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Abstract: This paper looks at hate crimes as a projection of community theory regarding the media’s role in shaping public thought and how society views the crimes as whites against nonwhites event. Since there is little reliable data regarding hate crimes, interracial homicides were used to generate statistics on this study. The study concludes that nonwhite on white crimes are more common than white on nonwhite, and to some extent, nonwhite on nonwhite. Homicide (is?) perpetrated by nonwhite against white. The terms “hate violence and hate crimes” first appeared in the Final Report of the Attorney General's Commission on Racial, Ethnic, Religious and Minority Violence issued in April 1986. It defined hate violence to be any act of intimidation, harassment, physical force or threat of physical force directed against any person or their property or advocate. (Run-on sentence) It is motivated either in whole or in part by hostility to their real or perceived race, ethnic background, religious belief, sex, age, disability, or sexual orientation, with the intention of causing fear or intimidation or to deter the deterrence of free exercise or enjoyment of any rights or privileges secured by the Constitution whether or not performed under color of law. (http://www.cahro.org/html/definition.html) There is much historical evidence showing such violence is perpetrated by whites against non-whites. History has played a major role in influencing our way of thinking when it comes to hate crimes. Historical documents show that European people have treated numerous people of differing races cruelly. During the era of the Golden Triangle, when the slavery trade reached its peak, countless African people died en route to the new world, living in the condition of untold misery. The colonists’ mistreatment of indigenous people in the New World and Australia where many died through diseases and war. As a result, some tribes ceased to exist. Even the Chinese and Indian cultures, with their advanced civilizations, were unable to ward off European influences. It is little known that other civilizations and races are equally guilty of this racially based violence and crime. For example, Genghis Khan invaded countless nations, plundering and committing nasty deeds to wipe out certain races to subject them underneath his control. The Japanese Imperialist occupation forces reputation for cruelty was infamous. In many cases, their deeds even exceeded Nazi Germany’s in committing acts of atrocities. Their crimes wiped out Chinese civilizations. However, those acts of hate were not documented. The documentation is by the European countries. History places the blame on racially based hate crimes to on the European and Caucasian people’s shoulders. Hate violence and hate crimes often shock the public with such brutality and vivid details of how the victims suffered. It often frightens the public to the point where they will keep their children indoors and change their routine to increase their security. They assume that the hate crimes are on the rise. It often gets important figures such as politicians, celebrities, so-called “Civil Rights” activists, to name a few, to get involved and promote programs that tackle hate violence and hate crimes issues. Often, the programs promote that the white people as the main predators who victimize black people. One example in Jasper, Texas in June 10, 1998, 49-year-old father of three was walking home from his niece's bridal shower when three men with reported ties to white supremacist groups allegedly abducted him. Police say they chained him to their pickup truck and dragged him down an asphalt road, tearing off his head and his arm. (http://abcnews.go.com/sections/us/DailyNews/hatecrimes980611.html) Another example, the relatives of a nineteen year old black girl in Riverside, California who claim that she was shot 12 times by a white police officer as she sat locked in a car with a gun, demanded a federal investigation into her death after a coroner's report showed she had died of two head wounds and a shot to her chest. "The family is hurt and terribly upset about what happened," said Dwayne Miller, an uncle of shooting victim Tyisha Miller. "We don't just want facts in two weeks. We want answers now," he said. "Why would they shoot that many times?" Relatives of Miller say she was unconscious when officers opened fire early Monday. Authorities had responded to a call that a woman was locked in a car at a gas station, unresponsive as relatives banged on the window. Officers said they opened fire when Miller grabbed her gun. Initially, investigators said Miller fired at officers, but they later said they didn't know who fired first. The officers involved in the shooting—four whites—have been placed on administrative leave. (http://members.aol.com/SalemsHope/racism.html) Society is becoming more diverse in the term of racial, religious, and ideology and tolerance. Diversity becomes a prominent issue for peaceful co-existence between whites and non-whites. This concern is understandable since the population continues to shift in the USA. The white population will become a minority between 2055 and 2060 according to the US Census Bureau. At that time, the US will be a nation without a racial majority. The future of the nation as a country of minorities remains to be seen. From that point on, it cannot be assumed that the white population will be the majority culture as preceptors of hate crimes and hate violence. In some areas, hate crimes are committed by the minorities against members of other minority groups, are more commonplace than hate crimes committed by whites against minorities. There are some cases of hate crimes committed by the minorities against the white population. The research contests the media’s claims and publicity that white people are more likely to committed commit hate crimes than minorities. It is to separate the fact from fiction. Since crimes often take place interracially, it creates a complicated line drawn the difference between crimes and hate crimes. Thus, it seems that media “expect” minorities to commit crimes for survival while majorities(and certain minorities) commit a deep contradiction when it comes to hate crimes. Due to the strong history of racial segregation, slavery, and immigrant discrimination, it is easy for media to write reports blaming history on contributing the increase of hate crimes by majorities against minorities. Never mind the fact that the past is the past and nothing can change the past. Rather, it seems to emphasize hate crimes committed by the majority to demonstrate that the society has a long way to go before it can reach its equal opportunities.
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