Hate Crimes and Ethnoviolence: The History, Current Affairs, and Future of Discrimination in America

209 Pages·2009·1.49 MB·English

by  Howard J. Ehrlich

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H A T E
CRIMES
AND
ETHNOVIOLENCE
The History, Current Affairs, and
Future of Discrimination in America
ESSAYS BY
HOWARD J. EHRLICH
The Prejudice Institute

A Member of the Perseus Books Group
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Copyright © 2009 by Westview Press
Published by Westview Press,
A Member of the Perseus Books Group
All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this book may
be reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the
case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. For information,
address Westview Press, 2465 Central Avenue, Boulder, CO 80301.
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e-mail [email protected].
Designed by Trish Wilkinson
Set in 11-point Minion
A CIP catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress
ISBN-13: 978-08133-4445-4
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
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To Pat,
who enriched my life and made this all possible
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CONTENTS
Preface ix
Acknowledgments xiii
PART I
ETHNOVIOLENCE
1 The Social Conditions of Ethnoviolence 3
2 Ethnoviolence and Hate Crimes 17
3 Further Observations: 31
Some Questions, Some Answers
PART II
THE NEWS MEDIA
4 Ethnoviolence and the News Media 41
5 The Gatekeepers of Newspapers 53
6 The Production of Pathology: 73
The Social Function of Local TV News
7 The Design of Local TV News: 93
If It’s White, It’s Right
PART III
POPULAR CULTURE
8 Lessons Learned 109

9 Prejudice and Ethnoviolence on Campus 133
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viii (cid:2) Contents
PART IV
THE STRUGGLE CONTINUES
10 Profiling the Belief Structure of Right-Wing Groups 157
11 A Brief Note on the Politics of Ignorance 163
12 Step by Step: A Personal Trek 167
Index 177
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PREFACE
The Ethnoviolence Project
I
t began in 1985 with two signal events: a massive desecration of a syna-
gogue in Silver Spring, Maryland, and a substantial rally and march by
the Ku Klux Klan in southern Maryland. The then governor, Harry
Hughes, shocked by these episodes, ordered the formation of a commis-
sion to propose a course of action. The commission made two recommen-
dations. One was the chartering of a statewide survey to assess public
attitudes. The survey was conducted and concluded that teenagers were
the major, and growing, source of prejudice in the state. The findings were
specious, but they scared the hell out of policymakers and the commis-
sion. The commission’s second, more notable action was to recommend
that the governor form a nonprofit institute and provide seed money for
three years to address the issues of prejudice and violence. After three
years, the institute was to become self-supporting. The newly formed
board of directors fantasized that state governors around the country
would recognize the need for such an organization and provide financial
support, while the executive director’s fantasy was that large business cor-
porations would also provide financial support. Of course neither the
states nor big business had any real commitment to the project.
The following year I joined the Prejudice Institute as its research di-
rector. One of my first tasks was to generate a research agenda. Given our
small size (nine people at our peak) and mainly soft-money budget, it
was my belief that our major contribution would come by designing
small studies and concept papers at the cutting edge of research. I coined
the term ethnoviolence to demarcate our mission—the study of violence
ix