The Hall of Shame 2007
Here are our 2007 “Winners” of The Most Hateful Places to live in the United States

Number One: Sacramento, California
The capital of California is the most hateful place in the United States this year without question. With nine active hate groups and a population of 467,343, Sacramento proper had one hate group for every 51,927 citizens in 2007! Additionally, the likely hate crime murder of a gay man allegedly by a man who had worshipped with his family hours before the July, 2007, killing fled to his native Russia, and authorities have been slow to locate him. Contextually, the murder came on the heels of recent years’ foaming-at-the-mouth anti-homosexuality protests on the steps of the state capital and in the streets by some of the city’s Slavic evangelical Christians. Gays probably weren’t the only targets of hatred, because Sacramento, California—a city that had more active hate groups than San Francisco and Los Angeles combined in 2007—had three active Neo-Nazi hate groups and three active Racist Skinhead groups.

Number Two: Houston, Texas
The largest city in Texas and the fourth largest in the country with a metropolitan population of about 5,660,245 people in 2007, shamefully Houston had ten active hate groups, and an eleventh in nearby Pasadena, making Harris County one of the most hateful counties in the United States. Racism figures prominently in the Houston hate group scene: seventy percent of Houston’s active hate groups in 2007 were white racist hate groups, although its population was only about 50% white that year. Moreover, according to the FBI's crime statistics, in 2007 The Bayou City had a violent crime rate of 6.79 per 1,000 residents and three reported hate crimes per month.

Number Three: Maricopa County, Arizona
Phoenix, Tempe, and Mesa City all figured prominently in our third choice for 2007. Maricopa County had nine active hate groups in 2007, and the region was awash in anti-Latino/anti-immigration sentiment. Armed protesters enraged over day laborers and day labor sites plagued greater Phoenix in 2007. Additionally, neo-Nazis appeared to be stumbling over each other in Maricopa County in 2007; five of the nine hate groups there were Neo-Nazi groups, and while none of the hate groups were identified as anti-immigrant in nature, we predict it won’t be long before one of those groups finds a welcome home in the greater Phoenix area. After all nativist groups and nativist sentiment seem to have a grip on the border state whose Latino population constitutes about 30% of its (legal) population (in 2002 Hispanics owned 9.2% of Arizona businesses, according to the U.S. Census Bureau).

HALL OF SHAME ARCHIVES