Finding Basic Info on Hate Groups in the U.S.

[chomiji]

After trying and failing three times to post this in debunking_white (I understand that it was going to be screened, but I couldn't get it to post at all - it kept trying to make me log in to LJ when I was already logged in), I figured I'd just post it here.

In comments on one post, someone from the U.K. had asked about the current status of the KKK. The Southern Poverty Law Center is an anti-hate group that (among other things) tracks the activities of groups like the Klan and makes the information public. Their page on the KKK is here. The KKK is still, sadly, quite active.

The SPLC has lots of info on this subject. See, for example, the Hate Groups Map.

Comments

[orvida.livejournal.com]

This is really so damn sad to think of the sacrifices people of all nationalities have died for so that we could enjoy the freedoms we have now and people still want to keep segregation going is beyond all logic and reasoning to me.

[chomiji]

It's unbelievable to me too.

[lauand.livejournal.com]

I can't believe this is existing right now.

[chomiji]

Sadly, it's all too true.

[macavitykitsune.livejournal.com]

....you know, I remember reading To Kill A Mockingbird when I was eight or nine, and being relieved that was all so far in the past. Then I got to sixteen, and chose the American Civil Rights Movement as one of my History A level papers, and was shocked all over again that it really wasn't.

....I think I'm inured to the surprise of their existence, now.

*sigh* I don't understand racism. I just don't.

[chomiji]

It's a difficult topic - there are so many aspects to it and so many variations. Someone was pointing out recently that a lot of people simply don't see the racism around them and get angry when others try to discuss it, for example, which means that they become complicit in allowing racism to continue. These groups are mostly a lot more blatant than that, though.

(To Kill a Mockingbird would be a challenging read at 8! It's usually covered in the schools here in Grade 6, which is around 11 years old. It's actually one of my favorite books - I reread it about once a year. The characterization is so vivid, and the child's-eye view - noticing more than an adult would imagine, but not necessarily understanding all of it - is excellent.)