New York – One day after his 29th birthday and six days after four men conspired to lure Michael Sandy to a remote location and make him yet another of the City's victims of hate violence, Sandy was removed from life support and passed away with family and friends beside him.
On Sunday, October 8, four men lured Michael to a remote location in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn where they attacked and attempted to rob him. As he attempted to escape the attack, Michael ran onto the Belt Parkway where he was struck by an oncoming vehicle. The vehicle fled the scene, and the driver has yet to come forward.
This week, three of the young men were charged with first-degree assault as a hate crime and first and second-degree robbery, also as hate crimes. Now that Michael has died as a result of his attack, we anticipate that the charges will be amended accordingly.
It would be impossible to adequately characterize in words the anguish that Michael's friends and family feel at this time. Similarly, we at the Anti-Violence Project cannot express the sense of loss that those of us monitoring the case and working with Michael's family and friends now feel. Finally, it is also clear that the vicious, calculated and brutal attack on Michael, and now his death has had a profound impact on many in our community.
Thursday night, Bishop Gene Robinson, the Episcopal Bishop of New Hampshire was speaking at General Theological Seminary. In his remarks, he noted that many of us in the LGTB community here in New York are fortunate to have a relative freedom and comfort to live openly and safely.
Unfortunately, that comfort and safety is often an illusion even for us here in New York.
The Bishop also acknowledged that Thursday was the eight-year anniversary of Matthew Shepard's death. If we can draw a line from Matthew Shepard's death eight years ago in Wyoming to Michael Sandy's death this past Friday in New York, we have to ask just how far we've come in that eight years, and how different New York truly is from any other place in America or the world with respect to hate violence.
The truth is that many, but not all of us do have the ability to live more openly and feel more safe here, now, in New York. However, we are clearly not immune to hate.
On average, the Anti-Violence Project serves 600 victims of anti-lesbian, gay, transgender and bisexual violence every year - victims of everything from verbal harassment as they attempt to go about living their everyday lives, to murder. But as anyone paying attention knows, our community is not the only one impacted by hate violence. So far this year, the Hate Crimes Task Force of the New York Police Department has seen a 33% increase in anti-Semitic incidents, an 18% increase in incidents targeting African-Americans in addition to a 31% increase in anti-LGTB incidents.
Many of us who now call ourselves New Yorkers were not born New Yorkers; we chose that identity. Many of us were drawn here because we felt that New York was better in so many important ways than any other place in the country, and the world. New York is better at achieving and celebrating diversity; New York is better at nurturing creativity; New York is better at making money. New York is better at reflecting and connecting with the rest of the world.
As we've seen at the Anti-Violence Project in visits to our program from delegations from countries on every continent except Antarctica and Australia, hate is not just a New York or American problem. But New York can be better in addressing hatred than the rest of America and the world. New York can serve as a beacon and example of a community committed to changing the environment that allows and at times encourages hate.
It is well enough for all of us to respond with our outrage and pain in the aftermath of a tragedy such as the death of Michael Sandy, but that outrage and that pain alone cannot prevent the next attack on someone like Michael from happening.
What can someday prevent this from happening again is a real commitment to environmental change - a will to power among our City's leaders, our City's organizations, and among all of us as citizens.
That commitment should include:
- Affirmative and ongoing messages between major hate crimes cases from civic, political and community leadership that mitigating hate violence is a priority for this city.
- The institution of community education and information efforts including public service ad campaigns, and the development and distribution of materials to encourage victims to report hate and enable law enforcement to better capture information on the full scope of the problem.
- Resources to develop additional programming and services at the community level for victims of hate violence.
- Finally, much as the gay community has done over the last 20-some years with respect to HIV and AIDS, the LGTB community needs to prioritize our safety and well-being and take an active role in fostering ongoing conversations and implementing strategies that will result not only in our taking responsibility for our own safety, but that of others within the LGTB community.
Will these strategies prevent a hate incident from happening tomorrow, or next month? No. Will some of these strategies result in increased hate crimes reports once they are initiated? Yes. Will these strategies take time and additional money? Yes.
Will these strategies ultimately decrease the level of hate violence in our City? Yes. Will that alone be worth it? Yes, and we do have faith that New Yorkers can and should be better than everywhere else in this.
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In 2005, the Anti-Violence Project served over 2,000 victims of violence. The Anti-Violence Project's Safe Dating and Internet Safe Dating Tips, as well as annual reports on hate and domestic violence can be accessed online at http://www.avp.org/ or by calling 212-714-1184.
The New York City Gay & Lesbian Anti-Violence Project is the nation's largest service agency for victims of bias crimes against the lesbian, gay, transgender, bisexual, and HIV-affected communities. Since 1980, the Anti-Violence Project has provided counseling and advocacy for tens of thousands of survivors of bias-motivated and domestic violence, rape and sexual assault, HIV-related violence, and police misconduct. The Anti-Violence Project documents incidents of violence against and within LGTB communities, educates the public about the effects of violence, against or within our communities, and works to reform public policies impacting all lesbian, gay, transgender, bisexual, and HIV-affected people.
The Anti-Violence Project provides free and confidential assistance to crime victims through its 24-hour bilingual hotline (212-714-1141).
