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Hate Crimes In America

Hate Crimes
In America

Fear, anger and frustration. These are three themes that run throughout all hate groups. Most hate groups form during times of economic hardship or social change. Certain groups of people begin to blame another group for the reason of a major social or economical change. Hate crimes and groups are seen as a major problem by a large number of the population, including the government.

After the Civil War, the South suffered from both economic hardship and drastic social change. For centuries, the south had relied on slaves to harvest crops at plantations. When the slaves were freed, the plantations were not being worked on anymore, causing the owners to loose a lot of money. When this happened, six former Confederate soldiers started a hate group called the Ku Klux Klan. After the Civil War, the Klan was very popular among southern whites. Their ignorance was feeding the fire that blacks were the root of their problem, when in reality the whites ignorance is the root of their own problems. The Klan has since died down and risen many times with the start of many social changes such as the women's rights movement (1920's) and the civil rights movement (1960's). Another large and devastating hate group is the neo-Nazis. These working-class people blame all immigrants for taking jobs away from the whites. Their ignorance pushes them so far as to violently attack and kill blacks, Jews, Hispanics, Asians, and homosexuals.

Hate crimes can happen anytime, anywhere. In the small Texas town of Jasper, Texas, 3 white men are under heavy guard after being accused of a murder of an innocent man. Shawn Berry,23, Lawrence Brewer,31, and John King, 23, allegedly members of the extremist Aryan Brotherhood, dragged a black man to his death behind a pick-up truck, ripping his body to pieces. James Byrd, Jr., a 49 year-old, former vacuum cleaner salesman disabled by an arm injury, was walking home from a party celebrating the wedding of his niece,...