Is Political Life and Discourse Contributing to Racism and Hate Crimes On Campuses?

Last week across America, another wave of racism and hate crimes hit several campuses to the extent that several had to close. Although no one is ever born to hate or harbor racist feelings and animosities towards others, it’s clear the U.S. hasn’t yet become-let alone ensured-a society where the respect for diversity is much stronger than racial discrimination and the intolerance which goes along with it. This includes Political Analyst Allison Stranger’s assessment: “Political life and discourse in the United States is at a boiling point, and nowhere is the reaction to that more heightened than on college campuses.”

Of All the Evils There Is Also Silence
College campuses like Charlottes, Virginia, the site of the most recent hate crime. The incident was a reminder of the White Nationalists, neo-Nazis and members of the Alt-right who clashed with counter-protesters during the “Unite the Right” rally in 2017. It not only included the death of Heather Hyer who was killed when a white Nationalist rammed a car into her, but a deafening silence from political leaders. For now, police have arrested a 17-year-old male in connection with threats that “contained vile, racially charge language targeting African-American and Hispanic students, and which entailed serious bodily harm to persons on school property.”

Racism Hidden in Plain Site
After declining for twenty-five years, reported incidents of hate crimes increased in 2015.(1) In 2016, those numbers, tracked by the FBI, rose a further 5%. By January to August of 2017, hate crimes had risen 20%. Most political experts attribute the rise in racism and hate crimes to the Trump Era. It included President Donald Trump belittling African-Americans’ IQ’s, like Le Bron James and Rep. Maxine Waters, and saying there were fine people on both sides of the Charlottesville “Unite the Right” Rally. He’s also referred to Mexicans and immigrants as “animals” and snakes, and has called African nations and Haiti “shithole countries.”(2)

Trickle-Down Racism and Hate
The same political trafficking in racism and veiled threats can take concrete and sometimes terrifying forms on campus. In 2015, a white student at one university was arrested for posting on social media that he was going to the university campus, where black students were protesting, and would “shoot every black person” he saw.(3) Five months later, Dylann Roof murdered nine black parishioners in a church in Charleston, South Carolina. In October 2017, a white University of Maryland student was charged with murder and a hate crime after stabbing to death Richard Collins who was black. There have been many other incidents.

The More Things Change, The More They Remain
Students of color facing ongoing threats to their safety is not a new phenomenon. The same goes for seeing and hearing the political life and discourse of some leaders who treat them with disrespect or belittle them because of the color of their skin and religion. In fact, the history of race and hate crimes is a history of discrimination and intimidation, intertwined with a history of progress only with great sacrifice. And yet, this new wave of racial intimidation is particularly upsetting. America hasn’t turned a corner in its struggle with racism just because it elected Barack Obama. Neither is America willing to transition to a female president, let alone swearing in representatives who may be Native American, Lesbian or Muslim.

A Boiling Point?
Between the president’s and his cabinet’s repeated racial provocations and the increased visibility of neo-Nazis, racism and hate crimes have become more plausible than in a long time. This is true of “white supremacy.” Once considered to be a relic of the past, it has experienced a renewal through nationalistic ideals and of “Making America Great.” This includes a national context of political polarization and partisanship that is often based on race and hatred. As Abraham Joshua Herschel said: “Racism is man’s gravest threat to man-the maximum of hatred for a minimum reason.” This surely entails America’s political life and discourse that’s not only contributing to racism and hate crimes on campuses but is reaching a boiling point.

Dallas Darling is the author of Politics 501: An A-Z Reading on Conscientious Political Thought and Action, Some Nations Above God: 52 Weekly Reflections On Modern-Day Imperialism, Militarism, And Consumerism in the Context of John’s Apocalyptic Vision, and The Other Side Of Christianity: Reflections on Faith, Politics, Spirituality, History, and Peace. He is a correspondent for www.WN.com. You can read more of Dallas’ writings at www.beverlydarling.com and www.WN.com/dallasdarling.

(1) Lukianoff, Gregg and Jonathan Haidt. The Coddling Of The American Mind. New York, New York: Penguin Press: 2018., p. 139.
(2) www.usatoday.com. “Here Are 10 Times President Trump’s Comments Have Been Called Racist,” by Christal Hayes. February 14, 2019.
(3) Lukianoff, Gregg and Jonathan Haidt. The Coddling Of The American Mind., p. 140.