Issue date: 5/6/09 Section: Opinion

As a black male, I have experienced racism firsthand throughout my entire life. I don't doubt that I will continue to experience it for the rest of my life. Over time, I have just built a tolerance for ignorance - to an extent. It infuriates me when I hear that membership in the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) and other white supremacist organizations in the United States are thriving off President Barack Obama's election.

Online registrations for hate groups and militias all across the United States are booming because of Obama's presidency. Ironically, the KKK sees Obama as the best thing that ever happened to it, based on the fact that its membership is growing larger than ever.

The Southern Poverty Law Center, internationally known for legal victories against white supremacists and its tracking of organizations it calls hate groups, recently released its annual hate group-report titled, "The Year in Hate." The report shows that hate memberships have grown by 54 percent since 2000. Its study identifies 926 hate groups throughout the United States, with California having the most at 84.

In the past decade, Latino immigration has been fueling the growth in hate groups across the U.S. Now, these hate groups have two more things to be furious about - the nation's first black president and an economy in shambles.

It is just this sort of hatred garbage that irritates my entire mind, body and soul. I can't seem to fathom why people today are so full of hate. Some of these hate groups truly believe God has ordained that someone who is white is superior to those who are non-white. They can't seem to wrap their sick minds around why this country has chosen a president who is non-white.

Racism is still very much alive in today's world. Some people want to be naive about the fact that it still exists, but you can't run from the truth for your entire duration on this earth.

According to CNN, Don Black, a 55-year-old former KKK Grand Wizard, said he despises Obama. The day after Obama was elected, more than 2,000 people joined Black's website. This increase is remarkable compared to the previous 80 new members a day the website was getting. Black said his site boasts approximately 110,000 registered members.

"People who had been a little more complacent and kind of upset became more motivated to do something," said Black, who joined his first hate group at the age of 15, according to his website.

According to CNN, David Duke, the former KKK leader who was elected to the Louisiana House of Representatives in the 1980s, said, "Obama serves as a visual aid that is helping re-spark a sense of purpose in current supporters and lure new members." Duke went on the say that the heritage of white European-Americans will soon be destroyed. Duke's website now has nearly 40,000 visitors a day, up from the previous 15,000 visitors a day before Obama was elected.

According to CNN, Jack Glaser, associate professor of public policy at the University of California, Berkeley, said "the image of a black man in the White house angers white racists, who fear nonwhites gaining too much power. But the racist fears can also be more mundane and personal: Non-whites in the White House could lead to non-whites in their neighborhoods which could lead to interracial dating, a great taboo among hate groups."

These groups cannot stand the idea that black people are gaining an edge in this country.

Countless numbers of hate-group websites had apocalyptic clocks counting down to Obama's inauguration. A website I came across had a photo of a tombstone that read: "United States of America; Born: July 4, 1776; Died: Nov. 4, 2008; Suicide."

I find it amusing how these hate groups have such a short memory. At times I can't help but laugh and feel pity for people with this degree of ignorance. The statement that amuses me the most is that blacks are lazy. White supremacists quickly forget that blacks were the ones who built the very foundation of the United States of America. It was blacks who built the foundation of this great country through slavery.

These hateful people are quick to yell slurs, such as "go back home to where you come from," referring to Africa, as if they were the first to claim this land that we now know as the United States. These are people whose ancestors came and stole land that was already claimed by another group of people. They have so much hatred for immigrants while failing to acknowledge the fact they themselves are immigrants; we all are immigrants.

I just don't see how the KKK can possess so much anger toward blacks, as if blacks are the problem. If anything, blacks should be angered and feel hatred toward whites, but a vast majority of us do not hold any hatred for them. We were the ones who were stolen from our native lands, stripped of our human rights, stripped of our heritage, brought over here in slave ships chained together like dogs with hundreds of other slaves at the bottom of these ships. The ones who died before reaching American soil were thrown over the edge of the boat like garbage. The ones who survived got rewarded with 400 years of slavery.

What Americans need to do is raise our voice. We should not let big government intimidate us by suggesting if we speak our minds we will be subject to punishment. No, we subject ourselves to punishment when we refuse to speak the truth about the axis of evil that operates right here in America. If this is America then let us live up to the true dream of America, equality and democracy. So I tell these hate groups they will not scare me, they will not send me away and they we will never silence me. I will never sleep until we acknowledge the truth about the social democracy that must prevail in order to better our country and ourselves.

Jeremy Henderson, senior business major

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