The Way I See It: Tolerant Houston

The Way I See It: Tolerant Houston

Editor’s note: This editorial was originally published in the Houston Chronicle blog “Talking Tolerance.”

BY JILL CARROLL
Special to the Rice News

The data in a Dec. 29, 2007 Houston Chronicle article seems to confirm what I’ve heard so many people say about Houston, including my Rice colleague Stephen Klineberg, our mayor, many of our community leaders, and what we at the Boniuk Center routinely say about Houston:

We can be a model to the rest of the nation on issues of tolerance and peaceful coexistence.

JILL CARROLL

The article reports that while the rate of hate crimes against people because of their race, religion, sexual orientation or disability is up from last year by 7 percent in the United States, the rate is down by 6 percent in Texas. Moreover, among Texas’ big cities, Houston scores the best, recording 20 hate crimes compared to Dallas’ 39 and San Antonio’s 28.

The article quotes several of our area community leaders in answering why Houston has such good numbers on this issue. I find interesting the comment by Dena Marks of the Anti-Defamation League; she suggests that being “spread out” and not getting “in each other’s way” contributes to the climate of tolerance.

Others say the dramatic cultural and demographic change that has occurred in Houston in the last two decades has created — even demanded — a climate of tolerance throughout the city. Houston is no longer a traditional “Southern city dominated by white men” but is a culturally, religiously, racially diverse city in which no one group holds a majority.

In other words, everyone is a “minority.”

I like this about Houston, and it’s a big reason I’m so proud to live in this city. Also, this highlights something about tolerance and people’s motivation for practicing it in life and here in Houston.

Many people live and behave in tolerant ways because they have a principled commitment to it derived from their own code of values. Sometimes that code comes from religion, sometimes not; but either way, it guides people’s actions and perspectives so that their practice of tolerance is a fulfillment of that commitment.

Other people take a more pragmatic approach. Social life simply works better when we practice tolerance. Life doesn’t work very well in a context of intolerance, hatred, strife and conflict. Education, health care, industry, business, arts, leisure — all the big sectors of life — significantly diminish when intolerance and hatred determine the social climate. This is as clear as day, and for many of us it’s the best reason to practice tolerance. In short, tolerance is good for business — actual commercial business — but also the “business” of life.

While we may prefer that people practice tolerance and respect out of a deep commitment to ethical values, I myself don’t really care why people do it, at least initially. I’m happy as long as people refrain from harming or harassing those who are different from them, and as long as they stand up for those who are harmed or harassed.

Clearly, this remains an elusive goal even here in tolerant Houston. While we have the lowest number of hate crimes in the state, 20 reported incidents is still 20 too many.

— Jill Carroll is the executive director of Rice University’s Boniuk Center for the Study and Advancement of Religious Tolerance and an adjunct associate professor of religious studies at Rice. She and Carol Quillen, Boniuk Center director and Rice vice provost for academic affairs, are authors of the Houston Chronicle blog “Talking Tolerance.”

— “The Way I See It” is a special guest column written by faculty, staff and students at the invitation of the Rice News.