‘Racist’ narrative encourages hate speech

WITH THE 30-day legislative session over, it appears time to crank up the political hate machine if you did not get what you wanted from the Legislature. Allen Sánchez, executive director of the New Mexico Conference of Catholic Bishops, has now proclaimed those who did not support the raid on the Land Grant Permanent Fund as racist. In a narrative as old as human history, it is the one that says those who do not support what I want are evil.

The next step is to declare all you are doing is just exposing “an uncomfortable truth.” Not a fact, but by saying hate speech, you crank up the rumor mill attached to the hate machine.

To be clear, hate speech is hate speech, left or right, from Charlotte or Santa Fe, from the Klan or the New Mexico Conference of Catholic Bishops. Hate speech is like a wildfire; once lit, it takes on a life of its own and no one knows who will harmed or hurt.

It would be nice to say, well this is some guy acting childishly, but Allen Sánchez speaks for the The New Mexico Conference of Catholic Bishops, an individual skilled in public discourse. These are not some phonusbolonus accusations, no, this hate speech was calculated to cause harm in order to achieve a political want.

How sad, in the area of public policy, upstanding people of integrity cannot have a honest disagreement and be respectful of each other. It is time for the New Mexico Conference of Catholic Bishops to disavow and refute this hate speech by their executive director.

SHERMAN MCCORKLE

Albuquerque businessman