Are There Hate Groups in Your Neighborhood?

Identifying Hate Groups

Do you know how many hate groups are currently active in your area, your neighborhood? Did you also know that most hate crimes occur in the Northern and Western areas of the United States and not in the Southern states as many incorrectly assume. For example, Pennsylvania hosted more Klan rallies in the 1990s than Alabama did.

The Southern Poverty Law Center's Intelligence Project identified 762 active hate groups in the United States in 2004. Tolerance.org provides an interactive U.S. map on their website - click on your state and find out more about hate groups in your neighborhood.

Why Should You Want to Know?

According to Tolerance.org website:

• Every hour someone commits a hate crime.
  
• Every day at least eight blacks, three whites, three gays, three jews, and one latino become hate crime victims.
  
• Every week, even today, a cross is burned. Think it doesn't happen any more? On May 25, 2005 three crosses were burned in separate incidents across Durham, North Carolina. Yellow fliers with Ku Klux Klan propaganda were found at one of the burnings. A notorious symbols of racial hatred, burning a cross without the permission of the property owner is a crime.
  
  So, why should you want to know? Because hate groups bring crime into a neighborhood, and crime utlimately hurts everyone.

Fighting Hate Groups

Tolerance.org also provides a guide which sets forth 10 steps for fighting hate. They also provide inspiring stories of people who acted, often alone at first, to eradicate hate in their communities. These stories show that it is possible for one person alone to neutralize bigotry.