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Volume 38 Issue 9
February 13, 2001

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Students question MTV push against hate

BY TAMMY JARVIS
MESA LEGEND
Submitted February 13, 2001

Last month, MTV aired "Anatomy Of A Hate Crime," the story behind the vicious murder of gay college student Matthew Shepard, and followed it up with 18 commercial-free hours of celebrities reading accounts of hundreds of reported hate crime incidents from across the country.

The Jan. 10 programming was meant to launch MTV’s year-long crusade titled "Fight For Your Rights: Take A Stand Against Discrimination."

Students at MCC have offered mixed reactions.

"I’m uncomfortable with defining which crimes are hate crimes and which are not," MCC student Larry Michaels said.

"I think it blurs the boundaries between right and wrong."

MCC student Val Halworth said, "Any violent crime is bad, regardless of race or sexual orientation.

"If a black person hurts another black person, it’s just as bad as if he hurt a white person in the same way."

Some MCC students, such as Tom Milner, were perplexed about the purpose of MTV’s programming.

"They air all that stuff about hate crimes and then play Eminem videos which give the exact opposite message," Milner said, "I don’t get what they are trying to say."

"The purpose of the programming is to educate our viewers about what is going on and to encourage them to do something about it," MTV spokeswoman Ariana Urbont said.

Urbont believes the programming was a huge success.

According to an MTV press release dated Jan. 17, the 18-hour hate crime scroll was watched by 4.5 million viewers and more than 18,000 have sent messages to Congress urging a re-introduction of the Hate Crime Prevention Act.

MTV refused to comment on any of the MCC students’ negative responses to the programming.

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