Hate and Bias Crimes

Active Hate Groups

The Active US Hate Groups document displayed hate groups that are active in the US and also gave a brief description of what some of the hate groups believe. What I found interesting was the amount of active hate groups in the US—especially in Missouri. I have heard about the KKK being active in areas such as Raytown, but I didn’t expect to see many hate groups in St. Louis. I had heard of Christian Identity, but I did not know that it was an actual religion. I was surprised to read that there was an actual hate group that consisted of black racists under the name of the New Black Panther Party—that is disrespectful to the original Black Panther Party. The original Black Panther Party represented unity; there were white members of the party, and they all fought for equality by any means necessary.

When It Comes to Peddling Hate Music

The blogs were a lot to read, but I couldn’t stop reading until I finished! I was shocked to find that iTunes blocked music that bashed homosexuals, but didn’t ban music that was racist. However, that is their choice to make. Personally, I had no idea there was any type of hate music on the website because I don’t purchase music from iTunes often. The most interesting aspect of the blogs is the realness of what the people are saying.  It sheds light on the fact that racism, prejudice, ignorance, and bigotry still exist. One of the bloggers made a remark that all rap music was hate music and I had to chuckle at how ridiculous the comment was. What was even more comical was that not that many people defended rap music…not surprising though.

Incidents and Offenses

This section of the reading was not shocking because I am taking a Hate and Bias Crimes class in which I am studying this same information. In studying this subject I have learned that there are many inconsistencies with the UCR’s data. For instance, not all law enforcement agencies are required to report hat crimes—it depends on the state. So the information in the report does not accurately represent the actual number of hate crimes that are committed in the US.

Hate Groups in America

What I found interesting about the map was that there were no hate groups reported in Alaska and North Dakota. While I wasn’t surprised to see that there was a large number of hate groups in the Southwest region of the country, I was surprised to see that there was a large amount of hate groups in the Northeast region.