Hate Crimes in America

Through a certain lens, it seems that the contemporary political climate within the United States is a particularly divisive one. Our society may be defined by our remarkably polarized political desires, by our national attention on our soldiers' death abroad, and by the sociopolitical and economic gaps which result in ideological clashes over the extension of gay and lesbian rights, the morality of judgeship, and immigration laws. According to the Christian Science Monitor, this political climate is a breading ground for intolerance and hate. In fact, according to this article, the number of active hate groups in the U.S. has increased from 474 in 1997 to 762 in 2004, while intolerance and civil rights violations against Muslim Americans has increased 48 percent from last year.

Recent incidents include cross burnings in North Carolina, threats against gay students on an Oregon campus, disruptions of anti-immigration meetings by those charging border vigilantes with racism, anti-Semitic graffiti in the Queens borough of New York, a whites-only group recruiting in Michigan, whiteseparatess harassing Japanese residents in Las Vegas, and a rise in anti-Muslim activity.

It seems that the United States' world image is that of intolerance, both emanated and received. If we desire to quell these surges in hate crimes, it's necessary not only to strive for more austere regulations, such as those proposed last week by Ted Kennedy, but also to shift the mentality of the people.