U.S. hate groups continue to grow in number
By Tatiana Sanchez
With the election of our first black president, it seems we have finally begun to put racial discrimination behind us.
Change has finally come to the U.S., with President Obama as the primary catalyst of this so-called "change." The threatening reign of racist skinheads and the Ku Klux Klan is in the past, and we can begin to look toward a future of racial diversity and acceptance.
At least this is what most Americans have been fooled to believe in recent years, as issues of race have been swept under the rug.
But a study conducted by the Southern Poverty Law Center shows there is no doubt that hate groups in the U.S. are at an all-time high.
According to the SPLC, who published the study "The Year in Hate", the number of hate groups in the U.S. has reached an incredible 926, a 54 percent increase from 2000 and a 4 percent increase from 2007. Much of this drastic increase is due to immigration conflicts, a severely troubled economy and the election of our first black president, Barack Obama.
These hate groups include members of the Ku Klux Klan, racist skinheads, Neo-Nazis, White Nationalists and Neo-Confederates. While they run heaviest in the South, the state with the highest number of hate groups is none other than sunny California, with a reported 84 groups in existence.
While the world anticipated that President Obama's election would spark tremendous change in our country in terms of racial equality, it has also undoubtedly caused an increasing amount of hatred. With this hatred has come a tremendous increase in hate crimes. As reported by the SPLC, second and third graders in Rexburg, Idaho were found chanting "Assassinate Obama" as they rode their school bus.
In Shreveport, Louisiana, a black male wearing an Obama t-shirt was viciously beaten by a group of white men, as they screamed obscenities such as "f--k Obama."
And in a police station in Milwaukee, a poster of Obama with a bullet going through his head was found.
In a community as small as Santa Clara (and even California for that matter), it is almost impossible to think that such hate crimes continue to occur on a daily basis. But the reality of these crimes is undeniable, and it is saddening to think that in 2009, just four months after Obama's inauguration, such intense and ferocious hatred is still rampant across the country.
Mark Potok, director of the SPLC's Intelligence Project, feels "Barack Obama's election has inflamed racist extremists who see it as another sign that their country is under siege by non-whites."
Our country has slept on the issue of racism for too long, and with the increase of such astonishing hate crimes, it's time we wake up.
Racial discrimination has been a part of this country since the day it was founded, but it is disheartening to think that not much has changed more than 200 years later.
Sure, we've moved past slavery and internment camps, but have we stopped our prejudiced ways of thinking and erased our racist mentality?
Given the current proliferation of hate groups in this country, clearly not.
We cannot look forward to change if there are 926 groups in our country looking to harm people who are of different race or color than they are.
If today there are children chanting for the assassination of our president and posters of Obama with a bullet through his head at police stations, then we have not made progress.
Progress implies moving forward, but it seems that with the increase of such terrible hate groups, we are moving backward.
With the first black president leading our country, we must look past color and judge individuals based on who they are and what they can contribute to this country.
Just as President Obama constantly assured us during his presidential campaign, now is the time for change. But change begins within individuals. I encourage us to ask ourselves what we are going to do to help precipitate this change for a better tomorrow.
Tatiana Sanchez is a junior English major and the opinion editor of The Santa Clara.