...In just the United State of America, anti-Muslim groups have grown 197% since 2015. In 2000, there were only five hate groups and in 2016 there were 101 hate groups towards Muslims (Anti-Muslim, n.d.). There was a huge spike after the massive terrorist attack in 2001 with hate crimes on Muslims. The previous year, there were only 28 reported incidents of hate crimes, but in 2001 the number jumped to 481. The number of reported incidents did eventually go down; however, the numbers never went under 100 again (Middlebrook, 2017). One of the largest anti-Muslim groups, the ACT for America has more than 750,000 members and 1,000 chapters throughout America. The leader of ACT for America, Brigitte Gabriel stated: If a Muslim who has—who is—a practicing...
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...Hate Groups and the Civil Rights Movement Hate groups have existed for centuries and transformed radically over the years. Hate groups have appeared in America at times of social liberation time and time again. After the emancipation of the slaves in America, the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) was formed. This hate group committed heinous murders and other acts of defiance against the equality with African Americans that threatened their social and economic standings. KKK membership has fluctuated since they were formed, but; they reached two main membership peaks: in the 1920s with the red scare after World War I and in the 1960s during the civil rights movement. Both of these were times when minority groups fought for recognition. The civil rights movement also brought hate groups of African Americans. Groups like the Black Panther Party and Black Nationalists opposed the oppression they faced and fought it violently. Today, there is a modern civil rights movement happening and there has been a recent rise in hate group activity. Movements such as anti-racism and gay-rights have raised attention and faced opposition. In modern times, hate groups are less tangible. While there may not be groups with national committees holding meetings to oppose these civil rights, there are groups that have these common hatreds: religious groups, political parties, and certain demographic areas are just a few. Hate groups have left huge impacts on society during periods of social liberation, whether for...
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...Hate Crimes in America May 18, 2014 COM/156 Instructor Kristin Bradley Hate Crimes in America Knowing how the criminal justice system deals with hate crimes can be determine if the history of these crimes is explained and we learn who are now targeted by these crimes. Hate crimes has been a part of the American culture for decades. Hatred and prejudice crimes including lynching, burning crosses, synagogues vandalism, killing, and other crimes committing against a group of people because of their race, religion, handicap, sexual preference, or beliefs are consider hate crimes. This paper will explain to readers the background history of these types of crimes, different types of hate crimes committed in America, targeted victims, and provide hate crime statistics. It will also explain the affects of hate crimes and the laws designed to protect citizens from these harsh crimes. History of Hate Crimes Hate crimes can be defined as any type of wrong doing towards a certain group of people based on ethnics, age, sexual preference, gender, and religious belief (Shively, 2005). Hate crimes are dated back to ancient civilizations when the religious groups Christians were persecuted by the Roman Emperor in 64 AD (The Federal Bureau of Investigation, n.d.). Other hate crimes in the past that affected the entire world were that of the Nazi persecuting the Jews by the order of Adolf Hilter. There are several cases of hate crimes included in the history of the United States...
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...Significant Legal Decisions Involving Hate Speech in America What exactly is Hate Speech? There are many different variations to this answer. According to dictionary.com, it is “speech that attacks a person or group on the basis of race, religion, gender, or sexual orientation” (“hate speech”). Anthony Lewis’ description of hate speech focuses more on the people it aims at: “Hate speech, it is called: virulent attack on Jews, blacks, Muslims, homosexuals, or members of any other group. It is pure hatred, not based on any wrong done by an individual” (157) Throughout history, many cases involving hate speech have been brought to court; each of them differ in their own ways and each brought a significant change to our Constitution. Our country prides itself in having freedom for all, and that includes freedom of speech. But when does freedom of speech cross the line? Many court decisions tried to come up with a solid answer, but there may not ever be a successful way to categorize hate speech. All of the cases covered here played a large part in transforming what the First Amendment covers. America started to recognize the significance of hate speech beginning in 1940, and policies began to form to protect offensive speech. At this point in history, hate speech was better known as “racial and religious propaganda” (Walker 62). The Holocaust was a major turning point for America, because we realized the destruction that it caused, and the government wanted to make sure nothing...
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...Criminology: Hate Crimes A hate crime is “a crime motivated in whole or in part, by the offender’s bias against a race, religion, sexual orientation, ethnicity/national origin or disability” and is “committed against persons, property, or society” (FBI, 2007). Certainly, hate crimes are daily happenings in American society, but this hate is not something that is inherent within individuals, this hatred is disseminated by a network of people that it has selected as a common enemy. In Hate Crimes: The Rising Tide of Bigotry and Bloodshed, Jack Levin and Jack McDevit assert that “[c]rimes motivated by bigotry usually arise not out of the pathological rantings and ravings of a few deviant types in organized hate groups, but out of the very mainstream of society.” Essentially, this means that society itself, especially the media creates these rifts between groups because it decides which groups are to be labeled as either in-groups or out-groups. Due to these distinctions, things like fear, hatred and resentment are built inside the consciousness distinct groups of people, producing a rising sentiment of “us” versus “them.” Hate crimes have always been a part and parcel of U.S. history, and the number of organized hate groups has increased in recent years, “as a result of the ease with which [group] messages are spread through Internet websites” (Conklin 59). What attracts people to these ideas of prejudice is what Gordon Allport calls “functional significance” in his The Nature...
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...neighbor. Sadly hate crimes like this one have been increasing over time in America since 9/11. The rise of hate crimes towards Muslims is mainly caused by Islamophobia. Islamophobia is the irrational fear, discrimination, or hatred of Islam and its followers and can be rooted so deep into people's minds, many may not know they have it. Islamophobia does not just appear from nowhere, It is caused by people unwilling to...
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...Is there a remedy to this issue? The first amendment gives everyone in America the freedom of speech. A big controversy today is whether or not the amendment should be altered. There are many different problems in this predicament that factor into different sides. I believe that even though there are downfalls to this amendment it should not be changed. Terrorists should not be given the same rights as anybody in America should be given, but I do believe that is where I would have to draw the line. I don’t believe that there would be a way to decipher which groups were unworthy of freedom of speech or not. Who would be the judge of whether or not the group was a hate group or not? What if someone did not like a group, or were to say that they were offended by it? Would that be a hate group too?...
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...The KKK, the Nazis, Westboro Church and ISIS were all awful hate groups who used religion and racial or sexual prejudice to defend their actions. “Prominent religions worldwide preach many similar ideals, some of which include exhibiting kindness to others and living a peaceful life. Although these religions have vastly different teachings, they generally urge followers to be good and fair to one another. However, religious extremist groups claiming to adhere to certain religious ideals often distort the teachings of their faith in order to justify violent acts (Marisa Marstek).” The KKK is a racist group for segregation and black rights. The Nazis were during Hitler’s Germany, they tried to eliminate all Jewish people in the world by sending...
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...revolutionary ideas that foresaw the greatness of America.” His ideas supported valiant causes in his time period, advocating for political and social freedoms of equality, democracy, and individual rights, especially within America. But the keyword here is that these illusions of great American success only rang true within his time period. While Thomas Paine’s arguments in “Rights of Man” served to promote and defend the political and social importance of equality, democracy, and individuals’ rights he believed could be found in America, his claims of the greatness of America in these regards are widely untrue...
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...Hate Speech Tricia Bilbrey Grand Canyon University PHI 305 September 18, 2011 Hate Speech The studied article reviews several cases where hate speech or “fighting words” were used against minorities. The views of 1st Amendment supporters and those opposed to hate speech were compared. The question still remains: Should hate speech be protected by the US Constitution? The number of hate groups in America today has reached over the thousand marks. That is an increase of 7.5% since 2010. ("CNN U.S.," 2011) This statistic was mind-blowing for me. Maybe it’s because I didn’t want to believe it was true. In the article it is mentioned that protecting this form of free speech would limit government control. Supporters of the 1st Amendment feel that we should combat this issue with groups that oppose hate speech. They fear that if the government is allowed to limit our speech, then we are allowing the government to limit our opinions. There are many valid claims stated in this article supporting the ban of hate speech in the US. Some say that hate speech promotes fear, threats and violence in the lives of minorities. Others agree that protecting this form of free speech encourages inequality and segregation. Does the use of speaking with hatred persuade Americans to get their point across using vulgar and degrading, sometimes even forceful words? I feel that it does all of these things and more. Emotions are at high peaks during a demonstration that comes to...
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...Asian American community, which can contribute to an anti-Asian climate. Despite the diversity among Asian Pacific Americans, they are often misperceived as a monolithic group. Thus, even though an act of anti-Asian sentiment might be perpetrated with a particular ethnic group in mind (e.g., Indian, Filipino or Korean), a failure to make distinctions between Asian Pacific American ethnic groups causes members of all groups to become potential victims of hate crimes. Hate incidents are expressions of hostility based on race, religion, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation or disability. Hate incidents are not illegal. They may take the form of name-calling or using racial slurs, hate speech, the distribution of racist leaflets or other disrespectful behavior. Hate crimes are defined by federal or state statutes. A hate crime occurs when a person commits an act such as assault, battery, criminal damage to property, criminal trespass to property or mob action because of the victim's real or perceived race, religion, nationality, gender, sexual orientation or disability. Hate crime laws vary from state to state. Hate crimes are another type of abuse, and one which can occur anywhere and anytime. In the United States today, the most commonly publicized hate crimes are those perpetrated on particular ethnic groups (such as persons of Middle Eastern descent, or...
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...Should the Confederate Flag be Banned in the South? Today the confederate flag holds an outdated image in America’s diverse, modern society; because of this, it has no more purpose to fly publicly in the south with its symbol of racism. Instead, its new home should be part of a museum where its history can remain intact without being offensive to any particular group of people. Among many people in the United States the confederate flag is seen as offensive and serves as a reminder of the dark past our country endured in which their ancestors were enslaved and treated with cruelty. Should the confederate flag be allowed to fly in the southern States? Although many argue that it cannot be taken down due to it being a part of our history and that many people have died for that flag, it should not be flown as it relates to racism and the...
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...planned to kill people. He had a lot of pictures with the confederate flag in them, and he stated his support of racial segregation in the United States. Roof also had a website that was registered to him. On this website he had pictures of himself posing in front of a confederate battle flag holding a handgun, along with “a nearly 2,500-word manifesto in which the author criticized blacks as being inferior while lamenting the cowardice of white flight” (Robles para 3). Dylann Roof used the confederate flag as a symbol for white supremacy. He used the image in multiple places, including his website and on his car's license plates. This usage of the confederate flag shows how it could easily be used in hate crimes, and it is known to be a popular image among white supremacist groups. Valley Forge flag Co. is a business that produces and sells flags. This company has a huge presence in the United States with 4 locations and 300 employees. “It's American flags have been with soldiers at war, on the caskets of U.S. presidents, and on space shuttles. Its clients include retailers such as Home Depot, Costco, and the U.S. government” (McDaniel). This flag company is enormous, making millions of flags per year. On Monday June 22, Valley Forge Flag Co. pulled Confederate flags from orders going out, and the next day, declared that they would stop...
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...The Role of the American Government in creating Race Wars and Racial Tension There has been a long standing history of cultural divide in this country. The United States of America was built upon this premise. Race has always been a defining factor of what position you have been placed in society. America was founded upon a revolutionary approach, and once America was conquered by Europe, they set their government up to only include Europeans. The system was developed by Anglo-Saxons as a self-serving mechanism that excluded all other races. The Native Americans experienced this first hand when their country was occupied by British, French, and Spanish crusaders. This, amongst other invasions, led to the first examples of racial wars and tension in American history. We have seen this play out throughout the generations of our ancestors, who have experienced this state of racial tension, segregation, and slave ownership on both sides of the equation. America has always had racial tension from its inception. Several Civil Wars have occurred on American soil, and race has been an issue in most of them. We have been taught in society that being a certain race can define your future and potential for success. This has been proven in every aspect of American life. The infrastructure of the United States was built by several different races, some by choice, and some through slavery, and this is the driving force behind the deep seeded tension experienced by current Americans today...
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...have portrayed LGBT characters and, for the most part, in a positive light. Modern television shows like Orange is the New Black, Glee, Modern Family, and Degrassi show more LGBT representation. The Netflix original show, Orange is the New Black, is based on the bestselling memoir with the same name. Orange is the New Black features a diverse group of characters that portray members of the LGBT community. The show includes several lesbian and bisexual characters as well as a transgender woman. The transgender woman is Sophia Burset portrayed by Laverne...
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