The Motive Behind Hate Crimes

The term hate is such a powerful word. The world we live in is full of so much hate. The question is how far can hating someone else go to where a person kills someone? A hate crime is a violent act intended to kill or harm those because of their race/ethnicity, religion, class, sexual orientation, etc. Based on this description it just makes people wonder why kill or hurt someone because of those characteristics? A hate crime is also known as a bias crime.

Hate crimes are nothing new to the public eye. These crimes go way back to when Jesus was first crucified to when blacks were slaves and killed and tortured just for being black. I believe that those were just some of the few first hate crimes back then amongst the ones we continue to see today such as the shooting at a Charleston, South Carolina church.

The 21-year old Dylann Roof who opened fire on a group of African Americans during a prayer service. Even more so his reasoning behind killing those people was even more disturbing. He was also a white supremacist who believes their race is superior over all other races. At this point, no place is safe anymore when people can be killed in church. Furthermore, the media during the time characterized the shooter as ‘’mentally ill’’ or a someone who has had a rough childhood, only because he was white. The media was very hesitant to call this a hate crime when it was obvious with it being a white male targeting a black church and killing only black people. Black people were and still are most likely to be victims of hate crimes. The FBI reports from 1995-2012, shows 66.4% of the black race were targets of hate crimes. Hate crimes against black Americans are often a lot more violent compared to those committed against other races involving weapons such as guns. Black Americans are most likely to be targeted because of the history that race has. Black people are also targeted because other races may see black Americans as a threat to whatever the reason may be. There has been an increase amongst racial prejudice in America which has resulted in hate crimes being committed.

The rate of religious hate crimes remains steady with just a slight decrease. Christianity is the most popular religion in America and most people are a part of this religion. However, the Jews have had more hate crimes committed against them than any other religion. The Jewish religion seems to be the most disliked and least respected religion. Hate crimes against the Jews go way back to when the Holocaust occurred where millions of Jews were killed by the Nazis. You would probably think after the terrible aftermath from the Holocaust that this religion would be more respected, but Jews are continuing to be victims of hate crimes. As for sexual orientation, it does not fall too far behind concerning victimization. In today’s world filled with gays, lesbians, transgender, and bisexuals who are also likely to face discrimination and hatred towards them. However, considering the Jussie Smollett case could possibly make matters even worse for those of the LGBT community.

People may be eager to join hate groups out of anger, fear and lack of knowledge. Politics and the presidency can also influence hate groups. The state that reported the largest number of active hate groups was California. California is a big state, so there is no surprise that they would have amongst the largest active hate groups. In today’s world, there is diversity and animosity amongst different groups. However, all of this built up anger and hatred are shown in these hate groups. Hate groups stem from negative attitudes or stereotypes towards a group of people. Many hate groups have different practices or teachings, most hate groups usually teach that whites are more superior. These types of groups mainly want to make their race more superior and bring about segregation amongst other groups or cultures in society. According to the SPLC, general hate attracts the largest number of followers.

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