Introduction

The level of hate violence in America has reached a crisis stage. The recent killing of a black youth in Bensonhurst, N.Y., was but the most highly-publicized example of a surge in violent bigotry that threatens not only our city streets, but our suburban neighborhoods and college campuses as well.

Part of the explanation is clear: we have in our midst the most violent group of white supremacists this country has seen in a quarter century-neo-Nazi Skinheads. Unobstructed by conscience or caution, they hold hatred as their only ideology and violence as their only tactic. They have been responsible for the worst racial assaults that have occurred in the past two years, and their list of victims grows daily.

The disheartening truth is that Skinheads and those who share their cult of violence are part of the nightmarish outcome of a trend toward militancy and violence that has been growing among white supremacists for the past ten years. This report chronicles that trend and charts the dangers that lie ahead as we enter a new decade.

In the past few years, we have taken false comfort in the fact that membership in traditional Klan organizations has declined.

We have taken the simplistic view that hate violence is merely a crime problem and have avoided the more difficult task of counteracting the message of hatred spread by white supremacists.

And we have dodged the most terrifying of all truths: that the problem of militant bigotry in America is our problem. It is not only the rural South that is the scene of brutal racial killings; it is Brooklyn, Portland, Raleigh - our towns. The hate that inspires these acts is not simply the product of a depraved environment or mental illness; it is the outcome of our own naivete and neglect. It is not white-robed Klansmen who are trying to run the black family out of the neighborhood; it is our own sons and daughters.

The challenge of the '90s will be to attack the problem of hate violence at its roots. And the struggle will demand the attention of every citizen. For legislators, it means drafting laws to address the threat of hate crime. For educators, it means finding ways to open the channels of cultural understanding among children. For police, it means increased attention to acts of hate violence. For neighborhoods, it means strengthening the bonds of community to embrace diversity and reject bigotry. And for every individual, it means seeking understanding in the place of resentment and desiring peace in the place of conflict.