Essay/Term paper: Permission to hate

Essay, term paper, research paper:  Sociology Essays

What makes a person hate? Who gives the permission to hate to hate? Some claim God gives the permission; others claim hatred stems from oppression, or society. Leonard Pitts, a syndicated columnist for the Miami Herald believes that the third, society, grants the authorization to hate. However, what is society? Is society an individual or a group of individuals? What form of society bestows the consent to hate?
The major White Supremacy Groups: the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) and the Aryan Nation, both claim the Bible, thus God, gives them the permission to hate. The Klan and Aryan Nation"s members proclaim themselves Christians, and followers of the teachings of the Bible, they declare, "Do not practice homosexuality; it is a detestable sin…Whoever does any of these detestable things will be cut off from the community of Israel." (The New Living Translation, Leviticus 18:22,29) or "The penalty for homosexual acts is death to both parties. They have committed a detestable act and are guilty of a capital offense."(The New Living Translation, Leviticus 20:13). They claim God justifies their actions against homosexuals in the previous passages. Yet, they overlook the other laws entailed in the same chapters of Leviticus, claiming they are outdated. Examples of these laws include, "do not eat meat not drained of its blood." (NLT, Leviticus 19:26), "you must not defile yourself by eating any animal or bird or creeping creature that I have forbidden (i.e. pork)."(Leviticus 20:25) or "Never cut your bodies…or mark your skin with tattoos."(Leviticus19:28). However, even if the KKK and Aryan Nation did follow all the laws of the Bible, they still would have no right to condemn homosexuals, because as written in the gospel of John, "They kept demanding an answer, so he stood up again and said, "All right, stone her. But let those who have never sinned throw the first stones!"" (John 8:7) No one, no matter how holy, is without sin. Furthermore, when the KKK refers to non-whites, they assume they are "an unholy coalition of anti-white, anti-Christian, liberal socialists" and imply that they are "savage…killers and rapists" (The Church of the American Knights, para. 1, 3) they break the cardinal rule, "Never seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord." (Leviticus 19:18). Finally and most importantly, they have forgotten kindness and forgiveness mandated in the words of the Bible, "Be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you." (Ephesians 4:32).
Hatred belongs to not only the White Supremacy Movement, but also the Black. Actually, according to people within the Nation of Islam, ""African-Americans cannot be racist because racism is the product of the white society.""("Islamic Hate Sites", para. 3). Black Supremacy Groups: the Nation of Islam and Nation of the Gods and Earths, use oppression to justify their hatred. Nevertheless, many believe that over 200 years of slavery, excuses any ills felt towards anyone. This can form "a double standard," in the words of Leonard Pitts, "if the white man is victim, can I be a victim too?" Hate loathing can be cleared, "because no one roots for Goliath." (Wilt Chamberlain)
The large hate groups claim different justifications and excuse their behavior, but in the end, society is the criminal for hate. Christianity, victims, all of society, in fact the KKK claim they destroy themselves with hate in the name of American society and constitution.
Enemies from within are destroying the United States of America. An unholy coalition of anti-White, anti-Christian liberals, socialists, feminists, homosexuals, Jews and militant blacks have managed to seize control of our government and mass media… White Americans have become second-class citizens in the country our ancestors built from nothing... Freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, freedom to keep and bear arms are all being taken away. All the mighty pillars of American democracy are being torn down by the left wing tyrants. The American Knights of the Ku Klux Klan plan to change things for the better. We shall liberate our nation from these savage criminals and restore law and order to America. ("The Church of the American Knights", para. 1)
Society fosters fear, jealousy, and ignorance, which turn into hate. Humans, no matter how idyllic hate something or someone. We are taught from birth to hate. For example, Leonard Pitts, while telling people not to hate became a hater, for hating people who hate. He said, "Sometime I feel like we are moving more backwards than ahead," and yet he repeated the concept that whites still enjoy more of everything. Hate of the idea, hate for the people seemed to reflect in his words. A natural tendency for all people, no matter race, age, or sexual preference, we hate, for many reasons, mostly because we do not know what else to feel. In Jewels song, "piece of you," she sings:
She"s an ugly girl; does it make you hate her? She"s an ugly girl; do you want to kick in her face? She"s an ugly girl, she doesn"t pose a threat. She"s an ugly girl, does that make you feel safe? Ugly girl, ugly girl, do you hate her, "cause she"s pieces of you? She"s a pretty girl, does she make you think nasty thoughts? She"s a pretty girl; do you want to tie her down? She"s a pretty girl; do you call her a bitch? She"s a pretty girl; did she sleep with your whole town? Pretty girl, pretty girl, do you hate her "cause she"s piece of you? You say he"s a faggot; does that make you want to hurt him? You say he"s a faggot, do you want to bash in his brain? You say he"s a faggot; does he make you sick to your stomach? You say he"s a faggot, are you afraid you"re just the same? Faggot, faggot, do hate him "cause he"s pieces of you? You say he"s a Jew, does it mean he"s tight? You say he"s a Jew; do you want to hurt his kids tonight? You say he"s a Jew; he"ll never wear that funny hat again. You say he"s a Jew, as if being born were a sin. Oh Jew, oh Jew, do you hate him "cause he"s piece of you? ("Pieces of You", 2).
In the past month, approximately 114 hate crimes made papers across the world. Multiple articles involved race, but sixteen implicated homosexuality as the reason. In 1996, nearly 9,000 hate crimes were reported to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, half involving race (4,469 Anti-Black, 1,384 Anti-white), a 113% increase over 1995. That means that the other 4,500 concerned homosexuality. In June of 1999, James Byrd Jr., a 49-year-old black man was dragged to death by a chain attached to the back of a pick up truck. The people responsible belonged to no recorded hate group; they were regular citizens, caught in a moment of pure hatred. Two copycat murders happened a week later. A year ago, Matthew Shepard, a Wyoming college student, lay slain at the hand of a classmate. In the next few months, numerous openly homosexuals received death threats and violence. Many persons across the country mourned these deaths, but the copycat crimes in response to Byrd"s death and Shepard"s, says society accepts hate. In fact this year the Intelligence Project documented 474 hate groups: 127 KKK, 100 neo-Nazi, 42 Skin Heads, 81 Christian Identity, 12 black separatists, 112 mélange of hate based groups. Scholars attribute the growing number of buzzwords. "They"re no longer racist but racialist, not segregationists, but separatists," Joe Roy, director of the Intelligence Project of the Southern Poverty Law Center. The Internet also has increased hate groups. Since 1995, more than 160 sited activated online web pages, less than four years ago there was only one.
A great deal is done to prevent the spread of hate. In 1990, Congress passed the Hate Crime Statistics Act. In 1999, the Human Rights Campaign pushed to pass the Hate Crimes Prevention Act, which expands Federal jurisdiction to reach serious, violent hate crimes. In addition, agencies, like the Intelligence project monitor hate groups" activities. Also, students and the community organize anti-hate rallies to educate the public. Leonard Pitts says, "reach outside of your comfort zones," because what make"s America special is, "we live in a country not founded on common blood… We are one nation built of many parts."

Works Cited
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Hate Crimes in America. ABC News. 28 October 1999 <http://more.abcnews.go.com/sections/us/DailyNews/hatecrimes980611.html>.
In the News. Hate Watch. 28 October 1999 < http://hatewatch.org/frames.html>.
Islamic Hate Sites. The Watch. 31 October 1999 <http://www.paganteahouse.com/watch/watch08d.html>.
Kalifornia Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. 28 October 1999 <http://www.k-k-k.com/>.
Kilcher, Jewel. "Pieces of You." Rec. 1994. Piece of You. Atlantic Recording Corp., 1994.
Mothers of the Movement. Sigrdrifa. 26 October 1999 <http://www.sigrdrifa.com/motm/>.
Nation of Gods and Earths. 31 October 1999 <http://metalab.unc.edu/nge>.
Nation of Islam. 31 October 1999 <http://www.noi.org>.
Platform. The Church of the American Knights. 26 October 1999 <http://www.americanknights.com/platform.html>.
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The New Living Translation. The Bible. 28 October 1999 <http://www.biblestudytools.net/ >.