The Learning Activity I chose was Combating Hate. There are many websites that provide valuable information about hate, hate crimes, and gate groups in the United States. This Learning Activity guided me to visit the Southern Poverty Law Center’s homepage. Just a quick background of what who they are. The Southern Poverty Law Center is dedicated to fighting hate and bigotry and to seeking justice for the most valuable members of our society. By using litigation, education, and other forms of advocacy, the Center works towards the day when the ideals of equal justice and equal opportunity will be a reality. I then proceeded with the activity which directed me to click the “Hate Map” link. There, I discovered which hate groups operate based on state. I found 77 groups operate in California. Eight are in Los Angeles, one in Rialto, and one in Ontario. I live in Montclair. It not only had the name of the groups but it also had what type of hate group it was. I did not know so many existed; general hate, white nationalist, racist skinhead, holocaust denial, anti-Muslim, anti-LGBT, neo-Nazi, and so many more. I clicked on the “Intelligence Files” to learn more about these hate groups. It shared that extremists in the U.S. come in many different forms, as I discovered in the map. The “Intelligence Files” is a database containing profiles of various prominent extremists and extremist organizations. It also examines the history and core beliefs of the most common types of extremist’s movements. Pretty scary. I was able to browse by ideology. For example, I learned that anti-Muslim hate groups are relatively new phenomenon in the United States, most of them appearing in the aftermath of the World Trade Center terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. Earlier anti-Muslim groups tended to be religious in orientation and disputed Islam’s status as a respectable religion. The Learning Activity also suggest that I visit some other websites which all seem to be based on groups who were trying stop hate and hate crimes. Using the information gathered from these sites, I was then instructed to make a list of ways I can help stop hate.
I didn’t know how to go about making a list of how to stop hate. I was a lot more complicated than just simply wishing hate would go away. I know we don’t live in that type of world. I guess one way would be spreading the word. Which goes along the lines of educating people of what type of hate is out there. Not just adults but kids need to be aware that unfortunately hate is everywhere and that it comes in all different forms. One becomes aware by visiting stop hate websites or by even