#WHICH REMINDS ME. I MUST HARASS ANA | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

magics-neptunes-things · 6 months

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Hate and love

Hello!

This one is from a request, you still can ask me to write something if you want to :)

I have to say that I'm not really sure about this one, but here it is.

Enjoy ♥

TW : Angst, harassment, divorce, loneliness.

______________________________________________________________

Your arrival in Barcelona at the winter transfer almost a year ago has gone rather well. You quickly bonded with most of the players and you didn’t have any trouble becoming a part of the FC Barcelona family. You maybe wasn't in the Top 3 of the public favorite players, but you don't really mind. You were a bit sad about the departure of some of them this summer, especially Jenni and Ana who were kind of mentors for you during these few months. And even if you continue to exchange news with them, you must admit that it is not the same.

Playing previously in Seville, you already knew quite well some of the players of the team, usually staying on the pitch after the matches to chat a little. You were separated during the World Cup, your national team not being strong enough to pass the qualifications you were in the first to return to training in Barcelona. This did not prevent you from making the trip to Australia to support your friends and obviously the Spanish national team.

You celebrated their victory from the VIP party with friends and family before returning to Barcelona in your daily routine. The world champions have gradually returned to training and you have welcomed new players to the team, always in a good mood.

Everything seems perfect told like that, yet there is something that bothers you since your arrival in Barcelona.

Aitana Bonmati.

She never seemed very happy to see you arrive and you never understood why. At first you said to yourself that she was perhaps afraid that your arrival would cause an imbalance in the group, as can happen sometimes when an element has a too strong personality. Some are afraid of change and you have not asked yourself more questions than that, letting this information slip into a corner of your brain. She wasn’t necessarily part of the small group of girls you trained with regularly anyway since you don’t play in the same spot on the field.

But this summer, you could see that the new arrivals had the right to a big smile and other privileges to which you were not entitled. It’s not really a question of ego, but you don’t understand what you did to her to make her react this way with you. And that's hurt.

You have even noticed with the passing of time that she tends to be rather unpleasant with you, not responding to your hello when you arrive in the locker room for example. It happens to her to roll discreetly her eyes when you speak and you even surprised once Ona throwing her an elbow in the ribs while making the big eyes. It was a relief to see that you were not crazy and that your teammates were taking your side, but it also confirmed what you thought.

And gradually, it plunged you into a kind of constant anxiety, reminding you of some of your traumas during your childhood and adolescence. During which you were often mocked, the girl who preferred to play football rather than dance. Your father always supported you in your choices, unlike your mother, your big brother and your big sister. When they separated you went to live with him and he sacrificed a lot so that you would be where you are today, but you never had the heart to tell him about the harassment you were experiencing at school.

**********

"Can I talk to you?"

Alexia’s voice surprises you while you were focused on the laces of your Converse, making you jump a little. Lost in your thoughts, you were ruminating about the disaster you were during this training. You didn’t put a single ball in the net, you got so distracted that you got a remonstrance from Jona and you almost kill Mapi with a bad pass. Mapi preferred to laugh and quickly came to reassure you by giving you a friendly slap in the back and a hug, to your greatest relief. You would have been horrified to be hated by another of your teammates.

"Sure" you mumble without looking at her.

Alexia’s voice was sweet when she offered to follow her to one of the conference rooms and you complied after picking up your bag and stuff. All the other girls have already returned and the corridors now seem deserted.

When you arrive in the room, you watch Alexia open the blinds slightly as you stand against the wall, very close to the door. You’re anxious and just waiting to be scolded. It often happened like this, teachers taking you aside to say that you weighed on the morale or level of the class. That you had to work on it if you wanted to be accepted and have good results. But no one ever seemed to wonder why you didn’t get along with your classmates. No one ever noticed or understood the harassment you were experiencing. You never mentioned that either, but you would have given ten years of your life for someone to notice. Anyone.

So when Alexia turns to you with an almost maternal expression, it completely disarms you. Her eyes were soft and you can easily detect a form of concern in it.

"You can come closer, I won’t eat you" Alexia gently smiles before sitting on one of the tables, probably to make this conversation less formal.

After hesitating for a second, you settle down in front of her playing nervously with your hair.

"What can I do for you?" you ask, instead of "How are you gonna let me know that I’m gonna heat up the backup bench over the next few weeks?"

"I just wanted to make sure that everything was fine. You seem a little out of place these last few days and it’s starting to worry us. I talked with Jona about it today"

She seems embarrassed to tell you that she told someone else about you without you knowing, making you frown. Your facial expression is probably misunderstood by your captain as she hastens to add

"Don’t take this the wrong way. we’re just worried about you"

"I... I'm fine"

You shrug before biting your lip. You are a bad liar, you know it. And it didn't fool Alexia.

"You don’t have to tell me if you don’t feel comfortable with it. But there are other people here who will listen to you with pleasure."

"Don’t worry about me. It was just a time like this, but I’ll be fine"

Because it's what you always did. Figuring and fighting things alone, even if you have now friends who you trust and who you know you can count on.

"You don't have to do that alone, you know"

"Why do you even care?"

You roll your eyes. Sur Alexia is a great captain, and you like her a lot. As a friend of course, but you can't denied that she deserve her title. Like most other girls she is sincerely kind and knows how to distinguish between competition and friendships in the locker room. This is an example for you, as it is for many other girls. And even if she knows all this, she remains modest and does not take the big head. Pretty impressive, in your opinion.

"Is that even a question Y/N?"

Alexia laughs, but it’s a surprise laugh. She seems surprised at the sincerity of your question. And, seeing that you don't answer, she gently shakes her head before answering you.

"Because we care, you're part of this family and even if half of us are totaly crazy, we care for each other. Whatever your problem is, you don't have to figure out alone."

And these sentences, even if it seems to be the most natural thing for Alexia, break down the barriers you have put up until now. You feel tears wet your cheeks without being able to do anything to stop them. As if the dam that you had formed all these years had broken and all the tears that you had retained until today finally decided to come out. And obviously, it bothers you terribly.

You mumble excuses between two sobs, but after more or less calling you an idiot, Alexia breaks the distance between you two to take you in her arms and rock you against her. You don’t know how long you stay like this, but you still stop crying.

So you tell her everything.

The harassment when you were little, from part of your family and the children in your classes. The divorce of your parents which you feel responsible despite everything, this feeling of loneliness that you have since you were born certainly. This feeling of never being fully understood by anyone, until you arrived here. And then you talk about your teammate who reminds you of that, without giving her name. You don’t want to be a problem and Alexia doesn’t ask you to name her. Maybe because she already knows who she is?

The blonde listens to you without saying a word, patiently wiping the tears that continue to roll on your cheeks. When you are silent, exhausted by these confessions and your tears, she speaks again in a calm and soothing voice.

"I’m not going to pretend that I understand you because I was lucky enough to have a family that always supported me. I wouldn’t be here without them, honestly."

The bond between Alexia and her mother, even her sister is know by anyone. You nod, still looking at her.

"But you, you made your way all by yourself. You're only 21 Y/N, you don't realise how strong you are. But being strong doesn't always mean you have to be alone. You have friends here, people who love you and care for you. You are not alone anymore."

With that you smile at her, feeling relieved. As if the weight of all these years were coming off your shoulders. You even feel like you can breathe better. So you thank Alexia, with simple words but you couldn’t explain how much you think about them. As she lays a kiss on your cheek, you put your arms around her neck to hug her and press your words. She gives you your hug back before training you out of the room. Tomorrow is another day and you promise to do better than that.

**********

The rest of the workouts of the week are much better and you decide to completely ignore Aitana. You remain polite nevertheless, but you act as if she's not there. And this seems to annoy her even more but you decided that's not your problem. Many times you feel her look burn your back and you have time to see her black look before she realizes that you are looking at her and she looks away.

But your morale and your game are back to normal and it’s a great relief for you. For Alexia and your coach too, the man simply slips you a short compliment at the end of a session. No need to make tons and that’s enough for you.

The last practice before the next game goes as usual. You do your warm-ups with your fellow defenders, then you are shuffled for courses and drills before a five-player mini-team tournament is organized. You feel a form of anxiety that makes your heart beat when your team is against Aitana, but you decide to focus on the game.

It goes pretty well until you are tackled a little too ferociously by someone from the opposing team. The pain in your ankle and instantaneous and you can’t hold a cry of pain as you collapse to the ground.

"What the fuck Aitana?" Mapi snaps, but you don't really care for now.

The second duel that took place next to you seems to have stopped too, but the tears of pain that fill your eyes prevent you from seeing it for the moment.

"You're ok?"

Irene has knelt beside you and you feel a compassionate hand behind your back. Long black hair obscuring part of the view informs you that it's Ingrid. You answer a simple no with a nod and a few minutes later you are transported to the infirmary. Ona offered to accompany you and you agreed, realizing that you didn't want to be alone.

**********

"Sprain" informs you the nurse and you let yourself go against the file of the infirmary bed on which you are. "It means rest for two weeks."

You pout, but turn your attention to Ona when she places a friendly hand on your arm. You are so used to spending this kind of time alone that you sometimes forget for a few seconds that she is with you. You must be able to easily win the worst friend award.

"At least it’s not the ligaments" Ona said softly.

"You’re right" you sigh.

She gives you a compassionate smile and you assure her that she can take a shower and change. You still have the prescription to wait and the nurse must come back with your brace and crutches. After making sure you weren’t going to go home with an Uber but with her and Lucy, she eventually left the room. She even offers to inform the rest of the team of your injury and you accept willingly, not wanting to go to put a show there downstairs.

A few minutes pass and you always wait when someone knocks on the door.

"I still haven’t finished Ona, but you can come in."

Except that it is not Ona who enters, but Aitana. The look fixed on her shoes and the air of someone who goes to the torture room. And this time, the anger you had not yet felt takes hold of you.

"I came to apologize" Aitana mumbles without turning her eyes towards you.

"Well, it's done" you answer coldly, turning your back on her.

You don’t want to look at her. You’re mad at her, at her behavior. That she doesn’t like you is one thing, but that she makes you unable to play for two weeks is another.

"It wasn't voluntary"

You hold a sarcastic laugh and slowly shake your head.

"Ok."

Aitana seems surprised at your reaction, but you don’t care. It's true that usually you are more the one who flees the conflict and who prefers to go with the idea of the person in front of you to please her. She stands there and it annoys you. So you suddenly turn your head in her direction and you talk to her dryly.

"All right, you can go now. Just leave me alone."

The tone of your voice seems to make her react since she frowns and steps in your direction.

"Don’t talk to me like that."

You feel your heart racing, you have never been very good at dealing with disputes and emotions. Until now you had managed to buried them deep inside when they became too powerful but it seems that since your confessions to Alexia you are no longer able to do so. She says it’s a pretty good things, but you're not really sure about that.

"Don’t tell me how to talk to you when you’ve been treating me like shit since I got here, Aitana."

Aitana is stunned. She never saw you angry and expected you to accept her apology so that she could get out of this room as quickly as she got in. Her lost look irritates you a little more, she knew very well what she was doing by behaving as she did since the beginning. And you gradually realized that you didn’t deserve this.

"Who made you come here? Mapi, Alexia, Jonatan?"

She blushs and it's enough for you to understand that you are right. If she had the choice, she would never had been here, begging for your forgiveness.

"Get out" you groan, turning your back at her once again.

She didn't and you sigh before getting up as you can. It may not be the most graceful way to do it and it may take some drama off the stage, but you don't care.

"I said get out" you say, raising your voice now. "You don't want to be here and I don't want you here."

But she’s still not moving and your patience is coming to an end. From now on there is nothing else that separates you, except the bed on which you were lying a few moments ago. The nurse still hasn’t come back, but this might be the time to do it please.

"I- " began Aitana, without saying anything more.

"What do you want? Two weeks without me aren't enough? Want to break my other leg too?"

The frustration you feel about not understanding Aitana’s reaction and behavior may be pushing you a little to say things you never had the courage to say before. But it was less positive to return the floor to your interlocutor, whose face and eyes finally come alive again.

"I told you I didn't mean it" she half-screams and you snort. "Maybe I was wrong for acting with you like I did but..."

"Maybe?!" you interrupt her coldly.

"You made my life a living hell! You came here with your damn smile and skills and all my life fell appart!" Aitana is clearly shooting now and you blink, surprised by her rage. "I was in an healthy relationship, happy in my life and with this team. And you came along and everything fell apart! I am straight ok, I am so fucking straight but all I can think about all the time is you! I hate you for the way you make me feel but I'm not fucking able to change it even if I tried since you are here"

It is your turn to remain silent, your brain analyzing each of the words that she just said. And all this has absolutely no meaning for you, except the part where she confesses her hatred to you perhaps. Aitana’s breathing is fast and noisy, you can’t tell if it’s that or your screams that didn’t allow you to realize that you were no longer alone in the room.

"Hmm."

You look over Aitana’s shoulder and you realize that Ona has returned to the room with Lucy holding your crutches and a sheet of paper while she herself carry your bag.

"Maybe it’s time to go home"

Lucy’s perfectly expressionless face keeps you from knowing how long she’s been here. Two steps behind her, Ona makes her look between you and Aitana without saying anything. You nod and pass in front of Aitana with a limp, Ona reacting by breaking the last meters to help you take your crutches in hand.

You follow them silently to Lucy’s car and after some arguments with Ona you finally agree to sit in the passenger seat. By taking your phone out of your pocket, you realize that you have received some messages from your teammates wishing you a good recovery. And you quickly understand that they have created a tournus between them so that you are not alone at home. There will apparently be only during the trip next weekend where you will not have peace. But it makes you smile and a little forget what just happened.

"You want to eat with us tonight?" Lucy asks.

"Nah I'm good thank you. I usually watch some crap TV show on friday night."

You see Lucy peeking at you to make sure you’re not playing superhero and you feel the way she’s measuring you. You look up and sigh.

"I assure you it’s okay. Enjoy your Friday night, I’ll probably go to bed early anyway."

This time it's Ona that Lucy looks through the rearview mirror but neither of them insists, to your relief. Being alone doesn't bother you. Once at home, Ona helps you get out of the vehicle and before she can open her mouth, you speak again.

"I promise, i'm fine Ona."

"All right. I’ll leave you alone on the condition that you swear on your cat’s head that you will write me if you're not okay."

"Leave the poor cat alone" you joke, making her smile. "I promise."

**********

The doorbell on your front door makes you frown. You’re sitting on your couch, a blanket on your legs and your cat on your stomach. Your sprain is better, it must be said that after a week and a half of rest it would be dramatic that this is not the case. You have resumed muscle training, but it is obviously out of the question that you start running again for now. You can now move without your crutches and it was a great relief to be able to get rid of them. Your ankle is still carefully immobilized but you are now doing quite well.

Salma left your apartment half an hour ago, and you’re supposed to stop receiving visitors. Your father phones you every day and hasn’t done it yet, but he has no reason to show up here unannounced. That’s really not his style.

The bell rings again, waking up your cat who is rustling a little before going to eat croquettes in the kitchen. So you get up from the couch and go to the door, opening it without removing the safety chain to see who it is. And almost immediately you close the door, but the fingers of Aitana who slip into the opening prevent you to do so.

"Don’t make me break your fingers"

"Just let me in"

"No? What the hell"

"Y/N, please…"

The despair of her voice makes you flinch and you press your forehead against the door. You’re too sensitive to people’s distress to leave someone with that feeling. Even if it was Aitana herself who put you in this emotion there a few weeks ago. You sigh and, already regretting your gesture, you open the door to let her in. You avoid looking at her when she enters your home, closing the door behind her.

"You have a cat?"

You refrain from pointing out that if she had been interested in you instead of making you regret your arrival, she would know. If you don’t talk about your cat several times during the day, there is a problem.

"How do you know where I live?"

Aitana stop looking at your cat who spread out on your plaid to turn to you. With your arms crossed, you wait for his answer with a certain hint of curiosity. Aitana has never set foot in your house and if you are not mistaken, she does not really live in the neighborhood.

"I asked Irene"

She shrugs and you signal her to settle down on the couch. You go back to your place, gently pushing your cat to be a little more comfortable. With a simple look he made you understand that you're annoying, making you smile gently. You caress him to apologize as he stretches, rolls into a ball and closes his eyes.

"I came to apologize"

Sitting on the edge of the couch, Aitana looks at you with the same suspicion as if she had been the last piece of meat in the middle of a horde of hungry lions.

"I’ve already heard that before" you answer by arching an eyebrow

"I know. But I just... I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, really. My problems shouldn’t have affected you. I should have handled things differently, but I was confuse and scared."

She looks sincere and does not look away when you judge her with yours. Next to you your cat stretches lazily before turning around on the other side and continuing his nap.

"Ok. Apologizes accepted"

She looks at you so long it makes you uncomfortable. You have never been in her presence for so long and you find yourself nervously wrapping your hair around your finger.

"If I could, I would do things differently, you know? I understand it’s out of the question that something is happening between us now, but I would like to start all over again. Get to know you, possibly offer you a date and then two if things go well."

You’re slowly biting your lip looking at her. You’d be lying if you said that the words she said in the infirmary didn’t mark you. You were far from imagining that the reason for his behavior was related to an attraction to you. You think it’s pretty toxic, but you like to think people deserve a second chance. After biting your lip, you bend over and reach out to her.

"Well... Hi. I'm Y/N, nice to meet you."

#aitana bonmati #aitana bonmati x reader #woso imagine #woso x reader

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nebris · 7 years

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Latest 'Hate Map' shows 30 groups in Southern California

“We must secure the existence of our people and a future for White Children.”

That’s the mission statement for Western Hammerskins, new Nazi group in Menifee.

“It isn’t Islamophobia when they really are trying to kill you!”

That’s the message you’ll find at the website for Bare Naked Islam, based in Marina del Rey; the words appear over an image of a burning skull and a mosque.

“Take our country back!”

It’s a slogan you’ll read at the site for Nation of Islam, a national group with chapters in Compton and Rialto.

These are just some of the 30 Southern California organizations listed on the latest edition of the Hate Map, an annual product of the Southern Poverty Law Center.

The 2015 Hate Map (a new one is due next month) lists 892 groups nationally, including 68 in California, making our state No. 2, behind Texas, which tops the list with 84 hate groups. Nearly half of the California groups are based in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and San Diego counties.

Some groups aren’t, technically, groups; instead, they are entities that have just one member. Others are bigger, with hundreds of members and budgets that run into many millions of dollars.

All share the label of “hate,” which, like “accused pedophile,” can be tough to impossible to shake.

They’re also part of a growth industry.

The 2015 Hate Map is nearly 14 percent bigger than the 2014 map. The Southern Poverty Law Center has been tracking the numbers since 1999, the year before the 2000 Census told the world that Caucasians would lose their majority status in the United States by 2040.

Hate Map data over the years have tracked the ebb and flow of these groups. The numbers spiked, for example, after that 2000 Census. They spiked again in 2009, after the United States elected its first African-American president.

By 2014, the Hate Map was at its lowest point in nearly 10 years.

Now, it’s growing again.

Who says so

Ryan Lenz is spokesman for the Southern Poverty Law Center and, as such, he speaks for a group that wields a heavy club.

“We specifically look at organizations that attack, demonize and rob individuals of their right to equality for an immutable characteristic like race, religion, national origin or sexual orientation,” Lenz said.

Such organizations may be nonprofits, informal groups or even clubs.

All, according to Lenz, are evaluated for what they do, not only for what they say or think.

“If it’s a couple of guys getting lunch and talking about the Jewish problem, we don’t count that,” Lenz said. “We only count groups of people that have a physical presence in the community.”

The researchers make recommendations, and final decisions are made “in the upper echelons of the (Southern Poverty Law Center),” he added.

While the current Hate Map shows that parts of Texas and Florida are crowded with such groups, Southern California has a gamut of entities that are deemed hateful – white supremacists, black separatists, groups that deny or minimize the Holocaust, and those that are perceived as against Muslims or Islam, immigrants or the LGBT community.

A majority of these groups did not respond to emails or phone calls seeking comment. Those that did often said the label is unfair.

“They simply list everyone who disagrees with them,” said Evelyn Miller, treasurer of the Huntington Beach-based National Coalition for Immigration Reform (NCIR), which is listed as an “anti-immigrant” hate group on the 2015 Hate Map.

Still, Miller insists she doesn’t care about being on the list and neither do the 200 or so paid members of her coalition.

She said her group is only opposed to illegal immigration, not legal immigration – though she also believes legal immigration should be curbed, saying the influx of immigrants at this time is “too much.”

“We are opposed to birthright citizenship and, definitely, birth tourism,” Miller said.

President Donald Trump, who was saluted by a hate group in Washington, D.C., shortly after his election and has been endorsed by well-known white supremacist David Duke, is jumping headfirst into the immigration issue.

Last week he signed executive orders that he hopes will lead to the construction of a wall along the southern border and make it tougher for most undocumented residents to stay in this country. He is said to be weighing the end of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, an Obama-era executive order that, as of now, protects about 750,000 undocumented immigrants who were brought to the United States as children.

“We enthusiastically support Donald Trump for his policies on immigration,” Miller said.

The label

The Hate Map is both well regarded and widely controversial.

“This kind of data is particularly crucial at a time when we are seeing significant spikes in hate crime in Los Angeles County and statewide,” said Robin Toma, executive director of the Los Angeles Commission on Human Relations.

Los Angeles saw a 24 percent spike in hate crimes in 2015. Similar increases were seen in Orange and Riverside counties.

Toma said the Southern Poverty Law Center provides valuable information about “what types of organizations are out there and what kinds of ... hate activity” are happening.

“But,” he added, “a lot of hate activity in this region is not connected to hate groups.

“So, there’s more to it.”

Not everyone agrees with the Southern Poverty Law Center’s methodology, including some who are pursuing similar goals.

“It just isn’t helpful,” said Rabbi Peter Levi, spokesman for the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) in Orange County. “And that’s because most extremists aren’t involved with groups, with the internet and social media being such big factors.”

Also, he said, most hate groups don’t have staying power. Being listed on the Hate Map can be beneficial to their marketing.

“Members fight among themselves, and the group splinters or dissolves,” Levi said.

“We’ve found that social media harassment, for example, of Jewish people by white supremacists, and trolling, has been far more horrific than what is happening on the ground.”

Jewish harassment is a staple of American hate groups. The Southern Poverty Law Center defines Holocaust denial as either entirely denying the genocide of 6 million Jews by the Nazis in World War II or minimizing its extent.

It’s not a distant issue. The Institute for Historical Review, with an office in Fountain Valley and a bookstore in Newport Beach, is listed on the Hate Map under the category “Holocaust Denial.”

The Southern Poverty Law Center website says: “These groups (and individuals) often cloak themselves in the sober language of serious scholarship, call themselves ‘historical revisionists’ instead of deniers, and accuse their critics of trying to squelch open-minded inquiries into historical truth.”

The director of the Institute for Historical Review, Mark Weber, said his organization does not deny that the Holocaust took place and called the group’s listing on the Hate Map unfair.

“To be called a hate group is not a flattering thing,” Weber said.

“I don’t like it either. How do you call anyone a hate group without an objective standard? And how do you prove that you are not a hater? It’s impossible to defend yourself against such an accusation.”

When an organization blacklists a group, it is essentially silencing voices of dissension, Weber said.

“Part of the effectiveness of (the Southern Poverty Law Center) is they mix people for whom no one could have sympathy with others whose views merit being heard,” he said.

“There is also a real danger in judging the actions of people in the past by the prevailing standards of the present, because these standards keep changing.”

For example, calling an organization a hate group because its members believe marriage should be between a man and a woman, is unfair, Weber said.

Setting up conflicts?

Laura Kanter, director of policy, advocacy and youth services at the LGBT Center OC in Santa Ana, noted that Traditional Values Coalition, listed as an anti-LGBT hate group, is in neighboring Anaheim.

“I can’t do anything about them,” she said. “They are going to continue to do what they’re going to do.

“But knowledge is power. And it’s good to know we have these groups in our own backyard.”

Kanter said LGBT activists in Orange County have tried to expose businesses that support organizations like Traditional Values Coalition, whose revenue dropped from $7.9 million in 2013 to $4.1 million in 2014, according to its tax filings.

“About three years ago, we protested Chick-fil-A because they were donating to such organizations,” she said. “It’s good to make people aware of the type of businesses they are supporting and where their money goes.”

Several hate groups that target the LGBT community “hide behind Christian names, or the idea of family values,” and the Hate Map helps expose some of those organizations, Kanter said.

“Our goal is going to be to find out where these groups are, what they’re doing, and how we can get in their way and make it harder for them to do what they’re doing,” she said.

Erroll Southers, former FBI special agent and director of USC’s Homegrown Violent Extremism Studies program, said the Hate Map and, generally, the Southern Poverty Law Center do a good job of reporting fluctuations in the number of hate groups.

“That, to me, shows a certain degree of honesty in data collection,” he said.

To some, the Hate Map is less shocking than it is a reminder of the need to work together.

“We need to reach out to these hate groups,” said Arbazz Mohammed of Sahaba Initiative, a San Bernardino-based group that works to build relationships among people of differing faiths throughout the Inland Empire.

“They might be doing this because they are powerless, marginalized and are feeling ignored. We need to talk to one another,” he said.

Mohammed added that the current polarization of Americans based on politics and culture isn’t productive.

“When we cut off ties with our neighbors or community members because they think or act differently, the vicious cycle of hate continues.

“We need to stop that. And the only way is to stop screaming at one another and start building bridges.”

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/hate-742505-groups-map.html

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