An Overview of the Impact of Racial Hate and Its Manifestation of Homegrown Terrorism in America

Since the 2008 election of the first African American President of the United States, Barack Obama, racial hatred has been on the rise. During the 2016 presidential election, right-wing extremist groups like the Ku Klux Klan and Ultra-Right groups have become more vocal resulting in civil rights organizations like the Southern Poverty Law Center reporting a significant rise in hate crimes and threats. Unfortunately, President Donald Trump helped to stoke the fears of these hate groups with his incendiary campaign rhetoric of hate mostly against immigrants. This chapter provides a historical overview of racial hate and its manifestation of homegrown terrorism in America. Additionally, this chapter examines how hatred and fear became the source of lynching and race riots in America from the 18th to the 21st century. Understanding the past and present history of hatred directed at racial, ethnic and gender groups can help to bring a factual and more truthful point of view that can help reduce the recurrence of homegrown terrorism.

Creating a Stereotype of a Race as Dangerous, Unintelligent, and Lazy

The cultural conditioning and the indoctrination of negative stereotypes about racial groups has a long-damaged history in America. Unfortunately, this history continues to keep racial groups divided and missed opportunities to trust one another and grow closer socio-economically, educationally and politically. Individual, institutional and structural racism has kept people in this nation torn and divided socially and psychologically. Understanding the root of this problem requires an honest and open historical and philosophical discussion about the similarities of our human origins before the destructive lies told continue to sustain deep divisions among one group against another. While America was created to support an idea that “all men are created equal”, this has not been a social experience practiced by all men and all women. This chapter examines some of the issues that continue to support the stereotypes of racial differences juxtaposed to our cultural similarities.

Trade's Impact on the Profits and Losses for American Workers

Trade was a unifying topic for the Republican elected U.S. President Donald Trump in the 2016 election. Many of his supporters believed trade deals like NAFTA had destroyed the quality of life they lived before their manufacturing jobs were sent to Mexico, China and other countries where the jobs could be performed for much lower wages. This chapter will uncover misinformation about trade and the Trump revolutionaries who voted for him. In addition to challenging the assumptions of trades impact on job losses and the campaign promise by candidate Trump to bring those jobs back, this chapter will explore who the voters were, why they voted for Trump and what can be done now to create skilled workers for viable jobs.

What I Think I Heard You Say

The United States is a diverse country which includes a vast tapestry rich in cultures, ethnicities, languages, and religions. The robust diversity is what defines the nation, its character, its identity, and its strength. This rich tapestry of diversity also provides the nation with a unique status among all nations and is viewed as a nation of immigrants. One aspect of such diversity is the complicated nature of social interactions between and among people who have different perceptions about the world. Often one's perception effects behavior in social interactions having positive or negative results. Using two theories, Symbolic Interaction and Cognitive, this chapter guides the reader to understanding the complicated relationships that arise when one interacts with and among others who may not perceive the world in the same manner.

Decoding Difference

Race, ethnicity, and gender issues have always been important matters in American politics. However, during the past two presidential elections these issues were the vanguard topics displayed on centerstage. The United Sates has a tainted history with respects to certain populations which it has discriminated against and marginalized throughout the country's history, and the tensions surrounding these issues erupted like a volcano. The United States became polarized as people began to align with different political and social ideologies depicting how those who are regarded as being different, “others”, should be treated. This chapter provides a brief history of marginalized populations in the United States and uses Critical Race Theory and self-awareness as means to help the reader understand the impact on society when racism and inequality are woven into the fabric of the country.

S.N.A.P. Today, Medicare Tomorrow

Entitlements, social safety nets, benefits and welfare are just a few of the terms used to describe benefits provided to American businesses and individuals by the federal government. For decades since the FDR laws issued post WWII, politicians have been crying reform, in a vain attempt to dismantle the social safety nets that many of the country's most vulnerable populations need to survive. This chapter provides historical and current information on America's safety net programs and provide a deeper understanding of their importance and their beneficiaries. Finally, the chapter provides clarity to the impact that social safety nets have had on poverty in the U.S. and embedded in this chapter is a personal narrative of how the entitlements helped change my life.