Noah Ruppert
Jen McClung
English 105
April 10, 2009
Freedom of Hate
Hate groups in America- http://www.splcenter.org
Our countries First Amendment has led to so many controversial statements, protests, and hate groups. These hate groups, organizations that rally and advocate hate towards a race, ethnicity, religion or gender, are increasing in the nation each year. Should hate groups be looked at as an act of terrorism within America? With the understanding of the First Amendment, there should be a fine line between what our country stands for and what our country will defend. In a country that is occupied with many races, America’s number of hate groups is quickly rising. Nobody living in our country should be allowed to rally the hate of another race, with the intention of eliminating that race. These actions will lead to illegal crime; therefore, these endeavors should be illegal.
There was a recent case in Colorado where two teenage boys yelled racial slurs at a Hispanic man and beat him, thinking he was an illegal immigrant. The FBI, through investigation, claimed that this was an incident linked to a hate group (Colorado). Sadly, this example is not as severe as those that end in murder because of race. A hate crime is a crime motivated by racial or sexual prejudice, involving violence. Whether or not the Hispanic man was an illegal immigrant, the intention was that he was of a different race, so they brutally beat him. Why did those teens believe that judgment was in there hands? It has a great deal to do with the teachings in the hate group they were associated with. This is the threat to our nation. When these teenagers yelled racial comments at this man, their freedom of speech was pushed to a limit.
Some of the better-known hate groups in America are the neo-Nazis, Ku Klux Klan, The Knights Party, Black Panthers, white nationalists, neo-Confederates, Klansmen, the black separatists, and sadly the list goes on (Hampshire). Many of these organizations are factions giving the biblical church’s outlook of equality a bad image. The Knights Party gives thanks to God for the foresight our founding fathers had, in recognizing the freedom of speech amendment. “With out that precious amendment we would not be allowed to promote our Christian beliefs” (What is White Christian).
There are many rallies and websites that are for “white power”, which is encouraging “white America” to eliminate the heavy population of minorities in their states. One of these groups that rally their hate group is the American National Socialist Workers Party (ANSWP). They are a Michigan based organization that is trying to build up the white race, in fear that the minorities will someday treat us as a minority. “By 2025 - given only CURRENT population trends, coupled with this "amnesty" - WHITE AMERICA will be a total MINORITY in a nation that WAS ONCE THEIR BIRTHRIGHT” (American Nazi). This socialist party is saying that “white America”, because of the government not taking action against the minorities coming into the United States, will someday become the minority. Thinking that this will scare off the white race, the socialist spit out this information hoping for an up rise in the law to not only get rid of illegal immigration, but all people in America who are not white. Lets also not forget that this country was found on Indian reservations, therefore, Caucasian has no “birthright” in American land.
When the ANSWP describe “Who we are”, the Socialists go on to say, “Each of us must decide just how far we will let the situation (dominant minorities) in America deteriorate, before we decide to take action to correct it.” If you go back to the 1940’s, we were fighting a world war against Adolf Hitler who had “taken action” to correct his situation. Could these kinds of words and movements also cause us to have yet another civil war? This particular organization encourages people to download Hitler’s “masterpiece”, Mein Kampf (American Nazi), which is a book rising up the German Socialist Working Party. These hate groups are a bigger underground threat than we think and why the government does not feel the need to take action is inconceivable to most Americans.
It is the government that gives these hate groups their right to promote one race in America, our First Amendment. It is almost as if America has legally lost its control over speech. This is the Amendment that can be used as a backbone in the courtroom.
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press…” (Findlaw).
As Americans, we are able to say what we feel, protest, rally, and even promote groups that will “take action to correct” our own nation through hate crimes and discrimination. This is the reason many hate groups get away with their rallies and meetings. Should this be illegal, or is it too late for a line to be drawn? The Internet is a huge way for these groups to protect themselves.
In a research put out by Academic Research, they found that The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), a union that protects internet-based free speech, sued the Board of Trustees of the Loudoun County for restricting a sex related website. They believed that the restriction of this website was an unreasonable move. Another issue they discovered was that, “ACLU has also come out on the side of internet-based hate speech when ACLU President Nadine Strossen teamed with Webmaster Ken McVay of the Nizkor Project, an internet site that counters the claims of Holocaust deniers.” These researchers go on to say that ACLU discourages any censorship of webmasters that may publish any kind of “hate propaganda” on the internet (International).
Many researchers, such as Gur Bligh, will also argue that the government needs to protect and defend our freedom of speech from groups that have potential to harm the nation. “Ultimately, the lesson may be that every democracy, whatever its free speech ethos, has to develop defense mechanisms that protect it from forces of anti-liberalism and intolerance.”(Brigham). Bligh goes on to voice that these groups need to be examined and we should recognize their justifications and effects. He believes that once we, the government, are aware of these actions than we are just avoiding them, therefore, there should be a “restrictive line in the proper place” (Brigham).
Terrorism, the use of violence and intimidation in the pursuit of political aims, is at stake when we have several minorities in office, one being our president. When these socialists are speaking out about the nation in this manor, they are putting the life of our political leaders in danger; giving these hate groups strength in numbers.
Sandra Thomas, an editor of Informa Healthcare, wrote an article informing readers where hate crime is to this day. After reading an article about a sixteen-year-old Hispanic was “savagely beaten”, she wanted to find out what action she could take for these kind of situations. The Southern Poverty Law Center, known for its legal victories against white supremacists and its tracking of hate groups, suggest a number of actions to take in your own city. These are some of the suggestions they give:
• Speak up when you hear racial slurs
• Cross social boundaries to interact with people who are different from you
• Encourage local police to label hate crimes as such
• Complain to media when they reinforce stereotypes (Issues in Mental Health Nursing)
We looked at Germany and realized we did not like the actions they were taking among their people, so we need to be able to see that in our own country. There are still vicious hate crimes leading to racist acts and murder. Some groups classify themselves a religious act, so the government cannot prohibit the exercise of their “religious group”. Religion or no religion, when groups are raising a threat on the American people the government should be expected to defend our nation. Hate groups should not be able to rally on our streets, and freedom of speech should not be exercised to defend them.
