An Epidemic of Hate

Throughout our country’s history, certain groups of people have been discriminated against. In particular, immigrant communities bear the brunt of being the other. In the mid-19th century, it was “No Irish need apply”. Around the turn of the century, it was immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe. For a century after the Civil War, blacks experienced Jim Crow. After 9/11, Muslims were treated with suspicion.

In some cases, ethic groups assimilated and became part of the tossed salad of American life. In other cases, discrimination has evolved into outright hate and has intensified as our society has become hyper-polarized. Two communities that are more recent targets are Asian-American and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) who are falsely being blamed for the Covid pandemic and LGBQT+ (especially trans youth).

One of the organizations I support is the Southern Poverty Law Center. The maintain a database of hate groups which has expanded over the last five years. Most of the groups would be described as alt-right with various anti-black, anti-Muslim, anti-Semitic, and anti-LGBTQ sentiments. Two of the groups behind the January 6th insurrection, the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers have been designated as hate groups by SPLC. Note that Black Lives Matter and the bogeyman called “Antifa”, which is not even an organized entity, are not designated as hate groups.

Like many Americans, I long for national unity and am saddened by the alternate universes that we live in. We mostly consume media that we agree with, without testing it for confirmation bias or false equivalency. As a nation, we are recovering from the Big Lie and it’s going to take awhile to repair the breach. But in the end, I believe that truth will prevail and the arc of history will bend towards justice.

Update: After I wrote this post, the Washington Post published an analysis on domestic terrorism. The article includes a link to a report highlighting the involvement of former and current members of the military and police in domestic terrorism.