The Southern Poverty Law Center just issued some great, little maps illustrating hate group activity in the U.S. in 2005. I’m reprinting the close-up of Michigan here. It has 25 active hate groups, which puts it pretty much in the middle of the pack. Vermont and Maine, you might be interessted to know, have none, and California is the winner with 52. (Florida, Texas, South Carolina and Georgia are close behind.)
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Well, they’re missing one. There’s a group down in Hillsdale County that was pretty active, although they’ve gone quiet ever since three of their members were put in prison for murder a few years ago.
And some orthodox Muslim women wonder why we are terribly offended by burkas and face veils.
Wait a second. At this hate is race-based. Obviously this originated with some California group trying to prove, again, that they’re number one in everything. Okay, so they have more diversity, i.e., more to hate. Big deal. What about all the other kinds of hate? Bush hate. Starbucks Hate. Big box store ballshaver retail hate?
I say, open the floodgates of hate and we Michiganders can compete with anyone. Hell, I’ll put more than 52 stars on the board for Ypsilanti on my own. (Starting with the other 49 states and three or four of you all.)
Wait a second. At this hate is race-based. Obviously this originated with some California group trying to prove, again, that they’re number one in everything. Okay, so they have more diversity, i.e., more to hate. Big deal. What about all the other kinds of hate? Bush hate. Starbucks Hate. Big box store ballshaver retail hate?
I say, open the floodgates of hate and we Michiganders can compete with anyone. Hell, I’ll put more than 52 stars on the board for Ypsilanti on my own. (Starting with the other 49 states and three or four of you all.)
When I lived in Ohio and found out we were to relocate to southeast michigan, I did some pretty serious googling on the matter; One of the first things I found was a similar map, also on the southern poverty law website.
Boy, was I ever excited about the move, then!
(And I agree that some are missing- there was at least one or two white supremacist groups in Belleville, and I know people who live south of Ypsi that regularly get KKK flyers in their mailbox).
Viva Hate, as Morrisey would say.
To be fair, California has a huge population compared to Vermont, which is perhaps the least-populated state.
Given the recent BSC football follies, here’s a synopsis of a great “hate” story ….
Scott Crisler, son of the sainted UM atheletic director, tells the story of his aging father, who took the car to run to the store. After one or two wrong turns, he was lost.
Hours passed and the family notified both the Ann Arbor Police and the State Police.
After a few more hours, the State Police found the elder Crisler on a highway in south-central Michigan. When asked how he got so far from Ann Arbor, he replied that somehow he ended up at the “goddamn” Ohio border. And rather than cross the Michigan state line into “goddamn” Ohio, he turned and just kept driving.
After many, many hours, he was reunited with his much relieved and sympathetic family.
Hate … with a smile.
Yeah, it would be interesting to see the number of hate groups per 100k individuals, or something like that. I suspect that Georgia, South Carolina, and, I’m sad to say, Michigan, would jump up in the rankings.
You aren’t suggesting that UM football fans should be considered a “hate” group, are you, Ed?
Thye are waking up this morning hating both USC AND Notre Dame, that’s for sure.
“Goddamn Ohio.”
I can’t believe that after 170 years, you people are still bitter about not getting Toledo.
Seriously. Deal.
Speaking of hate, here’s a clip of Kramer in blackface.
(Let’s just say he’s no Gene Wilder.)
Would anyone be interested in starting an anti-hate group hate group?
Don’t be hatin’ the haters.
As for Kramer, let me say that his brouhaha was the highlight of my Thanksgiving. As I myself am a tallish gentleman with dark, curly hair, I have spent the last decade fielding drunken “KRAMER!” comments from bar patrons, and am thrilled by the fact that a) this activity might now decrease, and b) Any such comment can now be truly defined as a clear insult, and thus I am fully justified in physically attacking the individual.
I’m actually tempted to start wearing hawaiian shirts and sliding into a room when I make my entrance, just to tempt fate.
Yay! We won! Wait… no, I got that wrong.
I’m from Port Huron and I have never heard of this Charles Darwin Research Institute. Hmmm.
What the fuck?
I thought that you were kidding, but there is a Charles Darwin Research Group on the list, and they do indeed exist.
http://www.charlesdarwinresearch.org/
OK, here’s the scoop:
http://www.frinktank.com/disdainful-of-religion-but-need-a-way-to-justify-your-bigotry/