Reference no: EM133234974

An Expert on Hate in America

"They are dirty, promiscuous, lazy, ignorant, immoral, impulsively violent, and sexually deviant. They are destroying our way of life! We must protect ourselves. They must be stopped!" At one time or another throughout history frightening claims like these have been used to dehumanize every eth-nic, religious, racial, and national group. Fear and hate under-cut our sense that we all should treat others as we would wish to be treated ourselves. Why? Because "They" are not people-at least, not people like "Us." History shows repeat-edly that when hate and fear dominate, beatings, killings, rapes, mob violence, reprisals, revenge, lawlessness, war, and even genocide too often follow. The gruesome reports from the Central African Republic are one bloody example of that pattern. But we have plenty of bitter examples of hate induced violence right here at home in the U.S. The Pew Research Center reported that there were 293,790 reported hate crimes in the U.S. in 2012. 28% of these were rooted in religious bias, 26% in gender bias, and 51% in ethnic bias (defined as relating to the victim's "ancestral, cultural, social or national affiliation"). Who keeps track of hate groups in America? Who has the courage to call them out for spreading their poison? There may be no one organization monitoring every hate group in the world, but at least one organization is not afraid to identify the hate groups in America. The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) is "a nonprofit civil rights organization dedicated to fighting hatred and bigotry, and to seeking jus-tice for the most vulnerable members of society. Founded by civil rights lawyers Morris Dees and Joseph Levin, Jr. in 1971, the SPLC is internationally known for tracking and exposing he activities of hate groups." In recent years it has focused its legal efforts on overturning anti-LGBT and Jim-Crow policies and practices. To promote tolerance and respect in our nation's schools, "the Center produces and distributes documentary films, books, lesson plans and other materials free of charge." The disturbing but engaging 2011 documentary film, Erasing Hate, "chronicles the redemptive story of a violent, racist skinhead" who risks his life to renounce the white power movement. Over a period of almost two years "he undergoes an excru-ciating series of laser treatments to remove the racist tattoos that covered his face and hands." In 2014 the SPLC identified 939 active hate groups in the United States, among them the groups affiliated with the Ku Klux Klan, New-Nazi, White Nationalist, Racist Skinhead, Christian Identity, New-Confederate, and Black Separatist organizations. The SPLC defines a hate group as an organi-zation that has "beliefs or practices that attack or malign an entire class of people, typically for their immutable characteris-tics." The Center compiled its 2014 list "using hate group pub-lications and Web sites, citizen and law enforcement reports, field sources and news reports." According to the SPLC, "hate group activities can include criminal acts, marches, rallies, speeches, meetings, leafleting or publishing." Appearing on the SPLC list "does not imply a group advocates or engages in violence or other criminal activity." The number of "Patriot" movement groups identified in 2014 was 1096. These are self-described armed militias, "sovereign citizens," and other conspiracy-minded organiza-tions that regard the government, and in particular the federal government, as an enemy. While over 2000 groups were identified, the SPLC list does not attempt to represent everyone engaged in spewing hateful or violent messages. The SPLC notes "Web sites appearing to be merely the work of a single individual, rather than the publication of a group, are not included in this list."

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