In the news this morning is an article about a young 10 year old boy that shot and killed his father at four in the morning. At this point, details are still coming out, but the police have determined that the shooting was in deed intentional. The boy's father was the head of a chapter of the N.S.M or National Socialist Movement in southern California. N.S.M. is a neo-nazi group that is filled with white supremacists who are ticked off at our government, illegal immigrants, and anyone who is not white. While a relatively small group with only about 400 members, there are reports that it is slowly growing, in part fueled by the recession. This group claims that it is a "white civil rights movement" concerned mostly with protecting the rights of white people throughout the United States. This movement, fueled by hatred and highly supportive of violence as a means to an end, has influenced this ten year old to the point where he took matters into his own hands and used the groups creed to exert his dominance. There was obviously something that his father did to tick him off, whether it be a singular moment or a build up of grievances, and he followed his father's teaching and used violence to rectify the situation.
It is sickening that this young boy was so ingrained with this philosophy of hatred and violence that at such a young age, he felt the need to kill his father. Children are impressionable, especially at his age, and they will draw upon their parents actions and words to formulate their own perspective of the world. It seems that this boy's father taught him all the wrong things. This child learned that if you don't like what is going on in the world, resort to violence and things might get better. He was taught that he must fight for survival and existence if the white race was to survive in the future. What bull. Why does one group of people need to separate themselves and exert dominance over another? (I know, this has been happening since the beginning of time, but still.) What makes white people better than anyone else? In my mind, nothing. By segregating themselves from society and adhering to their creed of hatred and violence, they are essentially setting themselves up for disaster. What happened to the Aryan Nation, the Ku Klux Klan? They are all but dead and gone at this point. This National Socialist Movement is just the latest in an attempt to keep alive that spirit of white supremacy and hatred. In my mind, it is nothing more than a group of racists who gather out of fear of change. The world is a constantly fluctuating place with populations changing chemistry every year, and constant cycles of booms and busts.
To me, this group is on the same level as the church in Florida that burned the Koran in a "trial", or any other group that foments a racist attitude whether or not they promulgate violence. Racists are also in my mind no better than terrorists. Their ultimate goal it seems, is to inspire fear in those that do not look like them and to exert their control by any means possible. What they must remember is that if it weren't for this country's freedom, they would not have the ability to act as they do or to spew their views of hatred and racism into the public sphere. The only way they would survive in a society that is not as free as ours was if they had a whole country of people that supported their views and actions (which is what they want, but will not get). It also seems that every time an economy retreats into recession, racist activity increases. I believe this to ultimately find a certain group with which to place specific blame for the problems of a society. In good times, people have less to fear and are not as likely to subscribe to such extremist philosophies as a remedy for their woes. As such, and unfortunately, racism will probably never die. People will always find a reason to hate another group of people, whether it be out of fear or lack of undestanding, and unless we teach children at a young age the fundamentals of being human, the fact that we are all different, then society will never rid itself of hatred.
Racism has no place in our society. It seems though, as is shown with this young boy killing his father, that children brought up in a racist family, will latch on to that hatred and anger and make it their own unless they are taught otherwise. While not all children will grow up to emulate their parents, if they are sheltered enough and are not exposed to other theories and philosophies, then they will most likely be exactly like their parents. If they are taught at a young age that violence is ok, then they will exert violence whenever they feel the need. The same goes with watching TV that I spoke of yesterday; if children learn that it is ok to watch TV all the time, then they will carry that with them into adulthood. What society needs is greater understanding, especially when it comes to different cultures and races. Every person has something positive to contribute to society if we only allow them to live freely and become a true integrated part of society. Those that remain at the fringe and segregate themselves will only diminish in time as society will have no way of accepting them and becoming one with them. Obviously, some groups do not wish to become one with society, but that is their loss I say. Variety is the spice of life and the more variations we have within a given society in terms of ethnicity, culture, and race, then the more interesting and exciting it becomes. We should all today do our part to learn the stories of those around us, especially those that we do not undestand.
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