Thinking through a few things that I think might help those in our country who have been targeted by biased groups and seen defaults in justice occur. First, while it feels very personal it truly isn't completely personal. The people who launch these hate networks do so because they are aware that their social networks will support them in their endeavors. There are often psychological, social, and financial benefits they obtain from these behaviors.
There is more.....
Having some level of support among one's friends and associates means they do not feel any accountability or responsibility for their behaviors. So its easy for them to scan the environment for a target and act on those deeper distorted impulses. Depending on the level of and quality of character and value within their group, there is unlikely going to be much accurate feedback due to social adherence rules.
A particularly nasty problem occurs when the local justice system gets involved to help their clan associates in ways that are similar to what we have seen defaulted nations and regions of the world. Not only do these clan associates become immune to the normal constraints of law but also are supported in their hate simply because of such racial, religious, and other homogenous affiliations and perceptions.
In other words, it becomes a moral argument among members to support hate......
Trust me when I say this, Its not personal to you. The rotted fabric that tore a hole in our conscious and in our Constitution were there already. Years in making and poor socialization of values and a lop sided view of America and what it stands for.
I have seen people manipulate their environment for self gain including advantage of the sick and ill as well as putting kids in harm's way. I have seen people spread hate rumors in order to physically, emotionally, financial gain benefits from the outcomes of "charging their networks" into action. (It still sort of makes me scratch my head because I have never seen this before on this level. So bazaar. It should be studied.)
What is the end of it all? As a huge percentage of Americans know, justice often moves too slow, doesn't always do the right thing, and often there is little to no accountability for certain behaviors that we should be concerned about. Sometimes the indifference ends up emboldening such hate groups to commit additional crimes later against others while sometimes it just fades into the background.
Yet, before we speak too harshly, there are those who are doing the right thing. The system and most of the people do strive for a better America and I believe are making sacrifices. That is why we should not turn a blind eye to hate and corruption. It stains the honor, sacrifices, and lofty goals of not only those good officers that maintain who believe in their oaths but also the system that seeks actualized justice. They are not are not perfect, they are imperfectly striving to an ideal.
My goal with this writing is to improve that system and improve the understanding that we all have value no matter what false perceptions of equality one has. It actually isn't to put anyone in jail. It is to ensure it never happens again and those who started these dangerous behaviors that put people at risk don't get rewarded for it. That sounds fair to me, but I'm not always the person people get their advice from. I recognize my way of looking at the world may be unique and out of fashion.
The ease of constitutional default is common and this is why I'm 100% in support of our police, like a good friend, to let them know they have an important role and that supersedes individual friends, or departmental cultures. A level of positive based reform is a helpful thing in keeping them focused on their purpose; protect and serve their communities. It will help the good officers who often navigate toxic environments, and feel high amounts of pressure to not report certain behaviors, a chance to breath freely and act in the good nature they were born with.
We must maintain the long term trust in our institutions. (That is supported through a few studies. Its a trend so let us please work on doing the right thing in every situation.).
While most police are good people, I have helped them many times, there are subversive elements that have developed unique unit cultures that sometimes go rogue. i.e. scorpion gangs. Because of general biasness we do not encourage those who caused the problem, those who jumped into support hate, and those within the system that defaulted to take advantage to improvement opportunities. It isn't the police, its the culture within departments and sometimes among departments that causes inappropriate environmental pressures to allow inappropriate behaviors to go unchecked (Yes, there are toxic people in policing that sometimes create toxic environments).
Who suffers? It may look like its just the minority families and kids so it isn't see as much concern (Yep, no worries.). Society also becomes weaker because people become aware that the professed laws are not actually the rules in function in some places. Shadow laws sometimes become more important and directly challenge official laws. No one voted on those laws, we just have to live by them simply because, well, I'm not really sure why we should live by them. I think its better to change because we need to find a way to develop our human capital and that will come in part through institutional trust.
Take heart this situation, and situations just like this, will change in our country because there is no other positive option or outcome in the future. As of present, if you find yourself out there having to navigate around corruption and lack of protections against hate, let me say that in the next 10 years I believe this situation will be resolved. People are changing, they want a nation where we can be our absolute best as a people and compete internationally (These who support hate don't care about their nation, they care about their ideologies and who they think "looks" American). Performance requires opening the doors to everyone. That is my America, the land of the free and indivisible (As soon as we can convince the clan and local law enforcement that its also important.)
Here are two studies you can consider helpful.....
Hate Speech on Social Media: Global Comparisons
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