The world is full of HATE. What is this word? What makes someone HATE someone else enough to kill or harm another human being? Hate crimes are criminal actions intended to harm or intimidate people because of their race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, religion, or other minority group status. They are also referred to as bias crimes.
Hate crimes have been going on in the world for a long time. I view the crucifixion of Jesus as the first hate crime. Jesus was crucified by the Romans because of religious reasons they didn’t agree with. Did the Crucifixion of Jesus become the root of hate crimes going on in our society? No there is no way to say what became the actual root of hate crimes, but there are a lot of things that could have helped the increase of these crimes.
The media, race, and sexuality are the things that have increased hate crime greatly.
During the 1900’s the hate crime rate sky rocketed because of race. During this time period African Americans were being lynched because white people refused to see them as their equals. The whites during this time period went through desperate measures to intimidate the blacks by starting the Klu Klux Klan. The murder of Emmet Till is an example. Emmet Till was a 14 year old boy that was beaten and killed because by two white men because of his race. What white people did to African Americans during that time have put a lot hatred in them, causing them to be angry towards the whites and themselves. In the United States there is a lot of black on black crimes going on. Every day on the news boys and men are getting killed for the dumbest things; such as money, drug, and even women. During the 1990’s, the media depicted a lot of this violence with the whole east coast west coast thing. The east coast versus west coast was a conflict between two very famous rappers: Tupac
Cited: "African American Lynching, the Ku Klux Klan, and Hate Crimes." African American Lynchings. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Oct. 2012. <http://www.hangmansknot.com/articles/african-american-lynching.htm>. "Day of Jesus ' Crucifixion Believed Determined." Discovery News. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Oct. 2012. <http://news.discovery.com/history/jesus-crucifixion-120524.html>. Ferber, Abby L. "Getting to the Roots of Hate Crime." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 17 Apr. 2009. Web. 11 Oct. 2012. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/abby-ferber/getting-to-the-roots-of-h_b_188193.html>. "National Association of Students Against Violence Everywhere - Hate Crimes." National Association of Students Against Violence Everywhere - Hate Crimes. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Oct. 2012. <http://www.nationalsave.org/main/hatecrime.php>.