Everyone looking* forces your town to go into defensive mode, making sorting out your internal problems more difficult, painful, and traumatic.

My bet, you're mad as hell at everything that's happened. The idiocy of high-schoolers at the top of the list, with the legacy of racism stirred into the batch but maybe not the main ingredient. There's plenty of blame to go around, but many people have also reacted in completely understandable ways. Everyone's human. So, while lots of people outside of your town are looking in and picking victims and villains, you see bits of both in everyone. It's not simple, and it's very painful.

Another thing that makes it worse is that the larger world making judgments about your community is in no position to do so. Racism is a part of our country's culture, whether we choose to acknowledge it or not. Yes, a racial incident happened in your town, but they happen everywhere else in this country too. Reporters from New York and Los Angeles show up (seemingly with their minds already made up) and tell their viewers how backwards your town is, while apparently forgetting their own cities' racial tensions and crimes. While they're telling your town how to deal with what happened, they deal with the same problems with varying degrees of effectiveness.

While particular incidents may make titillating examples, racism, homophobia, and religious hatred are all over. We need to deal with these issues on all levels of scale, from local to national to international. We need to find solutions instead of just shaking our heads with disapproval at the most photogenic examples.

[after reading Alice Woodward: White Supremacy and the Jena Six and White Tree: Black Day for Justice in Louisiana, I have more to say . . .]

After reading more about the many racially-tainted incidents in Jena, I have to say more. Our country has serious problems with hate and discrimination, and it seems that the deep south still does too. Laramie is different than Jena. We're nowhere near perfect, but I can't imagine living in a community with such deep divisions. Maybe it's the fact that differences in sexuality are difficult to identify visually, unlike race. Maybe, given the opportunity, this community would be just as bad.

I know the media has a difficult time with community nuances, but the inequality of law enforcement and prosecution in Jena . . . I can't think of any nuances that would make that seem like anything else but plain, old-fashioned racism. Adolescents do stupid things, but the fact that the adults are condoning, facilitating, and participating in the perpetuation of racism (both ideas and acts) . . . shit, guys, WTF?

I have just participated in democracy. I called both Wyoming senators and told them that keeping the Web neutral (rather than having a tiered internet like the telephone companies are proposing) should be a priority. I also urged them to research how the internet works, since Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska delivered an embarrassingly ignorant rant about how he thinks the internet works. I sincerely hope the Wyoming senators are smarter than that.

I should have called earlier. Not about net neutrality, but about the proposed marriage amendment to the Constitution (wow, that's an embarrassing way to fuck up the Constitution, and the Wyoming delegation voted for it. Dumbasses.).

But, if any of my Wyoming friends feel like leaving telephone messages (about anything) for our Senators, here's their contact info:

Enzi, Michael B.- (R - WY)
379A RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-3424
Web Form: enzi.senate.gov/email.htm

Thomas, Craig- (R - WY)
307 DIRKSEN SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-6441
Web Form: thomas.senate.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=Contact.Home