National acrimony and a rise in hate crimes

"Whites don't have a monopoly on prejudice," says Brian Levin, director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino. "Different [racial and ethnic] groups now are rubbing elbows as populations grow" - bringing disputes over jobs, schools, and zoning.

Immigration, too, appears to be a major issue influencing relationships among racial and ethnic groups. There have been clashes between volunteer border monitors in the Southwest and those who say such self-styled "vigilantes" encourage anti-immigrant bias.

Some see a parallel between Islamic terrorists led by Osama bin Laden and neo-Nazis, "Identity Christians," and other right-wing extremists linked to hate crimes. "Hating becomes a religious obligation," says Jean Rosenfeld, a researcher at the UCLA Center for the Study of Religion. "Demonizing the other is a precondition for killing and winning."

"This is the basic apocalyptic scenario," says Dr. Rosenfeld. "The enemy is God's enemy and evil. Eradicating the enemy is God's work and good. War cleanses the polluted world and prepares the ground for the advent of the millennial kingdom of peace and plenty."

For some, this has to do with race or religion. For others, it's homosexuality.

"The gay-marriage thing has freaked out those who see it as a sign of 'end days,' " says Randy Blazak, director of the Hate Crimes Research Network at Portland State University in Oregon.

The underlying conflict over such "values" issues in politics and society has sharpened the tone of public discourse, with opponents characterized as "evil" or "immoral" on talk radio or the Internet.

What's missing today, says Brian Levin of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism, "is the idea of democracy as compromise, as opposed to all-out victory at any cost." The result, he says, is a divided country and a lack of goodwill exemplified by personal attacks in politics and the media. In turn, that can lead to individual threats and assaults.

Around the country, communities are using traditional and unique ways to head off hateful situations.

In Bozeman, Mont., last month, a member of the white-separatist National Alliance who ran for the school board was trounced at the polls. Turnout was double last year's figures. "The community was incredibly offended by this guy," Martha Collins, a winning candidate, told the Bozeman Daily Chronicle.

And when a virulent gay-basher came to speak in San Francisco, those protesting his hateful rhetoric organized an AIDS charity fundraiser in which people pledged to donate so much for every minute he spoke. When the speaker found out he was inadvertently supporting those he opposed, he left.

In the US Senate, meanwhile, a bipartisan bill introduced last week would strengthen the enforcement and prosecution of hate crimes. A bill in the House would add protection based on sexual orientation, gender identity, gender, and disability to existing federal hate-crimes legislation addressing violent crimes.

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