Violence and hate crimes are frequent in the United States and have become a major issue for many people. Violence comes in many different forms such as domestic, societal, and individual. Violence is the main cause of distress and has the power to tear families apart. As a result, the newer generation of kids are left to deal with insecurity, inequality, and injustice. In order to ensure that people carry out the proper approach to violence, professionals and even every day individuals must be trained through education or forums on how to manage these issues. The purpose of this paper is to provide an intercultural approach to reduce the violence and the suffering that many communities face.
This paper provides an intervention to hate crime and violence through intercultural praxis, education, and socially responsible actions. Social violence or crimes involves people from different cultures and their diversity lead to emergence of superiority and inferiority (In Sorrells & In Sekimoto, 2015). Cultural groups that are seen as inferior are looked down upon by superior cultures which then creates a rivalry. To end this violence, education and awareness must be the key first and foremost, then intercultural praxis and social responsibilities will help to an extent.
The main focus will be on the historical ideas, concepts and theories that explain the creation of social violence as well as hate crime. Many factors contribute to social violence, while some of them come from historical injustices and others come from social interactions. There are several theories that try to explain the method through which peace can be made with these rivalry communities. The Standpoint theory concentrates on the influence of social groups we interact with in our daily lives. The behavior of an individual is shaped through these interactions where groups are subjected to influence and development of ideologies. The application of standpoint theory and an understanding of the various positionalities we occupy may also assist us in avoiding the negative effects of ethnocentrism (Sorrels, 2016). In a situation where an ideology is adopted by one group that another group doesn’t agree with, then the community will suffer from that disagreement, and some groups even adopt extreme ideologies that threaten the security of the community. To avoid extreme teachings and conformity to negative ideologies, government should ensure that its population accesses the necessary education (Morewitz, 2010). Education is a major tool that can help people deal with the situation because illiteracy seems to be the biggest factor. This brings in an element of superiority where the dominant group controls the behaviors and action of inferior groups (NATO Advanced Research Workshop on Political Violence, Organized Crimes, Terrorism and Youth, Ulusoy, & North Atlantic Treaty Organization, 2012).
The critical theory intends to evaluate and criticize the social setup, but advocating for change at the same time. Social communication is the answer to form a community that is more active and responsive which goes hand in hand with the social structures established in the society. This infers that the community should be more concerned about the structures formed by diverse groups (Perry, Levin, Iganski, Blazak, & Lawrence, 2009).
Some of the concepts that come from the discussion include ethnocentrism and intercultural praxis. Ethnocentrism is a negative behavior that intends to demoralize by treating communities differently. Ethnocentrism can affect perceptions of one’s own group and can lead to ignorance, misunderstandings, resentment, and potentially violence (Sorrels, 2016). Many factors attribute to this situation including ethnicity, racism, and discrimination. The fruit of these actions is hatred and increased insecurity in the country because members constantly engage in social stifles (Jackson, 2015). Intercultural praxis talks about the steps taken on by communities and individuals in promoting peace among the members of the community. Intercultural praxis can be an immense beginning point to solving the violence our communities are faced with. The purpose of engaging in intercultural praxis is to raise our awareness, increase our critical analysis, and develop our socially responsible action in regard to our intercultural interactions in the context of globalization (Sorrels, 2016).
To bring awareness to this issue and bring about an intervention, I want to focus first on education. Education will be the key to seeing the measures that need to be implemented and restoring social justice. It is the most powerful tool that any society could use to change the way people think and treat each other. Education will be able to open up an individual mind and facilitate decision making, then the person will evaluate and question group decisions. This means that an individual is not obliged to do what the group proposes rather adopt individual decisions (Bruce, 2009). To educate the society, a set of plans needs to be set to help community members to be able to make good decisions and relate well with others. First, basic education should be free for everyone so that communities learn the basic social values (Moodian, 2009). There are numerous issues that need to be addressed through education (Williams, Roberts, & McIntosh, 2011). Education will be able to prepare people for the future and how to properly interact with other people. Diverse and different communities will better tolerate each other if they are able to understand how important peace is between the two. In order for a community to place importance on values, the government has to find ways to encourage the society to embrace education. For those members beyond the school age, enrollment into adult learning will help improve their understanding of social justice (Wood & University of Mississippi, 2011). People will then be able to respect one another, and no one will see the other as inferior based on their race or cultural affiliation.
The second thing that education is persistent about is being able to stick together with one another socially. This is where equality is created across communities by the fact that education brings people together (Collier, 2014). This means that education is unaware of social and cultural ideologies that tend to divide people based on their religious, racial, and cultural differences. The main goal should focus on bringing up a community that is well-rounded and aware of the social differences between cultures. The government should also make it a point to have mixed schools where kids from diverse cultures are able to study together. They will share a lot and be able to learn other cultures (In Simmons, 2013). Eventually, they will be get used to the diversity of the other children and be able to tolerate and accommodate them better. Education changes the perception that people hold against others, so it creates a sturdier ground for cultures. I think the government should introduce programs that teach the need and importance of sticking together as a society, whether it be for the general curriculum or special education.
The second idea is to have new laws and regulations that protect cultures in the world. Culture groups that are seen as inferior tend to fall victim to the more superior or dominant groups in the community because they see their cultural features as better. Whatever feature they see as superior should never be used as discriminatory towards the other group. To manage intercultural conflicts and violence, the following steps will be necessary (Darity, 2008). First, analyze the conflicting values of both groups before involving them in a brainstorming session to discuss and establish a leveled ground where they can settle their differences. Second, community programs such as competition and games need to be improvised to bring people together. These programs can be implemented at different levels in the social setup. Corporation and government departments should incorporate these programs into their busy schedules. The coming together of different cultures results in communities that stick together and cooperation amongst communities and the people in the community. People will then have little time left to think about their social differences.
In conclusion, there is no single strategy that can be created to solve social problems that involve violence and hate crime. The factors that forces communities to act the way they conduct themselves usually come from the ways of their culture that they have become adapted to. To change their perception and way of thinking, the nation has to come up with a comprehensive plan that includes all aspects of culture. This means that a broad formula will be applied across all regions. One of these formulas is to improve the state of education and introduce new programs. These programs offer knowledge that is socially oriented and covers all areas that may cause or lead to any conflict.