Speaker tells stories to quell hatred

Toward the end of his speech, Brandon Wilson's voice trembled as he slowly switched the microphone from one hand to the other. His audience, which had earlier been vocal and enthusiastic in participation, was silent. Wilson painfully recalled one moment when he was the victim of hate.\nHe was an officer of a national organization while in high school, traveling with other officers in a car through rural Alabama. The group was deciding what to listen to after grabbing a quick bite to eat. \nAt first it was jazz. Wilson thought the music was making him sleepy, but he wanted to be a courteous rider and did not say anything. Then, a member of the group complained it was making her sleepy and requested it be changed. So the driver, the president of the organization, changed the station to heavy metal. Again, Wilson didn't appreciate the music, but he did not say anything. Finding the heavy metal unpleasing, the driver changed the music again to a hip-hop station.\n"'Man, I know nobody in this car wants to listen to this nigger music,'" Wilson recalled the driver saying.\nWilson was frozen. He waited a few seconds, which he said seemed like hours, and quietly contemplated something articulate to say to the driver. Wilson placed his hands on the driver's head rest and moved close to his ear, making sure the driver would hear him. \nFinally Wilson had something to say. \n"I opened my mouth to speak, and nothing came out," Wilson said. \nTo this day, he remembers that moment. It haunts him, it scares him and it motivates him to be an activist. \n"My hope is that everyone who hears my story of victimization can make instances of hate and bias more real to them," Wilson said in an interview after the speech. \nWilson now tours the country with the Southern Poverty Law Center presenting "10 Ways to Fight Hate on Campus," a program he helped create. \nWhile presenting the program at IU, Wilson recalled his painful moment to an audience of about 50 people in the Whittenberger Auditorium Tuesday night, hoping he will help inspire people to become activists as he visits each campus. \n"By the way, I just had some dust in my eye," said Eric Love, jokingly excusing his teary eyes and flushed face as he took the microphone from Wilson at the end of his speech. \n"Hate and hate crimes are damaging," Love, director of diversity education, said in an interview. "They hurt people. I'm compassionate of anyone who has been a victim of a hate crime."\nThroughout the speech, Wilson used personal accounts, national examples and audience participation to create a definition for hate and to figure out how it can be stopped. \nHe stressed students can take steps to end hate, but they are often apathetic.\n"Wherever there is an inkling of apathy on any campus or any community, hate is soon to follow," Wilson said during his speech.\nSenior Melinda Dorsey made a pledge to herself after listening to Wilson's speech, vowing to be more cautious with what she says.\n"He said we've all been perpetrators of hate," Dorsey said. \nFor Wilson, that helps ease the pain of revisiting his painful memories. \n"The therapy I get is knowing one person in the room is going to walk away more prepared to be an activist," he said. "It's symbolic of me passing the torch"