Religious Background of Hate Crimes

"In 2007, according to the Federal Bureau Investigation of the Nation’s law enforcement agencies “there were 9,535 victims of hate crimes: of these victims 17.1 percent were victimized because of a bias against a religious belief which totaled to be 1,628 victims of an anti-religious hate crime”.

Almost ten thousand people were victims of hate crReligious Background of Hate Crimes imes alone in 2007. That is something to be alarmed about because part of living in the U.S.A as minority is to have freedom to do and be anything you want and yet we find that you really don’t have that freedom because you get attacked for practicing that freedom.

The increasingly rate of hate crimes is soaring that many states like New York, New Jersey and California now have the highest number of hate crimes committed due to religion (“Hate Crimes”). Religion is a major contributor into hate crimes against other people and religions. These acts are defended because they are believed to be true for the offender. Because of religion, hate crimes are still very much prevalent in society.

Hate crime according to Perry’s book, In the Name of Hate: Understanding Hate Crimes, is “a mechanism of power intended to sustain somewhat precarious hierarchies, through violence and threats of violence. It is generally directed toward those whom our society has traditionally stigmatized and marginalized”.

This means according to Perry that using hate crimes against people of color, ethnic and religious backgrounds are reminded of their place and if they step out of that place they will be reminded using not so-friendly reminders. These not so friendly reminders can be from assault to even murder. Victims of hate crimes have the right to do what they want no matter what and should not be forced to stop what they want to do. The civil rights movement advocated the freedom of all races and minorities in the United States. This movement wanted all different groups of people to live in peace. However, it’s so evident that the civil rights movement did not accomplish anything because many minorities like Jewish people still suffer many hate crimes.

Christianity is the most prevalent religion in the United States. Many people belong to this religion. However, what happens when you don’t belong to Christianity. One of the most ancient religions that still are very much provident is the Jewish Religion. However, this religion isn’t a respected religion even after the time of Holocaust. Even today Jews continue to be the victims of many hate crimes. Donald Altschiller book, Hate Crimes: a Reference Handbook, states that, “anti-Semitism has had a pernicious history throughout the ages and around the world”. Anti-Jewish hatred and violence has always been one of the highest of hate crimes and Altschiller reinforces this by commenting that “the majority of attacks upon individuals or institutions because of their religion—averaging 85 percent have been targeted at Jewish Americans”.

You would think that after the Holocaust the Jewish people would get some remorse and peace and yet these people are still victims and to make maters worse one of the highest statistics for hate crimes. Jewish religion has suffered so much pain and chaos even after the Holocaust that they need to have some peace because these people endeavor so many assaults. For example, in Altshciller reports incidents such as in “September 1996 sixty grave marker were killed at the Bikur Choli Sheveth cemetery in Connecticut”.

To think that these people from the Bikur Cholei Sheveth actually went to this cemetery and killed those innocent people without remorse for the only reason that they were Jewish. An article called Teens are often hate recruits by Tamara Koehler and Tom Kisken, reestablish the idea that the most religiously motivated hate crimes are acts of vandalism, and personal attacks are directed against Jews.

The question is why they suffer so many hate crimes. According to Perry Jewish people occupy most of the government and they are to blame for many crises that are in America. Some of the crises that Jews are blames are immigration problem because it’s another group that the whites have to compete against and are considered a threat. Jews are also to blame for the have brought slavery to America and Jews have gained so much control that they can control any aspect of the government.

There so power struggle with people in the government that they blame anybody. What does being Jew have anything to do with the crisis in America? American is in crisis because of a lot of reasons not just because a group of people dominant most of politics. If Jewish people do dominant politics why would they be inclined to do horrible acts against other groups? I think part of the reason people like the white Racal’s assume that Jewish people will do horrible things against them is because they have done horrible things to the Jewish people. The ongoing hatred among Jewish people doesn’t seem to come to an end. The result of this hate and the hate crimes are going to end up in negative consequences. These negative consequences can lead into the new generations of society and just continue the cycle of hatred.

One of the most prevalent places where hate crime is at its peak is toward people of different race other than white. For many generations it was hate crimes were targeted towards Jews or African Americans. However, most of the recent attacks are towards people of Arab decent. This hate against these people started to emerge when 911 stroke. The attacks on September 11 opened new grounds for hate crimes. In The Christian Science Monitor newspaper article, Americans say Muslims face most discrimination, it states that “since Sept. 11, 800 cases of alleged hate crimes have been reported nation-wide by the Muslim Public Affairs Council of Southern California. In Los Angeles alone, the Los Angeles Police Department has logged at least 32.

The Southern Poverty Law Center has compiled a list of 134 hate crimes from all over the nation since the terrorist's attacks”. As this analysis indicates, hate crimes against Muslims are coming from nation wide and keep increasing. The hate crimes for these people have just started and will continue to rise. This is new trend of hate that has come to surface because of September 11.

These attacks are being committed everywhere and to anyone that is of Arab decent. For example in “San Francisco, an Iraqi grocer found "Terrorist Go Home" spray painted on his storefront. In Mesa, Arizona, a Sikh gas station owner was murdered by a pickup driver who, when stopped by the police shouted, "I stand for America all the way." In San Gabriel, California an Egyptian grocer was murdered although no money was taken”.

Those people in San Francisco or Arizona didn’t need to be treated like that when they don’t do any harm to anyone. The lengths that people go who commit hate crimes are increasingly devastation and harsh. These acts cause harm and fear for the people like in San Francisco or Arizona. Nobody wants to be harassed or murder for something that their culture has committed; its no their fault that 911 happened. It’s wrong in every aspect to accuse someone for a crime committed by their culture. These hate groups commit those crimes because according to Perry “this people make assumptions on what they read in their bibles and think they must carry out that ideological belief. Those beliefs can be used as a weapon to do wrong against people”.

I can understand the anger and frustration of America people have toward Arab people for killing so many innocent people on September 11. However, it wasn’t every Arab who was part of that devastating crime. It was terrorists’ who didn’t care for the lives on those people in those buildings. Its’ wrong to think that everyone that is from the Arab decent is bad and wants to bomb innocent people. Religious beliefs are powerful persuaders and can take a person into dangerous pathways. Soon these beliefs start to linger into other religions and begin to unleash catastrophic ideology and crimes.

Hate crimes keep rising and expanding throughout society. These acts are widely known form the media. However, the most group that is being motivated and influenced are teenagers. Hate crimes are witnessed by this age group and being carried out and learned. According to the psychology association article, Hate Crimes Today: An Age-Old FoeIn Modern Dress, many of the hate crimes committed are from young people who don’t see anything wrong with their actions and their prejudice that they fell against a certain group is okay to be shown by their aggressive actions towards them.

These young people are learning the ways to hate other groups because of the rising of hate crimes seen and herd through the country. These crimes are witnessed and taking as its okay to do this crimes and raising a new hate group among these teenagers. In an article Teens are often hate recruits by Tamara Koehler and Tom Kisken it shown that hate groups often go into school targeting teens to join their hate group and target teens from the age groups “14- and 15-year-olds who didn't really fit in, had low self-esteem and needed someone to blame” and want to prove themselves.

These teenagers are obviously really easy prey because if they feel like they need to fit in or want to get their anger out find this way a lot easier and soon become involved in malicious hate crimes. Teenagers that have low self-esteem and don’t fit in are really easy to get sucked into a group that advocate hate against minority groups or any group that is not like them. These teenagers want to prove themselves and by that they are willing to do a lot of things.

This could lead to new age of hate crimes and the increase of hate groups leaded by teens. These recruits can lead to violent acts. For example, in the Los Angeles newspaper article, Religious Prejudice At High School Turns Into Hate Crime Investigation, a student of Jewish culture had his car was vandalized by writings that had a “swastika carved into the hood of his 2009 BMW”. For that teenager that was not the first time he was a victim of religious motivate attack.

These acts of hate crimes committed by teenagers against teenagers only raise more hate among more teenagers. Then the violent attacks become more severe, like in Greensboro, North Carolina where five football students “the players allegedly beat the students of Palestine culture, with feet, fists, and brass knuckles, while calling them "terrorists" and racial epithets. This kids weren’t even from a hate group or nor did they have any low esteem problems. These kids were the most popular kids who had a good future ahead of them and yet were willing to beat other class mates because of their culture. These students must have had a pretty good reason to do an act that is devastating.

Pretty soon this teenagers grown into advocates for more hatred. For example, in the article teen are often hate recruits, many teens like “Zaal, who grew up in the San Gabriel Valley, became what he termed a "Nazi punk" at the age of about 17. He later became regional director of operations, recruitment and propaganda for the White Aryan Resistance”. Having teenagers grow to become even fuller of hatred and go into a path that promotes that hatred is only going to result in negative actions. The religious motive for these acts can only be concluded that It is the need to be better then you opposing group who is not.

For example, the articles teen are often hate recruits, even states that “The philosophy of white supremacy, which has found a wide new audience through the Internet, assuages the psyches of youths who are on the fringes. This type of thinking leads to more people to join this type of thinking and raises devastating criminal acts. The philosophy of white supremacy is one of the many examples that a belief can be strong enough for it to cause a lot of damage and spread like a virus.

Starting with the civil rights movement there was a profound need to give minorities their own freedom and live in peace without discrimination and have the same opportunities as anyone else in America. However, that was not the case because even after many years since the civil rights movement there is still a huge percentage of hate crimes against minorities. Religion is a major contributor into hate crimes against other people and religions. These acts are defended because they are believed to be true. Because of religion, hate crimes are still very much prevalent in society. They are prevalent in hate against Jewish people, Arabs decent and all this hate is only leading to infect younger generations who witness these events.

Every hate crimes comes fro a belief that of superiority toward another group. In this case people who feel that they are beyond Jewish and Arabs people and have the need to demonstrate those feelings through aggressive actions and possible murder. The belief of superoity comes from religion because if you believe in yourself or some God is still a belief of religion. The ability to believe in yourself or in a God and the ideologies that comes with it and practice of those beliefs is a religion.

Many groups that are anti-Jew or anit-arab have ideologies that they are superior to minorities and that they need to be according to Perry “reminded of their place” and that place is inferiority. Religion comes in many forms and each form has different perspectives on life and towards other people. Each belief is different from another one and each can be just as scary as the other.

Because there are so many religions each belief has an idea of how to treat others and as seen throughout out time many of these beliefs include harassment of minorities. A belief is a strong persuader to almost anything and that can transcend to helping other or hurting others. Therefore, many hate crimes committee are motives of a belief set by people that believe people like Jews or Arabs are not equal to them and need to be punished. Jews are the most victimized people of hate crimes throughout history and that hasn’t changed. Now, an increasing trend of hate crimes has been targeted toward people of Arab decent because of 911.

These crimes against these people only lead to reinforce that hatred toward younger teenager whom have already been using that hatred to attack minorities and think its okay because adults do it and since so many people commit these crimes they feel like they would fit in because its’ okay. If hate crimes don’t diminish or decline the results can only expand and continue to oppress minorities like Jews and Arabs people for many generations to come without remorse and people with those beliefs of oppression will only continue to pass that hate to their children".

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