NO ONE IS IMMUNE FROM HATE CRIMES
It is easy to default to thinking, optimistically, of social progress as being linear, modernity being inherently safer than the ruthlessly bigoted antiquity.
One may often picture prejudiced violence behind a monochromatic filter, based on an assumption that the most horrific of unspeakable discriminatory acts have been locked away behind photographs too old to feature striking colors – the stark red of blood shed from the body of a bewildered victim, the earthy tones of clothes destroyed beyond recognition, for example.
Perhaps the mind goes to the iconic, post-mortem, black-and-white still of young Emmett Till, a boy whose being was left so unrecognizable, his monstrous new form seems to crowd his casket in a nightmarish representation of the agony he no doubt felt in his final moments. (A Mississippi mob beat, shot and mutilated the 14-year-old Black youth accused of flirting with a white woman.)
Unfortunately, the fantasy of a contemporary world that has progressed beyond senseless attack is one that cannot be logically embraced for very long. Numerous publications have recently reported on newly released FBI data finding that hate crimes in 2019 were at their highest level in over a decade. These were comprised of more than 7,000 incidents, the motivating biases beingbeen based on “Race/Ethnicity/Ancestry,” “Religion,” “Sexual Orientation,” “Gender,” “Gender Identity,” and “Disability,” according to the FBI’s website.
Should answers be sought regarding just why the number has been so relatively high as of late, a hypothesis can be formed: Since the U.S. political climate is anything but stable, and as our society grows in its understanding of identity, it can be (depressingly) assumed that terrible backlash may be growing in accordance.
However, there is no question at all regarding the greater root of the hate crime-related fatalities in 2019: Hate-related mass murders in American history have consistently been carried out by the hands of young white men entirely convinced that they are defending their culture from some great menace. As, in the words of the El Paso shooter who killed 22 and injured 23 others outside a Walmart store in August 2019, “invader” Mexican-Americans.
The innumerable historical instances showing connection between extreme conservatism and hate crimes cannot be overstated, especially as they continue today.
Evidently, humans are quick to divide ourselves from one another, and as violent as we often are about much more frivolous things, it makes unfortunate sense that so many people have been viciously taken from the world for having made the mistake of being born too close to the “outgroup” for comfort.
Throw in centuries of colonialist rhetoric about “protecting what has been gained” and a sociological environment in which tensions between demographic groups are heightened is inevitable.
Understanding this, the grotesque presence of hate crimes in our society becomes all-too- expected.
It is clear that freedom from senseless brutality will only arrive once its tacit causes are eliminated. Nationalist thinking, disguised as being solely for the purposes of uniting a people, in truth only serves to empower alienation, and the consequences following its adoption quickly follow. Once one accepts the idea of the need to constantly defend their demographic tribe, they can then be easily convinced of a threat more-foreign appearing demographics are said to pose, and therefore even more easily convinced to eliminate this threat, post-haste.
No one, of any background, is immune to cancerous ideology, and this means everyone has the responsibility to nip it in the bud wherever it may arise.
For as long as this outlook persists, the bodies of innocent beings and their grieving families will continue to crowd the streets as undeniable evidence of a deeply flawed world, endlessly rained onto by terrified tears.
References
FBI Releases 2019 Hate Crime Statistics — FBI
90 Charges Including Hate Crimes Filed For El Paso Shooting | Time
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