Revel and Riot confirmed that, "By law, [a hate crime is] a crime directed against a person based on characteristics such as race, religion, ethnicity, or sexual orientation" . The concept of hate crimes became widespread in the United States around the late 1970s. Since then, numerous laws continue to be passed simply to maintain these violent crimes, motivated by prejudices of groups of people. Many citizens are calling for tougher laws and harsher punishments. Some argue that hate crimes only benefit certain groups of people, who do not belong to the group that is being heavily attacked. Based on a world full of differences, these differences are what make us a nation. In the Declaration of Independence, it states that “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.” This means that every person is born with equal rights to their freedoms. Everyone is born free, but many cannot act free due to race, religion, and sexual orientation. A hate crime is one against one's own race. In the American Heritage College Dictionary, racism is: “The belief that race explains differences in human character or ability and that a particular race is superior to others.” This type of discrimination in history revolved around slavery in the United States of America, when the black race was considered inferior to the white population. View yourself as property rather than as individuals. “I had long dreamed of going to Central High. I couldn't have imagined how much that privilege would cost me” (Beals. ii). This shows how back then, what people would do to keep everything segregated. Although segregation is illegal today, racial discrimination is not. All men, no matter their skin tone, white, black, Asian, should be treated equally.......center of paper...... Web. April 22, 2014. "The Solution final: the Second World War." The Final Solution: World War II. Nazi magazine, 20 January 1942. Web. 24 April 2014. "holocaust". Merriam Webster. Merriam-Webster and Web. April 24, 2014. “Homosexuality in the Bible.” Homosexuality in the Bible. Np, nd Web. April 24, 2014. "12 Bible verses about all are the same." What does the Bible say about all being equal? Np, nd Web. 24 April 2014. .Beals, Melba. Warriors Don't Cry: A searing reminder of the battle to integrate Little Rock's Central High. New York: Pocket Books, 1994. Print.