HATE CRIMES ON AFRICAN AMERICANS
Introduction
Hate crime is identified as a prejudgment motivated crime that happens when a criminal marks a victim because of being in a certain group or a certain race. Such groups include ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, nationality, and physical appearance. In the United States of America, black Americans have been discriminated for a long time and are the most frequent victims of hate crimes. Hate crimes are motivated by hatred against the victim based upon his or her race. Hate crimes are not new to the American culture but the main adult majority has had until currently only limited direct exposure to its negative impacts.
Many individuals find themselves both stunned and often expected by the powerfully destructive nature of the crimes that cause havoc in the country (King, 2019). As this behavior continues to grow, social psychologists have intensified their research of its current origin and their motivators of its perpetrators. Many black Americans have been subjected to oppression, discrimination in their places of work, neighborhoods, and parks. Since the colonial era, racism has continued to exist and has affected different groups depending on their race or ethnicity. Most white Americans have enjoyed the white privilege legally ad some rights were denied to other people. African Americans were being taken as slaves to work for them in the fields among other things. Violence committed against people because of their ethnicity, race, national origin and gender identity remains a serious challenge that the world needs to deal with.
Signs and symptoms
Hate crimes have many psychological and social impacts that are highly destructive to the victim. From the victim’s point of opinion, the purpose of hate crime increases the extra scopes of fear and deflation of the victim. The victim might feel especially vulnerable to an attack that is repeated which can result in hopelessness if the membership of the target group is readily visible (Bosserman & Miller, 2018). Additionally, the fears aggravated because the community has been slower to respond to hate crimes than to other committed crimes. This makes the victim afraid to communicate with other people of a particular group who have been targeted or might resist looking for help that is required believing that these behaviors will make him or her more vulnerable.
Furthermore, from the culture’s view, hate crimes are also motivated by fear and escalate when the dominant cultural members think that they are under attack and have to justify their violent actions as courageous efforts taken for the protection of their nation, lifestyle or the white heritage (Khan & Ecklund, 2017). The mentality of the group is that they view it as a bravery act when they increase in support of the violent actions for which responsibilities are unavoidably diffused and further release any person of taking the blame for the actions of the group. Black Americans are still victims of hate crimes than any other category.
Protocols
Currently, law enforcement, criminal justice, policymakers, and victim assistance experts are reviewing their protocols in dealing with the exclusive requirements of the victims of hate crimes and creating multi-agency task forces that can answer back sensitively to the affected victims, investigate quickly and prevent the perpetrators from repeating the crimes (Byington, Brown & Capps, 2018). Many people including experts are starting to comprehend the devastating impacts of hate crime in the targeted communities such as black Americans. By examining and coming to terms with their own intrinsic biases, they are learning to communicate effectively with the population of hate crimes victims. Therefore, advocates need to make efforts and help the hate crime victims to get their services they need but to which they have often had limited or no access.
How to improve
It is essential to note the root cause of hate crimes so that necessary solutions could be generated to avoid further damage. For example, discrimination can take any type of violence created by prejudice and hatred based upon race, gender, and ethnicity among other issues. Solving these issues require laws and policies that will help in finding justice for those who have been affected. The government and the necessary bodies are required to look at both the violent reality caused by discrimination in the United States of America. Through legislation and equitable enforcement of criminal law, the victims are assured of protection because the perpetrator will face the full wrath of the law (McDonald, 2018). The hate crimes must be taken as the incomparable crimes that they are and prosecuted with improved penalties.
Also, the fight against discrimination needs evaluation of statistical reports of incidents and crimes that have occurred so that policymakers can create an effective action that will help in fighting hate crime. Also, anti-discrimination bodies play an important role in ensuring that the victims are taken care of and the criminals brought to the book. The government and the citizens need to condemn violent hate crimes whenever they happen and take necessary measures to reduce the crimes. In addition, the community groups help in speaking out against hate crimes and justice to the victims. This will help the victims to open up regarding the issues that they are facing every day.
The policymakers need to recognize what the victims are going through socially, psychologically, and physically. Over the years, the collaboration between different programs has had a deeper impact and a broader public reach. This helps in reaching out to many people who need justice to be done. Also, safety measures are put in place to protect all citizens from hate crimes. Every sector in the community has a role to play in ensuring that there is no targeted person due to his or her traits. Treating everyone the same helps individuals the importance of loving one another and co-existing peacefully. Therefore, it is vital to make sure that the victims find justice that they deserve.
References
Bosserman, B. K., & Miller, A. M. (2018). Prosecuting Federal Hate Crimes. US Att’ys Bull., 66, 191.
Byington, L., Brown, B., & Capps, A. (2018). Black Americans Are Still Victims of Hate Crimes More Than Any Other Group. Center for Public Integrity.
Khan, M., & Ecklund, K. (2017). In America, Negative Attitudes Toward Muslim Americans Post-9/11 Are Varied. Hate Crimes, 56.
King, R. D. (2019). Hate crimes: Perspectives on offending and the law. In Handbook on crime and deviance (pp. 437-458). Springer, Cham.
McDonald, W. F. (2018). Anti-immigrant hate crime. In The Criminal Victimization of Immigrants (pp. 55-73). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.