How Employers and Employees Can Constructively Fight Against Hate and Teach Tolerance

Aug 15, 2017 6:15 PM ET

“I am very alarmed at hate crimes. What can I, as one person, do to help?”

“I find myself wanting to act, to show support for the victims, to demonstrate my anger and sorrow. But I don’t know what to do or how to begin.”

Questions like these arrive daily at the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), a member of America's Charities. When a hate crime occurs or a hate group rallies, good people often feel helpless. 

As an employer, how can you support your employees' desire to do something in a safe and constructive way? As a parent, how do you explain such atrocities to your child - and even more importantly, what can you do to serve as a positive role model for them?

SPLC has created a host of resources to help individuals fight hate constructively and teach tolerance to future generations of our country. 

Three Things You Can Do Now:

  1. Read SPLC's community resource guide, "Ten Ways to Fight Hate." This guide sets out 10 principles for fighting hate in your community.
     
  2. Teach Tolerance to our nation's youth by visiting www.tolerance.org, a project created by SPLC. While the site is specifically designed to provide teachers with classroom teaching plans and resources for creating equitable school experiences, this site is a great place for parents to find ways to speak with their children about race and ethnicity, bullying, religion, gender identity, disabilities, and rights and activism. 
     
  3. Support SPLC's mission with a donation through workplace giving. Click here to make a one-time donation now, or be a sustaining supporter by donating to SPLC through workplace giving. Workplace giving gives employees the ability to make a big contribution through payroll deduction, which allows you to spread your pledge over the course of a year, in smaller, more financially manageable amounts to be deducted from your paycheck. Where as many sources of revenue that nonprofits rely on require the nonprofit to use funds for a specific project or purpose, workplace giving donations provide nonprofits with unrestricted funds, giving them flexibility to direct funds to the operations and programs that will allow them to most effectively realize their mission. Learn more about how to participate in and/or start a workplace giving program