To combat hate, Tucson groups spread messages of love

The Thursday after the election, 19-year old Colleen Magee-Uhlik came face to face with what seems to be a growing problem across the nation.

As she passed a woman in the aisle of a northwest-side pet store and said, “Excuse me,” her polite demeanor was met with an unexpected response.

“Oh, my,” the woman said. “Are you ready to go back where you belong to Mexico? President Trump is going to make America great again.”

Magee-Uhlik, who is actually Asian, was startled for a moment but collected herself and corrected the woman, adding that America is never going to be great as long as there are racists like her.

“I was concerned about the effects of the election, but I didn’t think anything would happen so soon,” Magee-Uhlik said.

A member of a mixed-race family, Magee-Uhlik lived in Wisconsin for 11 years before moving to Tucson.

“I’m adopted, and my parents and younger sister are white. There was so much ignorance in Wisconsin,” she said. “You’d be shocked to hear what people will say to your face.”

She said that when her family arrived in Tucson six years ago, it was a breath of fresh air.

“It meant so much to be in a community that was culturally diverse and accepting,” she said, adding that while there’s always some racism around, it was much less frequent and overt than in the Midwest.

She shared her post-election experience on her Facebook page, and had more than 100 likes, shares and comments.

Magee-Uhlik said she hopes more people will come forward and speak out against racism.

“It’s not what any of us want to talk about, but maybe it’s what we need to hear,” she said.

Dozens of acts

of hate are reported

In recent weeks, bias-related hateful messages posted around town have been reported to police and community groups.

A photo posted on the Tucson Atheists’ Facebook page on Nov. 20 showed a hateful message scrawled into the sidewalk near the bus stop on East 22nd Street, just west of South Kolb Road.

Someone who saw the post reported the incident to the Tucson chapter of Pantsuit Nation, a local group that formed the day after the election and is working to fight hate by promoting kindness.

In addition to reporting the incident to the city, a member of the group went to the site and cleaned up the graffiti.

Three days later, a flier was found attached to a telephone pole on the corner of North Mountain Avenue and East Linden Street.

“Black lives don’t matter while they are committing a felony,” the flier read.

The woman who posted the photo reported it to the police, and other people contacted the YWCA of Southern Arizona and Southern Poverty Law Center, a national group dedicated to fighting hate and bigotry.

When Pantsuit Nation found out about the flier, it took action again.

“We went right to the intersection and wrote messages of welcome and encouragement,” said Amanda Gormley, Pantsuit Nation’s interim executive committee member.

These aren’t the only examples of what’s taken place in town.

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Last Saturday, a Tucson woman contacted police to report hateful messages written on her property.

Later in the day, a group of her neighbors cleaned up the sidewalk and wrote positive messages in chalk to promote love and kindness.

Dozens of other messages have been posted on Facebook detailing open acts of harassment people have witnessed or endured over the past several weeks.

According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, there are four statewide hate groups in Arizona.

In Pima County, there are two white nationalist groups, a Neo-Nazi group, a group defined as “racist skinheads” and an anti-immigrant group.

Community groups spring into action

In response to experiences like Magee-Uhlik’s and other acts, YWCA, Pantsuit Nation and other local groups have sprung to action by hosting meetings and events around town promoting kindness and talking about ways to combat hate.

In a letter to the editor published in the Arizona Daily Star on Nov. 26, YWCA CEO Kelly Fryer and the group’s advocacy committee chairperson, Annette Everlove, said that after hearing about incidents of harassment across the country, they invited Tucsonans to share their stories through Facebook’s private messenger.

In the first 48 hours, more than a dozen people responded.

On Nov. 30, the group hosted a kickoff event for the We Stand Together”network, during which Police Chief Chris Magnus and Mayor Jonathan Rothschild talked about how to work together as a community to directly respond to hate crimes and bullying. The event, which was held at the the group’s Frances McClelland Community Center, drew so much interest that it was standing room only.

Between Nov. 11 and Nov. 30, the group received 18 reports of bias-related incidents, but since launching the network, they’ve received only four reports, according to a news release.

As of Friday, more than 475 people and businesses have signed up to be a part of the network, by promising to offer haven to anyone threatened by bias-related harassment or harm.

Next week, on Tuesday, the YWCA and Southern Arizona Hate Crimes Task Force will ask the Pima County Board of Supervisors to make all of Pima County part of the network.

Pantsuit Nation has also held a number of meetings and “chalk mobs,” where members have turned out to decorate the streets.

“We’ve had small groups coming together to get to know each other and start conversations,” Gormley said. “Our focus is on mobilizing the Tucson community to support local groups for marginalized individuals.”

The group was also created to give people a safe space to talk, she said.

With 4,700 members of their closed Facebook group, the movement seems to be gaining momentum.

“It’s great to have so many people coming out in support of people who are in danger or are afraid for the future,” Gormley said.

Next weekend, the group will hit the sidewalks of Fourth Avenue in a “Chalk to Action,” adorning the streets with messages about how to fight hate and increase kindness in the community.

The group has also planned a January event with the Jewish History Museum, to start a community discussion about social history and activism.

Pantsuit Nation believes that Tucson’s Muslim community will play an important part in the discussion and has invited representatives of the Islamic Center of Tucson to attend.

Despite her concerns about what else could happen as a result of the election, Magee-Uhlik is optimistic.

“It sucks to see these kinds of things happening around Tucson,” she said. “I hope we start seeing more messages of kindness.”

If groups like Pantsuit Nation and the YWCA have any say in it, that’s exactly what will happen.