Gia asked the following question, and I have taken the time to research the topic and write an essay.  It is interesting, but incredibly boring, truly.  Read and discuss if you feel so inclined...

Question

"I would suggest, however, that any Southerners who have been offended by me look at this and this. And explain to me the connection..."

My Answer

I have looked at the maps that you have posted and I would like for you to explain to me how come the north has more hate crimes than the south? That's right, you heard me...the NORTH has more hate crimes than the SOUTH. According to the FBI, states that fall into the traditional south had 1775 hate crimes in 2003 (latest information). However, the northeastern states, alone, had 2608 hate crimes that same year. This is ONLY the northeastern states and DC...this doesn't include the west, midwest, and northern midwest. Let's look at red states vs. blue states, for fun...

Using the 2003 FBI statistics, Offenses by Participating State, it appears that the red states had 2622. Now, keep in mind that the "red states" are not all southern states, so I am giving you a few here. The blue states, however, had an amazing 6093 offenses! And Florida (which I, of course, counted in with the red/southern states) is actually largely populated with people from NY, IL, NJ, OH, & PA (according to the St. Petersburg Times, Aug 11, 2003). Florida accounted for 275 of the red/southern states hate crimes, strangely enough.

So what does this tell us? It only proves that the number of hate groups has nothing at all to do with the actual number of hate crimes. Truly, this makes sense. What constitutes a "group?" How many people are actually in each of these groups? A state with 20 hate groups may only have a total of 200 people total making up these groups. We do not have those statistics and I cannot seem to find them. However, hate CRIMES are a much better indicator of the predominance of prejudice and bigotry in an area as these are acts that were carried out and someone suffered because of it. So, as far as hate goes, the blue states win hands down.

I will now address your question regarding education. First of all, the map you provided was focusing on Appalachia (in which I happen to reside). I'm sure you know that Appalachia does not equal the entire southern region. With that aside, according to the U.S. Census, all regions of the United States have almost equal percentages of those going on to attain "Some College or More." The West lead the pack at 58.1%. Strangely enough, the Northeast & the South were almost tied.

Granted, I will agree with you that the south could work a bit harder in encouraging their young adults to complete higher levels of education. This is a fact that I will not dispute. But this does not mean that if you live in the south that you cannot obtain a college education if you want to do so. Just here in WV, alone, we have the Promise Scholarship program. If a student receives the appropriate scores on their ACT/SAT combined with an acceptable GPA, they can go to any state-funded university/college in WV. I know that KY has the same kind of program and this allows many kids who work hard and study to go to college for free.

But how does education relate to hate? Based on what I am seeing, it doesn't. If you are trying to draw the conclusion that lower educational attainment equals more hate crime, then you have failed. If anything, I have found through my research of this topic that the states with HIGHER educational attainment have HIGHER hate crime rates. Why? I don't know. You tell me...

By the way, I would be interested in knowing what kind of higher educational attainment you have received, being from Minnesota? How did Minnesota help you attain this education? How do you feel that the blue/northern/western states could improve on their hate crime problems? Being from Minnesota, why do you suppose that they rank 14th in hate crimes in the U.S.? The population of Minnesota is about 4,919,479 and ranks number 21 in the U.S. size-wise. A comparable deep southern state would be #22, Louisiana at 4,468,976. Where does Louisiana rank in the hate crime statistics? Louisiana is 45th, with only 9 hate crimes in 2003 (this, according to the FBI). Minnesota, a much more northern state and belonging to an area that has higher attainment of education, had 246 hate crimes in 2003. #23 (pop. 4,447,100) in population is Alabama, who had 2 hate crimes in 2003. Yes, you read that right...TWO.

I actually appreciate you pointing out these questions and allowing me the opportunity to research this further. It was extremely enlightening. Have a good day.

Be Sure To Click Here & See What Kind of Excuses She Can Come Up With To Justify

Sources:

• http://www.fbi.gov
• http://www.50states.com/
• http://www.census.gov
• http://www.sptimes.com/