An often quoted proverb is “Hate is like drinking a vial of poison and expecting it to harm the other person” (Gena Showalter, Firstlife, http://www.goodreads.com. It seems with the rise in hate crimes that the poison of hatred is easily available in the United States.
What is judged a hate crime? The FBI defines it as “a committed criminal offense which is perpetrated…by the offender’s bias against a race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, ethnicity, and gender, or gender identity” (N’dea Yancy-Bragg, “Hate Crimes Reached Record Levels in 2023,” January 5, 2023, http://www. usatoday.com).
Data announced by the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University confirm the rise in hate crimes reported to law enforcement in the nation’s ten largest cities. The increase of 13% from 2022 is driven by the anti-Jewish and anti-Muslim attacks on American soil (Yancy-Bragg).
A long-standing trend in our country is that Black Americans are the most frequent victims of hate; one fifth of all hate crimes are committed against the black community. The overwhelming majority of racially motivated homicides over a period of five years were carried out by white supremacists (Masons Farivar, “Report: African Americans Remain TopTargets of Hate Crimes,” August 30, 2023, http://www.voa.com).
Brian Levin, director of Center for the Study of Hatred and Extremism, supports this fact. He stated “the vast majority of racially motivated homicides over the past five years have been carried out by white supremacists and right-wing ideologues…. We expect this killing cycle to continue, especially as we enter a volatile election season” (Farivar). Levin attributes this surge of hate crimes to the abundance of online and political rhetoric that promotes bigotry stereotypes and conspiracy theories (Farivar).
The United States, “land of the free” and “home of the brave,” is drenched in blood from its long history of racial violence. In the summer of 1955, a fourteen-year-old African-American boy from Chicago was visiting relatives in Mississippi. A white woman, Carolyn Bryant, accused him of making sexual advances. Bryant’s husband and brother-in-law kidnapped Emmitt Till, tortured him beyond recognition, shot him, and dumped him in the Tallahatchie River. An allmale, all-white jury quickly acquitted the murderers. Later, they confessed the murder in a Look magazine article (Theresa Perino, ed., “Let the World See,” National Parks Conservation Assn. Newsletter, Winter 2023, http://www.npca.org).
In a letter from chief Development Officer for the Southern Poverty Law Center, Cherry Z. Gamble urges us to realize the current magnitude of white nationalist threat. “People living and working in our communities should not have to live in fear. Hard right extremism is at an all-time high as Black, Jewish, and LGBTQ+ people are being targeted in horrific acts of bigoted violence. Meanwhile, schools have been on the receiving end of ramped-up and coordinated attacks, frequently though the guise of ‘parents’ rights’ groups (Cherry Gamble, SPLC Newsletter, 2023).
The annual report by the Southern Poverty Law Center shows a compilation of the Center’s staff investigative reporting, analysis, and commentary concerning hate and extremism in our country (Gamble). One finding suggests that anti-semitism leads to and supports other hate ideologies.
“White nationalists seek to return to an America that predates the implementation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965.…The hard right in America sees the nation’s increasing diversity as a threat that must be countered in politics, in law, in court, in the media— and with violence” (Susan Corke and Michael Lieberman, “Antisemitism: An Engine for Anti-Black Racism,” The State of Black America essay, http:// www.stateofblackamerica.org ).
During the four years of the Trump administration and currently as Donald Trump seeks reelection, extremist groups have not retreated. “With anti-LGBTQ+ and anti-inclusive education messages, hard-right hate and antigovernment extremists have coalesced, returning to their bread-and butter focus on attacking local democratic institutions, targeting local public health boards, elections administrations as well as school boards and libraries” (Corke and Lieberman).
Howdowefightthispervasive hate and extremism? The SPLC suggests we expand prevention initiatives in local communities to preclude radicalization of young people, by following several strategies. Promote and defend truthful and inclusive education. Speak out against political violence, extremism, and hatred. Demand hate-crime data collection in local communities. Support funding for making public spaces safer from violent attacks. Hold social media and tech companies accountable to follow civil rights laws (Corke and Lieberman).
Such accountability has been lax, especially during the recent election cycles. Extremists are gathering online in giant numbers to mask identities and spew hatred. During the trial of Douglass Mackey, part of an extremist coalition that boosted Trump in 2016, a key FBI witness known as “Microchip” gave evidence to prosecute Mackey for election fraud. “Microchip” testified that he hijacked Twitter’s algorithm to sow disinformation (Michael Edison Hayden, “What We Know About ‘Microchip,’ the FBI’s Far-Right Judas,” Intelligence Report: Hate and Extremism in 2023, http://www/ splcenter.org ).
One example of disinformation is the “great replacement” conspiracy. This is a false notion that there is a “systematic, global effort to replace white European people with nonwhite, foreign populations” (Corke and Lieberman).
Dissolving hatred begins with the individual human heart. In his “Life Lessons” column in Women’s Day magazine, Rabbi Steve Leder urges all of us, especially as role models for children, to be a “mensch,” a German word for being a good person. How? Teach children the true meaning of success. Show honesty, even in the “unimportant” situations. Treat everyone with respect and dignity. Don’t disappear when others are suffering. Know the difference between a problem and an inconvenience. Don’t gossip. Give generously. Don’t use derogatory language. Be kind (Steve Leder, “Life Lessons,” October 2023, http://www.womensday. com).
But positive change must also be reflected in our elected officials. We are the voters. Do the political party and its candidates endorse criminal actions against a race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, ethnicity, gender, or gender identity? Do they urge others to commit hate crimes? They are condoning a hate crime. If you as a voter support them, you are abetting a hate crime.
Don’t be misled by their disinformation. Don’t vote for them.
Hatred is a poison. When Jim Jones ordered his cult followers to drink cyanide in the jungles of Guyana in 1978, they drank. The death toll reached 900 (Alison Eldridge, “Jonestown,” December 23, 2023, http://www/ britanica.com).
We are becoming a nation struggling against the cult of hatred and extremism. Don’t drink the poison.