may be considered an ethnic book, but it does contain universal themes of human nature that transend ethnicity. we cannot leave the very difficult business of democracy into the hands of just our elected officials. governments will know relinquish powerful feel force them to and significant social change rarely occurs from the top down. rarely percolates, rather, it does percolate from the bottom's. groups of all different races need to form coalitions with eep other and reach out to each other. not turn within themselves. to be effective champions of democracy, all of us have to be more aggressive and proactive in crossing class and color lines. it means talking to our elected officials, educating them about our lives, and holding them accountable for their actions. it means writing op-eds and going to public protests when needed. it means networking with a wide circle of people, ranging from the victims to even the perpetrators of hate crimes to understand the causes for their behavior. i think sometimes the most effective ways to resolve conflicts or just to prevent them from happening in t