Hatewatch Tweets
Hatewatch is managed by the staff of the Intelligence Report, an investigative magazine published by the Alabama-based civil rights group Southern Poverty Law Center.
Anti-Black Hate Crimes Rise, Data Remains Flawed
The FBI yesterday released its 2008 Hate Crime Statistics report. Overall, the numbers were up slightly, by 2 percent. One of the biggest jumps was in the number of anti-black hate crimes, which went up from 2,658 in 2007 to 2,876 in 2008. That constitutes a rise of nearly 8 percent.
The jump in anti-black hate crimes is likely related to the November 2008 election of President Obama. In the weeks before and after the election, dozens of hate crimes occurred across the country, the result of a racist backlash to the election of America’s first African-American president.
Hate incidents related to the election occurred in all parts of the country. An interracial couple in Apolacan Township, Pa., who supported Obama, found the remains of a burnt cross in their garden. In Madison County, Idaho, elementary school children allegedly chanted “assassinate Obama” on a school bus. In Mount Desert Island, Maine, black effigies were reportedly hung from nooses.
Many of the election-related hate crimes were violent. For example, there were five reported attacks by white supremacists on blacks and Latinos in California’s San Jacinto Valley that police described as a reaction to the election. And on Staten Island, two 18-year-olds were among a group of men who yelled “Obama” as they assaulted a black teenager with a baseball bat just hours after Obama clinched the presidency.
One of the most widely publicized incidents involved the burning of a black church, the Macedonia Church of God in Christ, just a few hours after Obama’s win was confirmed. At the time of the burning, federal investigators called the act a probable hate crime.
But like so many hate crimes each year, the church burning never made it into the FBI’s statistics. Even though the DOJ released a statement about arrests in the Springfield case and condemned the acts as motivated by “racism,” the city of Springfield reported no hate crimes in the fourth quarter of 2008.
Unfortunately, it is not surprising that a hate crime would fail to make it into the FBI’s data. The DOJ itself has found that the hate crimes statistics drastically underreport the number of such crimes each year. A definitive 2005 study by the DOJ’s Bureau of Justice Statistics, based on detailed and highly accurate National Crime Victimization Surveys, found that the real level of hate crime in America was about 191,000 incidents per year — in other words, about 20 to 30 times higher than the numbers annually reported by the FBI.
on November 24th, 2009 at 2:10 pm
Brilliant post, thanks SPLC! This lends credence to everything I’ve been working on the last year.
on November 24th, 2009 at 3:24 pm
The jump could be accounted for by more effective data collection, better reporting, etc. It is also possible that depending on how the Fed collects, it may go by what is prosecuted by the States & different States may have different laws regarding what is prosecutable under it’s statutes.
Additionally we have the Mexican Mafia controlled gangs in Los Angles targeting blacks within their neighborhoods and that may have hit a high figure for that time period.
I’m not totally convinced that Obama is a strong factor in the data. It’s possible that many bigots have gotten used to him and he is riding a Centrist agenda. There hasn’t been any gasoline thown on the fire yet.
Hopefully he can reign in Attorney General Holder as that man doesn’t seem to understand that the President needs 8 years to accomplish what needs. accomplishing…..
on November 24th, 2009 at 4:31 pm
Sometimes, I get the feeling that the FBI simply doesn’t care. Much of the time, it’s that they don’t know, but the fact that all of the death threats against President Obama are going ignored is an indication of the former rather than the latter.
Oh yeah, I forgot something…cue the “what about anti-white crime” whining in 3…2…1…
on November 24th, 2009 at 8:47 pm
Brian Levin, director for the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University-San Bernardino, warned that the national numbers may be misleading because some states — like California, New Jersey, and Ohio — are good at reporting hate crimes while others — Georgia, Hawaii, Mississippi and Pennsylvania — are not.
“The quality of the data is so variable and in some instances so bad that it makes trend analysis extraordinarily difficult, if not impossible,” said Levin. “Generally, states that have effective data collection also have effective training and procedures to address these crimes.”
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/new.....z0XpZkD7Qc
The FBI does not compare year-to-year trends in hate crimes, saying the number of agencies reporting changes too much. In fact, the bureau cautioned that the increase reported Monday might well be due to more agencies tracking such incidents.
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/.....z0XpaYAnRv
SPLC, keep championing the paranoia of the looming, constantly “on the rise” hate tsunami!
on November 25th, 2009 at 10:57 am
I agree with most of the comments here, but think we are missing the point.
The real issue with regard to the tracking of hate crimes is to illustrate the problem. This is necessary because there are those who claim every hate crime is nothing more than a tawdry attempt to play the “race card” for political favors or legal advantage.
I think, objectively, some allegations of hate fall into such a grey area that it would be difficult if not impossible to prove. If someone is shooting up your home it’s pretty clear there is hate there, or at least total disregard for your humanity, regardless of race. These diverse questions of conscience cannot be adequately regulated, and attempting to decipher racial motive in complex crimes (sometimes where the victim has questionable character) is sometimes a slippery slope.
But I think we can look at these indicators and ask ourselves, are we or are we not seeing hate crimes continue to occur in America. Whether or not the rise is due to enhanced tracking in some jurisdictions, or because of opposition to Obama, we can verify readily that there is a serious problem that needs to be addressed.
That to me is the real issue. As hard as we try to get the message out and to mobilize society around this issue, there always will be someone who brushes it aside as some “far left” invention. Whether or not the numbers are going up because more law enforcement agencies are keeping track is a minor issue. The real issue is making sure we have a transparent, credible, and consistent method of keeping tabs on hate. Nothing else will convince the naysayers, and getting into the debate over the motive for the rise in crimes is a distraction from the core message: even one hate crime is too many.
This is something that gets overlooked in the minutae of the debate over each and every hate crime. People don’t need much reason to close their minds. If there is a segment of the population who believes racism is a thing of the past, and who insist that each and every claim is a “race card” play, the fact that we have any consistent FBI data to refer to at all is incredibly important to our efforts.
Thus the key takeaway, for me at least, whether or not hate crimes are on the rise, and for whatsoever reason, the essential fact is that they are clearly not going away.
We also need to focus on why that is, but that debate seems to overshadow the fact that hate crimes are occurring at all. When we get caught up in the abstract rationale for hate, it makes it easier for people who don’t care about the issue to “poison the well” and discredit every effort to stop these crimes.
Getting the right wing to admit this is an issue of grave social concern is the critical thing. Only once they recognize the problem and cease opposing every effort to achieve racial justice in America, can we actually make any headway toward solving the problem.
on November 25th, 2009 at 2:14 pm
just more of the usual reverse-racist whinings.
Tell me, why is a blatantly anti-white racist site like:
http://racetraitor.org/abolish.html
not mentioned anywhere on your site? It’s because you are reverse-racists, of course. You people have zero credibility. No wonder you censor out any opposing viewpoints.
on November 25th, 2009 at 4:02 pm
daemonesslisa – I had a good laugh at your “anti-white crime” whining comment. They really don’t know how stupid they look when they do that.
I’ve been saying (because, even though I classify myself as American Indian (one-drop rule) I look like a white guy) how ashamed I am when I hear a white guy whine about “anti-white” prejudice. You’ve given me an alternative to hanging my head in shame. Just make fun of them and how babyish they look when they do this.
on November 25th, 2009 at 6:31 pm
Even up here in an AA mtg. today the Blk/White Hate continues……………..I have been around for awhile 1944
Daddy said this would happen just like 1964 JFK.
on November 25th, 2009 at 7:32 pm
The FBI purposely excludes the more serious hate crimes that are racially and religiously motivated since more often than not they [the FBI] are the ones guilty of committing the crimes in the first place since they establish the profile protocols. It is for this reason that other civil rights/civil liberties groups have to collect and report on data themselves; not surpisingly these other groups have more comprehensive reports that always far outnumber the reported cases as identified by the FBI.
on November 25th, 2009 at 9:45 pm
Given the gross disproportion of black on white crimes
it’s a wonder there aren’t more anti-black crimes!
on November 26th, 2009 at 10:28 am
I’m would associate the jump with the last election but as a side note many law enforcement agencies are reluctant to charge hate crimes and would rather use other statutes. I’ve seen many stories in the news that describe what could only be a hate crime but both the news service and law enforcement don’t want to say it out loud.
on November 26th, 2009 at 4:12 pm
I’m a driver in Orange County California (a wealthy county)… white drivers tips double that of black drivers… consistently. Sometimes I don’t even get tipped at all.
I am a Black driver… trust me, discrimination is alive and well.
But like the guy above me stated “a tawdry attempt to play the “race card” for political favors or legal advantage”
That’s all it is… an “in group” who uses racism to show and tout their loyalty to the group. Unfortunately these are key decision makers in large corporations.
on November 26th, 2009 at 10:03 pm
P.S.
Here’s some key Character Traits… “bully”…Not intellectual, more “clever” than smart “liar”, has trouble resolving “new” unrehearsed information… in new unfamiliar surroundings and circumstances he’s timid, seeks out support rather than trying to resolve things on his own.
Sound like a typical “gangster”? Well, you’re right, that’s exactly what he is. He’ll run and try to regroup, unless he has a “clear” advantage. He always seeks out his support group… he’s not an independent thinker… therefore, he’s NOT a “true” leader.
on November 27th, 2009 at 8:03 am
Its no secret that the statistics on hate crimes are indeed misleading. This is due in part of the fact that not every law enforcement agency or police depts. report such bias incidents of hate crimes. Which is then transferred into the FBI’s statistic data collecting on recorded incidents. As one poster noted above, its probably due to the “politically correct” aspects of it. So the reported biased incidents goes merely unreported or sometimes quoted as “isolated” incidents. Which isn’t interpreted as such. So the DOJ’s findings are said true that the numbers of hate crimes is actually higher.
on November 30th, 2009 at 1:57 pm
The wrangling and hand-wringing here is amusing.
There is no such thing as a “hate crime.”
A crime is a crime is a crime, period.
What motivates it is irrelevant except for proving intent.
on November 30th, 2009 at 7:13 pm
to GENO:
“The quality of the data is so variable and in some instances so bad that it makes trend analysis extraordinarily difficult, if not impossible,”
The FBI does not compare year-to-year trends in hate crimes, saying the number of agencies reporting changes too much. In fact, the bureau cautioned that the increase reported Monday might well be due to more agencies tracking such incidents.
what more needs to be said?
on November 30th, 2009 at 7:24 pm
CAN’T YOU SEE!!! Our whole society is sick… just the other day a crowd of Black teenagers beat another black teenager to death.
Two days later two white guys got into a fight on Thanksgiving… one hit the other in the head with his fist from his blind side so hard it burst a blood vessel in his head, and killed him.
How can you hate and be so angry at another… that you put everything you got… into ONE PUNCH.
…or, knock someone unconcious… and take turns stomping him while he’s unconcious.
You think there might be something in the food? No animal turns on it’s own… “to death”… except the human.
on December 2nd, 2009 at 4:11 pm
Micheal, I think you got your quotes mixed up there. I never said that.
on December 2nd, 2009 at 5:09 pm
Big error there Clark.
“You think there might be something in the food? No animal turns on it’s own… “to death”… except the human.”
That statement is not true at all. Chimps are known to gang up and kill other chimps and then cannibalize them.
Many male cats will kill other males kittens to move in and produce their own offspring.
I am sure there are many more examples.
on December 3rd, 2009 at 8:13 am
Someone had mentioned, “that a crime was a crime” and that there was no such thing as a hate crime. I would point out that we as a nation inact laws to address problems and the more serious a problem harsher the penalty. The are laws relating to crimes agianst children even though those crimes might be covered under an exsisting law.
Victims of hate crimes are selected simply because of their differences and what made them a victim yesterday will make them a victim the following day.
Hate crimes can affect an entire community and when not acted upon, breed distrust between the affected group and dominant population. Hate crimes tend to be more violent and it’s victims fall into all age and gender ranges.
I wonder is burning a cross on a lawn only hurts the home owner?
on December 3rd, 2009 at 11:49 am
This is not fun anymore… this is too complicated.
I spend all of my time watching the stock market.
Who in the world has time to run out and burn a cross in somebody’s yard.
Hell, I don’t even have time to go on dates… maybe someone should give these guys a tube of KY Jelly… I guarantee you it’s more pleasurable.
The highlight of my day is watching my money make money… it brings a smile to my face “everytime” and allows me to “hold my head up”… and say good morning to people.
Come on in and play in some of these games that help to enhance your life… not keep you “running and hiding”.
Also, that was interesting about the chimps eating each other… how primative. Man is landing on the moon… others are still climbing trees.
Maybe the cage thing is a good idea. If “one” threatens’ the survival and harmony of the group… maybe this is natures way of allowing those chimps to be able to keep that under control.
So now that we see that is a “natural act” occurring in all of nature… how do we help those cultures that have a heavy incidence of this to advance?
ANSWER: All prisons should be learning institutions… and you can’t get out, unless you achieve a passing grade.
AND… those prisons should “NOT” double as mental institutions.
on December 5th, 2009 at 5:36 am
This data is tremendously unsurprising to me given all the racism I see over the internet on a daily basis from Whites against Blacks. Here are some different types of internet users I see whenever I decide to log on to are wonderful Internet:
A.) The group of Whites that bellyache (or make putdowns) about the high number of Blacks on welfare, in jail, involved in crime, etc., when these idiots are too ignorant to realize that this is all brought on by poverty; poverty stemming from how Blacks were prohibited from all things good in this country by Whites only 35 freaking years ago. If it weren’t for all the anti-Black cruelties and injustices of Whites, the amount of Blacks who are poor and lower-class wouldn’t be so high. Just to clarify, today’s Black elderly weren’t allowed in so much as a decent bathroom 35 years ago, much less a decent living environment with decent jobs/salaries; thusly, they had to raise today’s middle-aged Blacks in lower-class areas, and so on to much of today’s younger Black generation. This is why much of the Black community is in a shabby state. Meanwhile, an either racist or ignorant group of Whites criticize and bellyache about the state of the Black community, when the White race brought it all on.
Taking all that into consideration, African Americans are justified in feeling bitter about the era of anti-Black cruelty in the U.S. even today, as many of them are reaping the consequences of it. Many Whites respond to points made on the era of anti-Black cruelty with directives to overlook it (“Get over it”, “Move on”, “Stop living in the past”, etc). Most Whites have no problem pointing out the crummy state of much of today’s Black community; however, when historical explanation of Whites discriminating against Blacks comes up (non-hiring of Blacks, kicking Blacks into ghettoes, forcing Blacks to worry about the African American Civil Rights Movement as opposed to making a living, etc.), they’re quick to take offense and demand that this history be overlooked. By this history being overlooked, Whites are able to make African Americans look bad. This same concept applies to the majority of U.S. schools and how they don’t impart much information on the era of anti-Black cruelty that makes up 5 centuries of U.S. history. In fact, most schools limit history on Blacks in general to Black History month while still leaving out the era of anti-Black cruelty. When Whites aren’t racially defensive to the point of overlooking and trivializing this history, they’re able to realize why much of the Black community is in the state it’s in.
B.) The group of Whites who call out the entire Black race on specified wrongdoings (usually stemming from struggling lifestyles that racial discrimination placed them in 35 years ago), such as Black fathers failing to provide for their children: why be so specific? Taking wickedness and depravity as a whole, Whites have done lightyears worse than Blacks. In fact, Whites should’ve been regarded as the leaders in criminal acts for centuries in this country up until 35 years ago, but they legalized all their atrocities. It wasn’t just a couple decades of crime brought on by the poverty-stricken result of racial discrimination, as is the case with Blacks. It was FIVE CENTURIES of lightyears worse brought on by pure racism: lynching Blacks (including Black children and women) while celebrating and subsequently setting the victim on fire [Note: lynching was only one of the many ways Whites murdered Blacks because of their skin color]; whippings; bombings; fire hosings; tear gassings; setting attack dogs on Blacks; stoning Blacks (including Black children and women); raping; destruction of properties owned by Blacks; kicking Blacks out of their homes into more crummy, lower-class areas; unjustified jailings of Blacks; cutting open Blacks and taking apart their bodies; burning Blacks alive and cutting them open (including pregnant Black women); constant unjust police brutality; owning Blacks as slaves (slaves even consisting of children and the elderly); denying Blacks all forms of freedom even well after the slavery days; etc. All that psychotic behavior and Whites weren’t seen as criminals nor even penalized for it.
You want to talk gangs and thug life that many Whites call out the Black race for, talk about the KKK. These gangs were running rampant in this country, terrorizing, destroying, and murdering without rule or consequences. These gangs weren’t created out of poverty or survival in a lower-class area, but pure racism. These gangs were hate groups put together after Whites had lost the American Civil War that ended slavery. The goal of the KKK was to restore slavery and White Supremacy. If it wasn’t KKK gangs wreaking havoc, it was random White mobs raising hell, ambushing Blacks, and murdering them.
To this very day, Whites are the leaders in acts of pedophilia and child molestation. If you ask me, abuse of children falls under the category of most satanic acts. It’s incredibly ironic how multitudes of people in the White community can call out the Black race for bad behaviors when the White race has been the worst behaved race by far.
C.) The group of Whites who bitch about Blacks crying racism too much when Whites do far and away the most race-related bitching. Don’t believe me? Browse the internet and take a look at all the anti-Black bitching masses of them have jam-packed it with. This is most ironic considering the White race has not been ghettoized thanks to 500 years of racial cruelty and injustice that ended 35 years ago; rather, Whites were responsible for all that and are the only race to have engaged in racially unjust control over this country; not only that, but Whites are the most privileged race in America. Despite all this, Whites do the most race-related bitching while constantly bitching about Blacks crying racism:
— One of the main things Whites bitch to is double standards that Blacks supposedly have over them. A classic example of this is whenever Blacks don’t receive negative consequences for something. In such cases, one is likely to come across numerous complaints to the effect of “If a White person had done that, there would be severe consequences! Fuck Blacks and this bullshit!”, “A White person could never get away with that like a Black person could.” The fact that zillions of these particular complaints appear everywhere the White majority can give input is plenty of negative consequence within itself; not only for the Black person in question, but the entire Black race as a whole. In the many cases in which Blacks receive negative consequences (Kanye West/Taylor Swift incident or the Serena Williams incident), there’s the additional consequence of constant anti-Black criticisms, insults, and slurring by Whites.
— Another double standard Whites bitch to is not being allowed to address Blacks as niggas, while certain Blacks address each other as such. Why should the White race have any say over a word their race infamously terrorized the Black race with? Blacks are the ones who were degraded by the word by Whites during the atrocious anti-Black era in the USA. Blacks are the ones who are still constantly degraded by the word wherever Whites can get away with it, such as over the internet. Let Blacks do whatever the hell they want with this word amongst each other. The fact that many Whites want a say over what’s appropriate and what’s not in regards to this word they abused Blacks with is terribly hypocritical. The word wouldn’t even exist if it weren’t for the anti-Black atrocities of Whites that went on for five centuries. In addition, it’s shocking that whenever the subject of the ‘n’ word comes up, the comments from most Whites are complants about certain Blacks sociably using the word amongst each other; never anything on how Whites degraded the Black race with it throughout the era of anti-Black cruelty and discrimination; never anything on how it wouldn’t even exist if it weren’t for Whites; never anything on how Whites are still degrading Blacks with this word to an extreme, mainly in areas they can get away with it, such as online.
— Another one of the main double standards many Whites bitch to is comedienne-related and how
it seems to be ok that Blacks make fun of Whites but not vice versa. This probably has
something to do with the 500 year period in which Whites racially tortured Blacks
and how during that time period (ending only 35 years ago), they would poke fun at them,
creating millions of anti-Black racial slurs and stereotypes. Hell, Blacks
couldn’t even be comedians, actors, writers to make jokes about anything. There were few
cases where Whites would allow them on television and in movies to make fools out of
themselves but that was it. Other than that, it was centuries of
Whites poking fun at Blacks with such insults as big-lipped, Sambo, watermellon, coon, porch
monkey, ape comparisons, magic witch doctor, spook, cotton-picker, nigger, nigger-lover, going back to Africa, insulting Black cartoons, KFC & chicken, kool-aid, Black women as fat old maids, Whites painting their faces dark and acting like fools, ironic accusations of laziness, spear chucker, jiggaboo, nonstandard speech mocking (because Whites deprived Blacks of education), etc. This is what went on in the entertainmnet
world while Whites tortured Blacks. It should be noted that the Black race has more
negative stereotypes and slurs than any other race because of the racism of Whites. It
hasn’t been but 35 years since those evil times and now Blacks are ghettoized, yet it’s
hoards of complaints of “If a White person poked fun at Blacks the way that Black person
is doing, all hell would break loose. That’s so unfair!” Talk about a case of being able to
dish it in the worst way, but not being able to take it in the least.
These comedian-related complaints are further
made baseless considering the fact that a countless number of White comedians
and entertainers in today’s day and age poke fun at Blacks using more recently created Black
stereotypes: criminal, gangster, pants-sagging, ebonics-using, etc.
All of comedian Lisa Lampanelli’s humor involves ridicule of Blacks. Let’s not
forget Nicole Parker’s MadTV segment when she makes fun of Blacks
based upon the latest Black stereotypes. Bottomline! There have never been any comedian-related
double standards (at least in regards to Blacks getting to poke fun at Whites while Whites cannot do so to Blacks) even though there should be, considering Blacks have to
deal with the baseless complaints that there are; not to mention, how this was a double standard Whites had over Blacks up until recently and for most of America’s history, as this was one of their many forms of anti-Black discrimination and mistreatment.
— Another double standard Whites bitch to is in regards to Affirmative Action. Affirmative Action is double standard that all poor minorities and women (including White women) have over White males because of White privilege. There’s this group of Whites who like to make it out as if Affirmative action is a double standard that solely Blacks have over all Whites. This group of Whites (ironically including White women) endlessly bellyache about Blacks having this double standard over them, particularly in regards to college education. I’m not a poor so I DID NOT receive this Affirmative Action getting into college. Yet Whites bellyache over the internet, trying to make it out as if all Blacks and only Blacks receive this Affirmative Action and get everything handed to them. I say Affirmative Action is something all Blacks and only Blacks should have over all Whites, considering we’re the only ethnic group dealing with all the Whites bellyaching over it as if we are.
— If any of the anti-Black grievances that Whites constantly bitch to are legitimate complaints, these Whites need to reflect on the fact that they’re apart of the most privileged race in the U.S.:
Example 1: unlike Blacks, the majority of Whites aren’t starting out with shabby, lower-class lifestyles as a result of racial discrimination and injustices from 35 years ago; rather, most Whites start out with elegant, middle-class lifestyles.
Example 2: Whites make up the majority, which benefits them in countless ways. A.) issues that Whites don’t care about are issues that go unresolved. Conversely, the issues that are brought to the forefront and resolved are the issues that Whites are concerned about B.) viewpoints on countless issues swing in the direction of Whites [note: this is how slavery, Jim Crow laws, and other forms of racial discrimination and cruelties were made possible for so long in this country] C.) it’s lightyears easier for Whites to make something out of themselves, living in a predominately White society where they possess most of the wealth, etc.
Example 3: it’s a well-known fact that Whites are privileged over all races in the media.
Example 4: Blacks have it worse than Whites in every aspect of Law Enforcement due to racial profiling and negative stereotyping. By the way, the criminal stereotypes of the Black race stem from poverty-stricken lifestyle Whites placed them in, oppressing them 35 years ago (lasting 500 years).
Example 5: For eons, Whites have kept minorities out of the Presidency, never allowing a non-White president. The U.S. only recently got a President that wasn’t completely White, but mixed between White and Black. Despite the exclusion of minorities from the Presidency finally coming to an end (somewhat anyway, as Obama is half-White), many Whites bitchingly claim that Blacks only voted for Obama because he’s “Black.” Not only is their bitching totally unjustified, but it’s enormously hypocritical. Besides that, Barack Obama is surrounded White people as they make up the vast majority of U.S. ctizens; many of whom, nag Obama to death whenever he doesn’t grant them their wishes. Having a half-Black president hasn’t lessened White privilege in favor of Blacks by any degree. Whites have no basis in any race-related bellyaching in regards to the Presidency.
This isn’t even the half of White privilege in the United States. Despite being the most privileged race in the country, Whites do the most race-related bitching over the net and half the time it’s in regards to double standards.
E.) The group of Whites whom ironically accuse Blacks of either being more racist than Whites or the most racist ethnic group in general: these Whites must not realize that the Black race has more slurs, stereotypes, and insults than any other ethnic group because of the racism of Whites. These Whites must be unfamiliar with the era of anti-Black cruelty in the U.S., that lasted 5 centuries and ended 35 years ago; consequently, leaving much of today’s Black community in ghettoes, leading shabby lifestyles. Meanwhile, much of the White community starts out middle-class while bashing Blacks over the Internet. Considering Whites make up the vast majority of internet users, this means a lot of anti-Black bashing. In fact, the Black race receives far and away the most racism over the web. Don’t believe me? Visit any internet websites in which guests can post to (ebaums, youtube, rants & raves section of craigslist, urban dictionary, topix, yahoo answers, etc.); if even a Black person is the focus, one is likely to see many anti-Black insults, criticisms, and complaints in the posting sections. Bear in mind, most subjects on the Web are about Whites and Whites engaging in misconduct, yet it’s very rare to see any anti-White racism at random. Despite all this, there’s a large group of moronic, ironic-thinking Whites who spread the idea of Blacks either being more racist than Whites or the most racist ethnic group in general.
One could certainly understand feelings of anti-White bitterness in African Americans: my grandparents have all dealt with the extreme racial discrimination of Whites, turning their lives upside down and causing them many struggles. My grandparents were born in Louisiana. Because of all the anti-Black cruelty and injustice going on in that state, they joined many other Blacks in The Great Migration (famous U.S. migration in which many Blacks traveled North to get away from all the racial injustice in the south). My grandparents were forced to leave their family and friends behind to build a life in the North. From what my grandparents tell me, racial discrimination was even worse here; Blacks weren’t allowed out of the trashy, lower-class innercity where they were all forced to live; employers weren’t willing to interview Blacks, so trying to get jobs was strenuous work for my grandparents. Finally, my grandfather was hired to a job, but it was a two hour drive from the job to his apartment. Like all middle-aged Blacks, my parents were both raised in lower-class areas as a result of all the anti-Black injustices going on in U.S. Luckily, my dad worked his butt off from nothing and I’ve always lived a middle-class lifestyle in an all-White area; however, much of my family leads lower-class, shabby lifestyles as a result of all those anti-Black injustices. The circumstances are similar for many African Americans. Despite this, I rarely see anti-White content from Blacks on the Internet unless it’s out of retaliation for anti-Black instigating from Whites. There’s nowhere near as much anti-White racism as there is anti-Black racism from Whites over the Web (one of the most used forms of media in today’s society).
Side Note: to the Whites who believe there’s more anti-White racism over the net, this doesn’t even logically add up. Whites make up 74% of the U.S. population while Blacks only make up 13% of the U.S. population. Not only that but much of the Black population is without the net, ghettoized by anti-Black discrimination and cruelties from 35 years ago (lasting 5 centuries). Because of this, White privilege is alive and well over the intenet. As one example, a Black user can expect to argue with numerous White users on youtube if a White user instigates him into a race war with anti-Black material of some sort. As another example, the African Americans who have access to the internet must constantly deal with racial harassment and bullying from Whites, while Whites have to deal with very little.
F.) The group of Whites who use the defense that anti-Black slavery was ages ago as if Blacks are baseless in bringing up the vicious anti-Black racism of Whites in regards to current affairs. What these Whites fail to realize is that savage anti-Black racism continued well after the slavery days. While the abolishment of slavery took place in the 1860s, anti-Black cruelties and injustices continued all the way up into the 1970s. Slavery was merely one form of vicious anti-Black racism that Whites engaged in. News flash! A full-fledged African American Civil Rights Movement broke out all throughout the 1950s and 60s: this involved Blacks battling intense racial injustices and cruelties that Whites were employing, such as Jim Crow Laws. Although The African American Civil Rights Movement established laws allowing racial equality, much of White society wasn’t following those laws throughout the 1970s; instead White businesses and Whites in general engaged in White flight. In other words, after the success of the African American Civil Rights Movement allowing equal rights to Blacks, Whites began separating themselves from Blacks to avoid allowing them those equal rights. Previous to this, Whites had been aggressively holding back and oppressing Blacks so obviously White Flight would leave Blacks with nothing. Here we are today with the majority of Blacks segregated in lower-class, ghetto areas.
G.) The group of Whites who argue that if it weren’t for the enslavement of Blacks and the encapturement of Black slaves, today’s African American community would be stuck in the lower-class, struggling continent that is Africa and wouldn’t be enjoying the advanced American society. These idiots fail to realize that the majority of today’s African Americans are lower-class and struggling; ghettoized by the intense racial cruelties and injustices that finally ended 35 years ago. The only people who benefited from Whites abducting Blacks from Africa and tormenting them for centuries are Whites.
— There’s also the racism of acting as if Blacks contributed nothing to America, but that it was ALL the hard work of the White man. Many fail to realize that slavery made America the richest country in the world. America wouldn’t be remotely as advanced as it is today without all the Black slaves. All the fancy technology, facilities, and implements in American society require a great deal of money; all the money that Black slaves made this country. Most people don’t fathom just how much slavery benefited the U.S. economy. The centuries of hard work, blood, sweat, and tears of Blacks (while being abused, degraded, and separated from their families) totally empowered the American economy because it was all free labor. This country is still benefiting from the enormous economic contribution of Black slaves and is in great part why America is what it is today. Despite that, stereotypes of laziness were given to Blacks while Whites were (and still are) given all the credit for today’s advanced American society. Not only that but today’s Blacks have largely denied access to the beautiful society in which they’re people greatly contributed to, as most of them have been ghettoized due to the racial discrimination and injustices from 35 years ago. It’s mostly today’s Whites who are enjoying the repayment of all the hard work of Blacks, while of course bellyaching to Affirmative Action for poor non-white males and reluctantly paying taxes for ALL the poor. (btw, even while being enslaved, tortured, and held back, there are a countless number of Black inventors in the U.S.).
— In regards to the contributions of Whites; if they hadn’t had all those Black slaves running around doing all their dirty work, they probably wouldn’t have had all that free time to do what they did to help advance the U.S. from being in the same state Africa is in today.
H.) The group of Whites who defend all the anti-Black cruelty of White Americans by stating that Blacks in Africa have enslaved Blacks. First of all, African slavery was nothing like American slavery. African slavery did not involve treating slaves like garbage, abusing them, nor racial degradation; rather, slaves were very much respected: heading tribes, being paid a great deal in wages, accumulating properties, rising to kings, etc. Considering this, they weren’t even slaves, but indentured servants. Blacks had no idea what they were getting into when crazed White Americans brought them over to the U.S. They thought American slavery was going to be the same as African slavery. They didn’t expect all the racial-based, inhumane form of slavery that Whites would engage in for the following 4 centuries.
Besides, slavery is only one of the many forms of cruelty White Americans employed in racially tormenting African Americans. The issue Blacks have with Whites isn’t just their anti-Black slavery, but ALL their many different forms of anti-Black cruelty, ranging from relentless racial slurring/insulting, banning Blacks from all things good, separating families for life to lynching, fire hosing attacks, tear gassing attacks, setting attack dogs on Blacks, whippings, stonings, bombings, rapings, burning Blacks alive, cutting open Blacks, etc, which were all legalized by Whites. Slavery and Blacks being worked like dogs for Whites without being given anything positive in return is hardly everything that went into the anti-Black savagery of White Americans.
Let’s try to understand where these Whites are coming from when they use Blacks enslaving Blacks to justify Whites’ racial enslavement of Blacks. Let’s say that that the enslavement of Blacks by other Blacks was just as grisly as the racist enslavement of Blacks by Whites. With that said, Whites have enslaved each other in Europe as well. Going by the logic of the above defense, it would be acceptable for Blacks to carry out slavery on Whites out of racism. After all, many Whites were enslaving each other over in Europe so this makes it perfectly acceptable for Blacks to do the same to all Whites out of contempt for their skin color. This is the logic behind the above defense that many racist Whites use.
I.) The group of Whites who act as if African Americans should be thankful to the White race for voting for Blacks to have their freedom (after 4 centuries of slavery). First of all, all the southern Whites voted for Blacks to remain as slaves. In fact, southern Whites wanted Blacks to remain as slaves so much so that they were willing to kill and war over it; hence, The American Civil War from 1861 to 1865.
Northern Whites, who voted for Blacks to have their freedom, weren’t just affected with human decency after 4 centuries of voting for Blacks to be slaves. Northern Whites just had an advanced society and no plantation work in the North, which was far from the case in the south. Not only that but 99% of the Black race lived in the south so northern Whites weren’t even getting anything out of slavery, thusly its abolishment wouldn’t affect them.
Let’s say that none of this was the case, but that ALL Whites had just voted for Blacks to have their freedom and end their four centuries of cruel slavery out of a change of heart. This is still NOT a reason for Blacks to be thankful to Whites; just disgusted by them. Focus on what’s being voted on here: it’s a vote basically on whether or not Whites should continue to treat Blacks like garbage. The whole aspect of the vote is an insult. Having a vote on whether a race should be treated like human beings or not is indecent. To vote FOR that race to be treated like human beings and have their freedom is NOT any act of kindness or courtesy. It’s just decent, civilized human behavior. Decent, civilized human behavior that the majority of Whites were unable to engage in for the four centuries in which slavery was going strong. Besides that, slavery was only one aspect of cruel anti-Black racism that ended. Intense racial discrimination and cruelties of all sorts continued in both the north and the south and didn’t end until 35 years ago.
J.) The group of Whites who use the phrase “play the race card” and the like: these are phrases used to make Blacks, who have pointed to the anti-Black racism of Whites with good reason, seem delusional or unjustified in pointing to that anti-Black racism. More clearly, these Blacks are made out as stereotypical Blacks who attribute seemingly all things to racism. This stereotype stems from the longtime anti-Black hostilities of the White community currently being expressed through subtlety and indirection, ever since racism finally started to be looked down upon (ex. racists who hide behind the internet, reacting as if the Kanye West/Taylor Swift incident was a murder, etc.); naturally, all this subtle racism has caused some in the Black community to be suspicious of racism in Whites when it may or may not be the case. By using such phrases as “play the race card”, Whites hint at this Black stereotype, giving the FALSE impression that there’s no possible way Blacks could be justified in pointing to anti-Black racism as stereotypically Blacks are paranoid of Whites engaging in racism.
K.) The group of Whites who bitch about “Having to pay taxes for Blacks” as if Blacks are the only ones on welfare. There are more Whites than Blacks on welfare in the U.S. and considering Whites weren’t dealing with racial discrimination and hoards of injustices 35 years ago, it’s pathetic that there are more Whites than Blacks on welfare. On the other hand, today’s middle-aged and elderly Blacks weren’t allowed to anything decent 35 years ago (that includes jobs), so most of today’s Black generation is starting out lower-class. That’s the only reason for the greater percentage of White taxpayers than Black. By the way, a little dinky amount in taxes does not constitute supporting a race as many Whites make it out to be. Supporting a race is what Blacks have been doing for Whites for the vast majority of their time spent in the U.S. Considering the fact that Blacks have been doing all the dirty work of Whites for 400 years in this country, in the process providing an enormous economic contribution and building the South, Blacks are deserving of far more than dinky taxes. Whites haven’t done shit to make up for all the centuries of racial cruelty and today’s Blacks suffering lower-class lives, except for bitching AS IF they’ve done far more than enough.
Since Whites bitch about paying taxes for all the poor, why not reverse the situation and have Blacks start out middle-class and paying taxes while Whites struggle lower class as a result of racial cruelty and oppression.
Speaking of which, I find it ironic that the race whom had Blacks working like crazy for them in this country are labeling any race as lazy and irresponsible, especially the race they infamously owned as slaves.
L.) The Whites who make criticisms (or put downs) about how they feel the majority of Blacks are struggling because they aren’t trying hard enough to make something out of themselves with the justification of a lot of Whites being successful. Unlike the majority of Whites, who start out in their elegant middle-class homes, the majority of Blacks start out in lower-class, dangerous environments. Why? Because they’re grandparents were held back 35 years ago, in effect, forcing them to raise their children in lower-class environments. It’s harder for the average Black person to get a decent job, make it, and become a success in a predominately White society than it is for the average White person. It seems easy to make it to Whites, considering most of them started out and grew up middle-class. Nobody from the White race is in any position to criticize Blacks on not making anything out themselves when as a result of Whites it’s ten times harder for Blacks to make something out of themselves. When all the grandparents of Whites are held back and abused, forcing them to raise their children lower-class and so on to today’s generation and this is as a result of Blacks, Whites will then be entitled to make such condescending put downs about Blacks.
M.) The mass group of idiotic Whites who use the wrongdoings of one or two members of the Black race as a justification to criticize and put down the entire Black race. To these idiots one or a few Black(s) represent the entire Black race as a whole. As a result, if one or few Black(s) messes up, there’s likely to be a sea of anti-Black racist remarks and slurs over internet posting websites. If a White person messes up on the other hand, the entire White race isn’t held responsible. As one example, if you look up a youtube video of Kanye West interrupting Taylor Swift, a sea of anti-Black racist remarks will likely show up under that video. Joe Wilson did practically the same thing as Kanye West, only ten times worse. Wilson interrupted the President of the United States at a serious Congressional meeting; not a 19 year old at a VMA award show. Not only didn’t Wilson receive any anti-White racist remarks, but he didn’t get even half as bad of a backlash as West did. Anyways, this is another example of White privilege as all Whites aren’t blamed for the wrongdoings of one or two members of their race the way Blacks are. There are even egregious Whites in the entertainment industry who engage in the behavior of locating instances in which one or two Blacks have messed up so as to put down the entire Black race and make them look bad as a race.
N.) Ever notice how Blacks are regarded as racists in our society (a predominately White society that is) if even they’re a civil rights activist? As one example, Al Sharpton is considered one of the most racist public figures in America; however, If you read up on the life and history of Sharpton, you will learn that he is merely a civil rights activist. Sharpton is constantly attacked for dedicating his life to trying to ensure equal fights for Blacks. He has never done or said anything anti-White in his life. Considering the fact that Sharpton grew up in the 50s and 60s (a particularly racist period in American History) and had parents and close elders that dealt with racial discrimination and cruelty, it’s completely understandable that he be a civil rights activist. As another example, the NAACP which is a group developed in the 1960s to combat all the racial discrimination and cruelty that was going on, is regarded by most White Americans as a racist hate group. Black civil rights activists/groups are constantly put down and bitched about by White Americans. Apparently it’s racist to be concerned about five centuries of intense racial discrimination and mistreatment that only ended 35 years ago and that has caused most African Americans to lead shabby, lower-class lives.
Meanwhile, you have actual racist in the White community who are defended by most of our society (a predominately White society). If anti-Black racism takes place in American society and it’s given the slightest bit of denouncement by our media, it’s met with hoards of anti-Black complaints by White Americans: “If a Black person engaged in this same behavior, nobody would care about us Whites. I’m tired of Blacks and this double standard. We Whites deserve sympathy after this instance of anti-Black racism from someone White”, “Nobody can say anything bad about Blacks. Fuck America”, “Blacks need to stop thinking they’re owed something. Slavery was 5000 years ago”, etc. Either that or just outright racist comments of “I hate Blacks”, “Stupid niggers”, “this racist man speaks the truth”, etc.
In late 2009, Rush Limbaugh was rejected from coaching the NFL Rams because of his history of making anti-Black racist remarks. After this media report, White Americans were quick to come to the defense of Limbaugh bitching about him not being able to coach the Rams.
O.) The non-Black minorities who adopt the anti-Black offensiveness of many White Americans, too ignorant to realize that all non-Whites were discriminated against by Whites in the U.S. These non-Black minorities ignorantly fail to realize that the fight for equal rights 35 years ago by Blacks, provided equal rights for ALL minorities; not just Blacks. Blacks are the reason all non-Black minorities have equal rights in the U.S. today. Albeit, non-Black minorities were never mistreated and degraded as badly as Blacks were in the U.S., they were highly discriminated against.
No, non-Black minorities were never brought over to America for the purposes of slavery; they came over on their own volition. No, non-Black minorities were never slaves like Blacks were for 4 centuries, comprising of working like crazy for Whites, in effect contributing economically to an enormous extent and practically building the South w/ repayment of being brutalized, degraded, and separated from families, etc. After the abolishment of slavery, racial cruelty and discrimination continued on and it wasn’t even remotely as bad for non-Black minorities as it was for Blacks. Despite all this however, the U.S. was a White Supremacist nation 35 years ago, lasting for 5 centuries prior; meaning all those “White Only” public sinks , “White only” bathrooms, “White only” schools, “White only” restaurants, etc., didn’t just imply the exclusion of Blacks, but ALL non-Whites (hispanics, armenians, chinese, japanese, indians, latinos, etc.). Although the main target was Black people, all non-Whites were targeted racially to some extent.
All those Klu Klux Klan groups stood for WHITE POWER and killed and terrorized anyone who wasn’t White. All minorities ran into a lot of discriminatory issues because they weren’t White: unfair housing acts, unfair employment, unfair schooling, etc. If it weren’t for the Freedom Struggle that Blacks embarked on in the 1950s and 60s, NONE of the non-Black minorities would have equal rights. It wasn’t any non-Black minorities that started up anything like The African American Civil Rights Movement which gave freedom to all minorities; it was Blacks. Despite standing up for ALL non-Black minorities, you have a lot of non-Black minorities that have adopted the anti-Black offensiveness of White Americans over the internet.
P.) The group of Whites who put down the Black community for the constant reinforcing of negative stereotypes, such as ghetto-acting: these Whites fail to realize that this is yet another form of White privilege. Whites make up 74% of the U.S. population while Blacks only make up 13%. Consequently, if certain trends are adopted by a large amount of Blacks, the chances of coming across a lot of Blacks who don’t partake in these trends is low; conversely, if trends are adopted by a large amount of Whites, the chances of coming across a lot of Whites who don’t partake in these trends is high. Because of this, it’s much more likely to come across a Black person reinforcing negative stereotypes than a White person, even if just as many Whites are reinforcing a particular negative stereotype.
There’s also the issue of what the vast majority focuses on that plays a factor in the development and popularity of stereotypes. Being 74% of the U.S. population, it’s mainly the White community that develops and popularizes stereotypes:
Development — In reality, the White community has far more quirky trends than does the Black community. The Black community of course has the quirky trend of ghetto-acting (ebonics, rap music, pants sagging, bling, thuggish, etc.), to which they’ve been relentlessly stereotyped for; then there’s the White community which has a long list of quirky trends that hasn’t even developed into stereotypes: valspeak (“like oh my god! Its, like, so, like, stupid, like, really, like, stupid! like, yeah!”), rock music and appearance (piercings all over, dog collars, dyed hair, mohawks, etc.), goth (all-black clothing while carrying oneself like a demon), pedophilia, metrosexual boy bands & pretty boys, hair jell, love of Poke’Mon, KKK thugs, etc. These are just a few of the many quirks in the White community that haven’t developed into stereotypes by the White majority.
Popularizing — ever notice how White stereotypes receive barely any attention while Black stereotypes receive multitudes of attention? One of the strongest White stereotypes is nerdiness; however, If one sees a nerdy white person like Screech from Saved By The Bell, the subject of race and stereotypes is unlikely to come up. When one sees a Black person with his pants sagging, the subject of race and stereotypes is a likely topic of conversation.
The simple answer to all this, is that the White community prefers to emphasize the flaws and follies of other races despite themselves having just as many, if not more flaws and follies. (Side Note: Because of the USA’s small amount of non-Black minorities, rarely are these ethnic groups seen enough for people to develop stereotypes over them. In addition, non-Black minorities aren’t as distinguishable by race as are Blacks and Whites making it difficult to create stereotypes for them).
on December 9th, 2009 at 5:09 am
i don’t know who left the last comment under “Michael”, but that was not me. Anyways, as stated before, the data is so variable, it’s useless.
on December 9th, 2009 at 11:00 am
Hate crimes are a waste of time and money to begin with. News flash, all crime is done in hate. Last time I checked, we are all supposed to be treated equally in the justice system. (aka JUSTICE IS BLIND)