Sometimes you want to be in last place. Odd as that New Year’s message sounds, it requires sharing headline news: Washington state has the third highest number of hate crimes per capita, trailing Kentucky and D.C., for the second year in a row. Worse still, hate crimes skyrocketed nationwide and have doubled in Washington state in this year alone!
Fellow Washingtonians, I hope you’ll agree: We have a lot of work to do.
The recent increase in hate and violence in our community is unacceptable. As our children’s first and best teachers, we cannot be complacent — hate, division and ignorance have no place here — we must act. Which is why I’m resolving to ‘be the change’ I want to see in my community as we enter 2019 and I want to challenge you to do the same.
At ParentMap, it’s our business to build an inclusive community that informs, engages and inspires Puget Sound parents and families. In 2018, in alignment with our values, we renewed our long-held commitment to increased reporting around gun violence prevention initiatives and gun safety and were thrilled to see voters pass I-1639 just this fall. Our community will undoubtedly be safer for it.
But, we can’t stop there.
This year, along with our gun safety efforts, we're dedicating consistent thoughtful coverage to teaching tolerance. Not just tolerance (we can do better than that) but empathy, equity, acceptance, respect and inclusion, too. It’s our hope that through sharing the stories of marginalized voices in our community, and rallying partners to support educators and parents, we can spark meaningful engagement across differences to end hate in our lifetime.
Talk about a New Year’s — a lifetime — resolution worth making!
