• About Us
  • Who Are We
  • Work With Us
Monday, January 30, 2023
No Result
View All Result
NEWSLETTER
The Globe Post
39 °f
New York
44 ° Fri
46 ° Sat
40 ° Sun
41 ° Mon
No Result
View All Result
The Globe Post
No Result
View All Result
Home Opinion

Hate Crimes, the Fraying of America, and the Prospect of Racial Armageddon

George Michael by George Michael
03/18/19
in Opinion
People participate in an anti-hate crime rally at a Brooklyn park, United States

There has been an uptick in hate crimes in the United States over the past few years. Photo: Spencer Platt, AFP

21
SHARES
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Over the past few years, a wave of hate crimes has punctuated news headlines in the United States. Blacks, Latinos, Jews, Muslims, and people from the LGBT community have all reported victimizations.

Data collected over recent years confirm that there has indeed been an uptick. And this February, the Southern Poverty Law Center – a watchdog group that monitors extremism – reported a record high number of hate groups operating in America.

These trends could portend an ominous future for the nation.

‘Trump Effect’

The upsurge has often been attributed to the rise of Donald J. Trump. His campaign rallies were lighting rods for protests and repeatedly marked by violence. Indeed, a spike in hate crimes was recorded in the last quarter of 2016, suggesting that there was a so-called “Trump effect.”

A study conducted by the University of Pennsylvania found that cities that hosted a Trump rally experienced an average of 2.3 more assaults reported on the day of the event than on a typical day.

Before the launch of the Trump campaign in June 2015, the level of hate crimes had actually been dropping, dipping to the lowest figure in 2014 since reporting began in 1992. But according to the FBI’s statistics, hate crimes increased the day after the 2016 election, with a 92 percent increase in average daily hate crimes in the two weeks following the vote compared to the daily average at the start of the year.

Donald Trump has made hats embroidered with the phrase "Make America Great Again"
Donald Trump frequently gives hats embroidered with the phrase ‘Make America Great Again’ away item during his rallies. Photo: Robyn Beck, AFP

It is only fair to note that Trump supporters have been victimized as well. Scores of assaults against people wearing Make America Great Again hats have been recorded throughout the country.

Just last month in New Jersey, an 81-year-old man wearing such a hat was assaulted by a teen after an argument broke out between the two. These kinds of attacks might explain why hate crimes against white Americans was the fastest growing category in 2016, according to FBI statistics.

Dealing with Hate Crimes

What is the best approach to deal with the rising tide of hate crimes? The main innovation of hate crime legislation is the notion of sentence enhancement. This measure redefines conduct that is already criminal as an aggravated form of an existing crime by increasing the punishment if there is a biased motive.

The rationale for this approach is that the whole group to which the victim belongs suffers insofar as the hate crime is intended to provoke fear and intimidation in that specific community.

Another aspect of hate crime legislation – data reporting – highlights important trends in bias crimes thus giving law enforcement agencies and public policy makers important information to help them deal with the problem.

Map of the United States locating violence by right-wing nationalists and Islamic extremists between September 12, 2001 and December 31 2016. From a Government Accountability Office report

Finally, there is a symbolic component. Hate crime legislation sends a strong signal that the community condemns bigotry and welcomes all people.

Hate Crime Legislation

But how effective has hate crime legislation been? Enhanced penalties may send a symbolic message against hate, but offer little utilitarian value as a deterrent. As the National Institute of Justice concluded in 2016, research indicates that the likelihood of getting caught is a vastly more effective deterrent than draconian punishment.

Furthermore, research suggests that the prison experience can exacerbate instead of reducing recidivism. One of the most horrific hate crimes ever recorded – the 1998 dragging death of James Byrd Jr. – was carried out by three white men in Texas. One of them was believed to have been sexually assaulted in prison. Not long after he entered one of the toughest prisons in Texas for a burglary conviction, he was gang-raped by black prisoners. Enraged by this humiliating assault, he joined a white power gang for protection.

What is more, there is little evidence that hate crime legislation has the intended effect of promoting inter-group harmony. In fact, just the opposite could be true, as hate crime laws encourage people to view crimes through the perspective of group identities.

Such legislation, far from fostering improving inter-group relations, often encourages the opposite effect by emphasizing group differences and grievances. By redefining such crimes as an aspect of inter-group conflict, hate crime laws encourage groups to identify themselves as victimized and besieged. Conceivably, this can lead to a status competition between victim groups and in doing so increase each group’s sense of resentment.

Hate Crime Hoaxes

As Jussie Smollett case illustrates, the media often find it irresistible to sensationalize cases that follow a particular narrative. In this case, a gay black television actor assaulted by two white Trump supporters in Chicago was certain to make headlines.

In retrospect, the details seem outlandish: two racist, Make America Great Again hat-wearing men in Chicago (a city that went 83 percent for Hillary Clinton) attacking a black gay actor around whose neck they place a noose and on whom they pour bleach at 2 am in sub-zero temperatures. And to top it all off, according to Smollett, they referred to him as that “that Empire n—-r” and yelled, “this is MAGA country!”

The fact that two racist white men would recognize Smollett as an actor who plays a character on the TV series Empire, which dramatizes a hip-hop company, made his account all the less plausible.

Writing in The Atlantic, John McWhorter discussed the “victimization chic” that seemingly drove a television actor to clumsily stage a hate crime. The resultant moral recognition that often follows hate crimes runs the risk of incentivizing hoaxes.

.@JussieSmollett – what about MAGA and the tens of millions of people you insulted with your racist and dangerous comments!? #MAGA

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 21, 2019

To be sure, hate crimes do occur in America. With a diverse population of over 326 million people, bias crimes are bound to occur occasionally. But as some researchers have concluded, a great many of hate crime stories turn out to be hoaxes.

As Wilfred Reilly, the author of the upcoming book Hate Crime Hoax pointed out, motivations for fabricating such crimes can vary. Smollett, for example, allegedly hoped that the racial attack would make him a sympathetic figure, and in doing so, boost his salary. In a notorious 2004 racial hoax, Susan Smith concocted a story that an armed black man had hijacked her car in an attempt to cover up the drowning murder of her two sons.

College campuses in particular seem to be fertile ground for hoaxes. Although the U.S. Department of Education recorded a 25 percent increase in reported hate crimes on campuses from 2015 to 2016, Laird Wilcox, a longtime observer of political extremism, estimates that up to 80 percent of reported hate crimes on campuses are hoaxes. As he noted, the contemporary college campuses with their culture of identity politics and micro-aggressions have become incubators for invented hate crimes.

Thankfully, the Smollett episode appears not to have occasioned any retaliatory violence or much division in the country.

On the political left, the initial moral grandstanding was followed by admonitions that the incident should not detract from the seriousness of authentic hate crimes. On the political right, initial skepticism gave way to Schadenfreude. But perhaps because of the outlandishness surrounding the details of the story, most people were inclined to set back and wait for more information to come forth before reaching conclusions.

Race War

In our polarized contemporary political culture, a single highly-charged incident can have a ripple effect throughout society. For example, back in 2012, the Washington Post reported a number of attacks that were inflicted on whites by blacks in retaliation for shooting death of Trayvon Martin.

Opining on the Jussie Smollett fiasco, Najee Ali, a black civil rights activist and director of Project Islamic HOPE, warned that the incident could have unintentionally started a race war.

Although it might seem overwrought and premature to warn of a Sarajevo effect from a particularly divisive incident, it goes without saying that hate crimes certainly undercut the social capital that is so vital in maintaining a civil society that we too often take for granted.

The understandable anger and moral outrage surrounding hate crimes often have the effect of causing great damage to race relations. Amidst the polarization of our nation, it behooves all of us to refrain from the emotive rhetoric that frequently follows highly-charged hate crimes.

Hate crimes should certainly be condemned and taken seriously. But perhaps it is best to treat hate crimes with the standard tools of law enforcement using traditional criminal statutes. Much divisiveness and cynicism could be avoided.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial position of The Globe Post.
Share21Tweet
George Michael

George Michael

Professor of Criminal Justice at Westfield State University in Massachusetts

Related Posts

George Santos from the 3rd Congressional district of New York
Opinion

George Santos for Speaker!

by Stephen J. Lyons
January 16, 2023
Top view of the US House of Representatives
National

Chaos as US House Adjourns Without Choosing Speaker

by Staff Writer
January 4, 2023
Commuters waiting for buses in Metro Manila. Philippines
Opinion

Eight Billion and Counting…

by Stephen J. Lyons
November 29, 2022
Donald Trump
National

US Supreme Court Freezes Release of Trump Tax Returns

by Staff Writer
November 1, 2022
Donald Trump
National

US Capitol Riot Probe Votes to Subpoena Trump to Testify

by Staff Writer
October 13, 2022
Steve Bannon
National

Former Trump Advisor Bannon Charged With Fraud in New York

by Staff Writer
September 8, 2022
Next Post
Volunteers remove rubbish washed ashore along the coastline of freedom island in Paranaque City, suburban Manila on June 8, 2013.

Plastic in Crosshairs at UN Environment Forum

Russia Claims Its Jets Killed ISIS Leader Baghdadi

UN Warns Against Stigmatizing 'Caliphate' Children

Recommended

Israeli security forces in Jerusalem

Palestinian Gunman Kills 7 in East Jerusalem Synagogue Attack

January 30, 2023
The Doomsday Clock reads 100 seconds to midnight, a decision made by The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, during an announcement at the National Press Club in Washington, DC on January 23, 2020

‘Doomsday Clock’ Moves Closest Ever to Midnight

January 25, 2023
Police work near the scene of a mass shooting in Monterey Park, California

California Lunar New Year Mass Shooter Dead, Motive Unclear: Police

January 23, 2023
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern

Race on To Replace Ardern as New Zealand Prime Minister

January 20, 2023
Pfizer logo and vaccines

Pfizer to Sell More Drugs at Cost to Poor Nations

January 18, 2023
Rescuers inspect the wreckage at the site of a Yeti Airlines plane crash in Pokhara, Nepal

At Least 67 Killed in Nepal Plane Crash

January 16, 2023

Opinion

George Santos from the 3rd Congressional district of New York

George Santos for Speaker!

January 16, 2023
Commuters waiting for buses in Metro Manila. Philippines

Eight Billion and Counting…

November 29, 2022
Mahsa Amini protests

Imagining a Free Iran

October 24, 2022
Vladimir Putin

How 18th Century International Law Clarifies the Situation in Ukraine

September 29, 2022
Vladimir Putin

Falling for Putin

September 15, 2022
US President Donald Trump

Donald Trump Thanks You for Your Sacrifice

August 17, 2022
Facebook Twitter

Newsletter

Do you like our reporting?
SUBSCRIBE

About Us

The Globe Post

The Globe Post is part of Globe Post Media, a U.S. digital news organization that is publishing the world's best targeted news sites.

submit oped

© 2018 The Globe Post

No Result
View All Result
  • National
  • World
  • Business
  • Interviews
  • Lifestyle
  • Democracy at Risk
    • Media Freedom
  • Opinion
    • Editorials
    • Columns
    • Book Reviews
    • Stage
  • Submit Op-ed

© 2018 The Globe Post