A hate symbol is a piece of art or a sign used by a group of people to symbolize a hateful or racist cause, or directly attack a minority group. Well known hate symbols, as listed in the ADL Hate Systems Database, are the Confederate Flag, the Swastika, and the Ku Klux Klan robes. These symbols all represent deadly ideals, signs originating from decades of cruelty. White Supremacist groups use them today as a means to promote their cruel causes. Often, the symbols are worn by racist geoup members to identify each other, and hung on signs to strike fear in the minority groups being targeted. A hate symbol utilized in both these ways is the swastika, which was worn on armbands and hung on buildings. The goal of these hate symbols is the same no matter what situation they are used in: To intimidate, scare, and drive people away.
Not all hate symbols are conventional.
Next to swastikas and white robes in the Hate Symbols Database are numbers like 14, the “ok” hand gesture, and internet meme Pepe the Frog. These symbols are blatantly false, and only used to instill fear in others in very slim circumstances. The number 14 is in every basic times table and elementary school, an age most people have reached and a ‘hate symbol’ most people won’t ever know. The ‘ok’ hand gesture is commonly used by divers, and is a shortcut to say ‘yes’ in the American Sign Language. This and Pepe the Frog, a cute internet meme, have been labelled hate symbols just because a small group of people said they were. Without looking at their context, the history of them being used to inspire hate, and their actual usage in the real world, all these normal signs have been labelled on the same level of century old symbols whose only real purpose has been to scare people.
The new, nonsensical additions to the ADL Database are taking away from real hate symbols. The lighter, barely used signs like the ‘ok’ hand gesture are taking the power away from brutal, hateful ones like the swastika, but not in a good way. The idea that hate symbols are so case-by-case and uninspired can cause people to use the true and traditional ones more often, believing them to be non important. While the symbols may be nothing to some, they have the same effect against targeted minority groups that they had when they were first created: bullying, horrifying, and ostracizing them.
Not only are newer, less used hate symbols causing actual hate symbols to lose their importance, but they are giving them more power. In 2018, there were 835 recorded incidents of Jewish hate crimes in the United States. This is over 200 incidents above 625 recorded hate crimes in 2013. Similar trends are found with both anti-Islamic and anti-Black crime statistics, where 2017 is the fourth straight year hate crime rates have been increasing.
The “ok” hand gesture is not on the same level as the swastika. Pepe the Frog is not as harmful as the confederate flag. The number 14 has not hurt nearly as many people as KKK robes. This mindset is extremely detrimental and harmful to the groups who are targeted by hate symbols. As time goes on and Americans become more comfortable with using hate symbols, because they’re on the same level as internet jokes, a new wave of unintentional hate is rising against groups who have been attacked by serious hate symbols for decades. Hate symbols are losing their importance, history is forgetting their meanings, but minority groups are still being attacked by them.
With the 2020 election coming up, many Conservatives in New York may feel disheartened to vote for a Republican candidate due to New York State’s heavy left-leaning status. Indeed, nearly all of New York’s Senators and Republicans are Democrats, voted in by a seemingly heavy Democratic populace. However, every vote is important, and not all of New York is as blue as it is said to be.
Orange County, New York shows that not all of the Empire State is Democrat-run. The people of Orange County voted for Donald Trump to win the 2016 presidential election by a margin of 5.5%, higher than the margin in which they voted for Obama in 2008, which was only 4.13%. Also, the majority of Orange County’s legislature is Republican.
If you live in New York and feel strongly about lower taxes and reaping what you work for, Orange County stands as a testament that your vote can truly make a difference. If part of a blue state can turn red, so can the rest of it, but you have to do your part and vote to make change.
