The anti-immigrant movement merged with anti-Latino sentiment under the guise of border security after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Gallego said. In response, Latinos have felt compelled to engage politically to combat the wave of misperception and xenophobia.

“What you started seeing is coded language – especially in Arizona –where people were talking about ‘well, I’m not against Latinos, I’m against illegal immigrants,’ but basically using that term to cast everybody the same,” he said. “I think there’s no difference anymore, and they’re wrapped in the same, which is why you’re also seeing Latinos now more strongly standing up for immigrant rights.”

Anti-Latino and immigrant hate has more recently been exacerbated by national legislation and rhetoric heard after the 2016 election, Gallego said.

“I remember growing up hearing anti-Latino slurs being thrown at me as a Latino – being called derogatory terms throughout high school,” Gallego said. “I certainly saw more rhetoric thrown at me as a Latino elected after 2010 because once the politicians started talking in these terms, and some of them became even more and more pejorative and racist … a lot more people felt that it was OK and acceptable to engage in that in public.”

Nationwide, a 2018 report by the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism in San Bernardino, California, found that anti-Latino hate crimes in America’s largest cities increased by 176 percent in the first two weeks after the 2016 election.

But politics from well before the Trump administration have done just as much to exacerbate the problem, said Gallego, who in the past has received death threats from white supremacists while trying to fight anti-immigration legislation when he served in the Arizona Legislature.

“I had death threats — personalized notes — left at my doorstep by white supremacists when I was at the statehouse because I was fighting to stop some crazy bills that were going to really affect immigrant communities,” he said.

Specifically, he pointed to the Arizona Senate Bill 1070 as a turning point in the anti-immigration movement. The bill allowed for law enforcement officials on the city, county or state level to inquire about citizens’ immigration status if they have “reasonable suspicion” to do so, according to the Arizona Legislature.

“With the culmination of SB 1070 happening, we basically tried to allow racial profiling of Latinos based on this idea of trying to curtail quote-unquote illegal immigration,” he said. “By 2010, there were Latino families in Arizona that were being told to go back to their country, to go back to Mexico – these are people that have lived in Arizona for generations.”

Anti-immigrant hate is due, in part, to massive influxes of immigrants in the 20th century and white backlash, according to Janice Iwama, an assistant law professor at American University. Between 1990 and 2015, the immigrant population more than doubled from 19.7 million to nearly 43.2 million living in the United States.

Gallego said there has been a decades-long political conflict over immigration in Congress and he doesn’t see any work toward a resolution in the near future.

“The rhetoric that comes from the White House – it’s not really challenged by the Republican leadership in the House,” he said.

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OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. – Oklahomans are finding satisfaction with the current presidential administration, despite acknowledging the divisions in America today.

“My grandpa told me a long time ago, ‘Find something you love and you’ll never work a day of your life.’ I ain’t worked yet. I just get paid to play,” Jay Lewis said.

From his cowboy hat down to his boots, life as a cattleman is in Lewis’s roots. Lewis raises cattle in New Castle, Oklahoma, and works off the ranch in Oklahoma City at the Oklahoma National Stockyards, the world’s largest stocker and feeder cattle market.

“About 10,000 head of cattle pass through here a week,” Lewis said.

Larry Bryant has been hauling cattle to and from the stockyards for 45 years. He shares the same level of gratification toward his profession.

“It’s been good to me,” Bryant said.

Lewis and Bryant recognized the divisiveness that exists within America, but their concerns for the country revolve around the agriculture industry. Both men acknowledged that Americans do not understand where their food comes from.

Bryant said his granddaughters are always asking when they can go get fast food.

“People go to the store and bring it home. They don’t realize what all went into getting that cow to where it’s at,” Bryant said. “What we eat comes off the farm, no matter how you look at it.”

Lewis added: “A lot goes into it and I think sometimes people take that for granted.”

As a cattleman, Lewis is proud to contribute. It’s a privilege to be able to walk into the grocery store and buy food off the shelf, he said.

He described it as simply one of many liberties he believes accompanies life as an American, but it goes deeper than that.

“I was never in the service, but 1 percent of the world protects our freedom. Ninety-nine percent wakes up and enjoys it. I’m in that 99 percent. I don’t take that for granted by no means,” Lewis said.

When asked to describe the country in three words, Lewis responded: “God Bless America.”

In Elk City, Oklahoma, 100 miles from the stockyards, the political convictions are more pronounced.

For pawn shop owner Steve Scout, his political beliefs are identifiable near the store entry of his shop where he displays a “Make America Great Again” sticker, but the political décor does not stop at the front door. Signs supporting Second Amendment liberties, the NRA and anti-democratic commentary decorate the front wall of the store alongside rows of bows, guns and ammo.

“We have never been more satisfied with our current president,” Stout said.

For Stout, the only president that deserves as much praise as President Donald Trump is Ronald Reagan. Despite his satisfaction with the presidency, he isn’t afraid to speak out against what he believes are the country’s inadequacies.

“We’ve become an entitled country,” Stout said.

One customer at the pawn shop agreed with Stout.

“People don’t need welfare, they need a job,” Rev. Larry Parvin said. He explained that the local prison was searching for additional employees, but no one wanted the positions.

“We’ll help people, but I’m not going to give half of my check to somebody that just wants to sit around on the couch and watch TV,” Parvin said. “Get a job.”

Stout said we’ve got more jobs that we have ever had in 50 years.

“And it’s getting better everyday under my president, President Trump,” Parvin quickly added.

The town of 11,000 attracts a high number of tourists each year due to its location along Route 66.

News21 met local radio host Nathan Brewer and his colleague, Gabe Edeny, at Beyond the Pallet Coffee Shop in Elk City.

“These people are real,” said Edeny about people out West.

Oil dominates the local economy and is part of the Route 66 spectacle that attracts tourists.

“Tourists love to take pictures in front of our oil rig,” Brewer said. He was previously the host of a one-hour radio program exploring energy and how it influences life for the Elk City community.

“When the oil fields are good and times are good, politics are secondary,” he said. Brewer recounted the influence that Trump had on the local economy even before he was elected president.

Half of the oil industry is the economy and the other half is the attitude of people,” Brewer said. “Donald Trump, theoretically, was going to be far more favorable to an energy industry than a Hillary Clinton administration, so people started getting really excited.”

Not too long after, western Oklahoma oil companies began hiring again.

“Trump is who he is. For the people around here, it’s not so much Trump love as relief that Hillary was not elected,” Brewer said.

Brewer said engagement from local citizens can define the lives of those in the community.

“I think too many people are looking for salvation in politicians, which politicians won’t deliver,” Brewer said. “If people will go out and try to make a difference in their community, that will make a much bigger impact on their life and other people’s lives by doing that, then by political activism.”

Edeny said the media tend to portray the president in a negative light.

“A long time ago as a kid, you couldn’t talk about the president the way people do. Whether you like him or not, they [the media] take him to the bottom. I’ve never seen anybody talk about even Nixon to this level. I think it just causes more division,” Edeny said.

Brewer added: “Step away from the anger and danger of politics and pay attention to what’s going on locally.”

When asked if he was optimistic about the direction of the country, Brewer chuckled and said: “Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, yes. Monday, Wednesday and Friday, no. And I take the weekend off. That’s the short answer.”

The really long answer, Brewer said, is politics divide the country.

“People need to divest themselves of politics and get more interested in their own family and where they live,” Brewer said.

He offered a recommendation for ending some of the divisiveness in the country today.

“What I would like to see is people who disagree vehemently on political matters be friends and like each other,” Brewer said.

News21 fellows Storme Jones, Brittany Brown and Rosanna Cooney contributed to this report.

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In nearby Hattiesburg there are two churches – one is welcoming and the other is not, Hrostowski said.

“So when the welcoming church said we’re going to allow gay marriages in our church, you know the haters went across town to the other church,” she said.

Hrostowski, who serves as the church’s vicar, doesn’t understand how people use the Bible to decry the LGBTQ community – the verses people use to support the argument are typically taken out of context.

It’s just one of several ways Hrostowski is fighting for equality in the town of about 2,500 residents.

“If you’re going to say, you know, thou shalt not lie with a man as a man lies with a woman, then you have to look at the part that says if your neighbor labors on the Sabbath he should be killed,” she said. “That’s part of it, looking at scripture and understanding that you can’t just read a line of scripture, pull it out of context and lay it on 2018.”

Hate crime laws are designed to protect victims from being attacked for something they have no control over, so a common argument against LGBTQ protections is that being gay is a choice. But Hrostowski said she doesn’t understand how anyone thinks it could be a choice given how poorly the LGBTQ comunity is treated.

“Why would people choose this?” she asked.

Hrostowski herself has been the victim of anti-LGBTQ bias many times, and it motivated her to try and effect change.

When her son, Hudson, was born, Susan Hrostowski was not listed on his birth certificate.

Hrostowski and her wife, Kathy Garner, had their son through artificial insemination in the state of Mississippi 18 years ago, where LGBTQ couples were banned from adopting a child. Because Hrostowski didn’t carry the child, she could not be her son’s legal guardian.

“When he was young that was a very scary thing because if Kathy, God forbid, had been run over by a Mack truck or something, the judge could say no, Susan, you don’t get custody of this kid,” she said.

Garner and Hrostowski filed a lawsuit that ultimately went to federal court and overturned Mississippi’s ban on LGBTQ adoptions. She was finally able to adopt her son when he was 16 years old.

Hrostowski said Mississippi state legislators are more focused on blocking protections from the LGBTQ community than fixing prominent issues in the state.

“Our infrastructure, our streets, our bridges are falling apart, but we saved you from the gays,” she said. “To me, it’s a big smokescreen – look at the fact that we’re such upstanding moral people, that we saved you from the gays.”

Hrostowski is currently working on passing an ordinance in the city of Hattiesburg to protect the LGBTQ community from hate crimes, but she said the city’s current administration won’t budge on their stance against it.

Hate is passed down and taught from generation to generation, she said, and that is part of the reason things aren’t changing in Mississippi. She said she sees it as more than a legislative issue.

“You can’t legislate morality, you know, whether you’re progressive or conservative,” she said. “We’ve lost empathy. That’s one of our biggest problems.”

Hrostowski uses her platform as a small-town pastor to help open the eyes of her congregation and her community, working to help them understand and accept the LGBTQ community. She uses her legislative advocacy to attempt to make legal change in her community. But she encourages everyone to stand up for what they think is important and make whatever change they can in the lives of those around them.

“If we can open one or two or three people’s minds about another way of looking at things, about an effort to love your neighbor as yourself instead of building up all that hate, then I’m extremely grateful for it.”

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LONDON, Ky. – Jason Kovach,  owner of the Tonic Room Barber Shop & Shave Parlor, on Main Street in London, Kentucky, was eager to share his thoughts as he gave a haircut.

“The United States is badass,” he said. “The beautiful thing about the United States is you can do anything you want. Nobody is stopping you from anything. You don’t like the country, so get out.”

Kovach served five years in the U.S. Marines and offers a discount to veterans. American flags and Marine Corps memorabilia decorate the shop. Kovach has an American flag pin on the pocket of his barber’s jacket, with the words: “Honoring our Veterans.”

When asked about the biggest problem facing America today, he responded in one word: “Facebook!” Raquel Morgan, the one female haircutter in the  shop, agreed.

“You can’t enjoy your life because you’re too busy comparing and arguing for no reason,” Morgan said.

Terry Napier, a customer, joined in: “People are too sensitive anymore. You say something and they say, ‘I’m offended.’ That’s one of our civil liberties, freedom of speech. Men have fought and died for that. Nobody respects that anymore.”

Drugs and a struggling economy are also a concern in the local community of 8,000, where the median household income is $33,000.

“I moved here from Ohio. I mean, they got drugs, too; but, this area here is just infested with drugs,” James Barnett, another customer, said. He said too many children are homeless in the area.

“Small businesses can’t stay in business if prices don’t go up. I feel sorry for a lot of women that work around here and are divorced. They barely get by,” Barnett added.

Kovach, the owner, complained about kids today, and a few other patrons grumbled their agreement.

“They’re lazy. You’ve got to work, work, work, work, work. It’s hard work. Nothing comes easy,” Kovach said.

Barnett said if he could change the country overnight, his wish would be: “Get people off drugs, get them a job, and let them take care of their kids.”

Can politics change things?

“We had an election here in May,” Barnett said. “Only 20 percent of the people got out and voted. If you want something changed, yes, get out and vote. The same thing goes for the president. If you don’t vote, you shouldn’t be fussing about nothing.”

News21 fellows Storme Jones, Rosanna Cooney and Brittany Brown contributed to this report.

Follow the News21 blog for updates as the team reports on the road.

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MEMPHIS, Tenn. – The hubs of business and economy are now in the rearview mirror as the News21 SUV drives along roads carved into mountains.

It’s the second leg of a nationwide road trip where four News21 journalists – Brittany Brown, Rosanna Cooney, Storme Jones and Tilly Marlatt – each bring their own experiences and expertise to record and document tensions that are present in America today.

We are passing through an America where people are brought to tears voicing pride for their country, citing freedom and the American dream as the reason for getting emotional.

“Where else can you become rich and famous overnight?” asks a woman whose tattooed forearm reads: “Those who suffer the most, scream into the silence.”

Americans tell us that they still long to get along with each other. We are learning to get along, too.  After a bad experience at a Kentucky motel, we learned that it is best not to inquire about bedbugs if you want a room. Americans wanted to be respected, and that means trusted.

In the Appalachian region, much maligned by the enduring hillbilly stereotype, we are hearing how LGBTQ people reclaim a space for themselves in rural communities, and make their voices heard. As we head southwest, toward Tennessee and Arkansas, cardinals flash red in the trees and the summer heat brings a sweeter fragrance to the air.

In almost every interview where President Donald Trump is mentioned, his influence on people’s perception of the nation and their perception of the state of hate is omnipresent.

It is a privilege to be allowed into people’s lives, into their barbershops and catfish ponds, to record their thoughts, lived experiences and impressions of their country at a time when America seems to be transitioning.

News21 fellows Brittany Brown, Storme Jones and Tilly Marlatt contributed to this report.

Follow the News21 blog for updates as the team reports on the road.

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PERRY, Iowa — In an America that often seems more divided, there remains one event that brings people together: the Fourth of July.

The residents of Perry, Iowa, a farming and meatpacking town of 7,800, 45 minutes northwest of Des Moines, joined across party and ethnic lines – over a third of residents are Hispanic — to celebrate the 242nd anniversary of America’s freedom.

Perched in front of his home on Wills Avenue, town educator Eddie Diaz and members of his young family watched excitedly as the town’s annual parade passed.

Diaz, who is 39, said he came to Perry during the mid-1990s, when there was a large influx of Hispanics into the area, making Perry newly diverse. Until this spring, he was principal of St. Patrick’s Catholic School.

“We have a lot of people living here from Latino backgrounds and we have a small refugee population,” he said. “There are always tensions and frictions in any community, but it’s more between individuals than groups.”

Diaz said that when the demographic change came to the previously all-white community, some white people began to leave.

“The people who were less accepting of diversity have chosen to leave the town and so the people that have stayed are more accepting,” Diaz said. “I don’t put too much thought into the people that leave. I think it’s unfortunate. But as an educator and a father, I have to focus on the positivity that is in the community.”

He said that the small community “creates positive change” every day for the future of its children.

“I teach my children that we are all Americans, we’re here for the same thing and ultimately if we want to live in a happy society, we have to help each other and get along,” he said.

As the parade flowed down the street, community members left their porches to follow the parade into the town park, Pattee Park, for music, food, dancing and games.

Jerry Roberts from nearby Jefferson, Iowa, took a break from enjoying the fun to discuss where America stands today, recognizing the divides the country is facing.

“There are religious divides and, within religion, there are divides within that …,” he said. “And then you have regional divides and now you get into political divides.”

Roberts added that, while these issues are happening, people aren’t talking with each other about it very effectively.

“You’ve got to sit down and be able to talk problems and instead, we just shout at each other,” he said.

Lauri Haynes, who was cooking kettle corn at the park, echoed Roberts. She described the country as like a “junior high school cafeteria.”

“It’s like everyone’s reading headlines and making opinions based on one person and it’s juvenile,” Haynes said.

After packing up our things from the farmhouse where the News21 crew were guests, we headed eastward.

The next stop was Carbon Hill, Illinois, a predominately white town of 345 residents, about an hour southeast of Chicago. The fellows stepped inside Mustachios, a bar on North Third Street and West Lacey Street.

Diane Eartly, co-owner of the bar, grew up in Coal City, Illinois, another village five minutes from Carbon Hill where “everybody knows everybody.”

While growing up, Eartly said she didn’t notice many divides in the country.

Today, as she still resides in the small town, she noticed that America “is changing.”

Too many people are spending time on their cellphones, shopping online, dating online, and not talking to each other or supporting their local stores, she said.

Stephanie Long, a bartender at Mustachios, said she was a Bernie Sanders supporter when he was running for president.

“There’s a lot of growing that needs to be done, but I’m hoping (America) will get better,” she said.

News21 fellow Penelope Blackwell contributed to this report.

Follow the News21 blog for updates as the team reports on the road.

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TEKAMAH, Neb. — Since the start of the State of Hate road trip, the News21 road warriors traveled more than 3,000 miles and reported in Arizona, California, Nevada, Utah and South Dakota, before they arrived in Nebraska.

The first stop was Tekamah in Burt County, Nebraska, a town of 1,852 people about 46 miles northwest of Omaha.

Construction workers Frankie McCandless and Keith Terwilliger – in town from Tennessee on a job – were eating lunch at the Subway sandwich shop on South 13th Street.

News21 asked them about the state of the country and both agreed that there are divides, but not along race lines.

The two men said issues in the country today are over jobs and the economy, and everyone is affected by them, creating frictions among different groups.

“The way I look at it, it ain’t just one color, it’s all colors…,” McCandless said. “Everybody needs to get out and get a job and pull their own weight.”

Some people are able to work and they still get government money and everything else, he said.

Terwilliger echoed his thoughts.

“Welfare and food stamps are well and fine, but they are made for a purpose, but not as a way of life,” Terwilliger said.

McCandless and Terwilliger applauded President Donald Trump, saying he’s doing a good job, especially when it comes to the economy.

They said they are hoping the divide in the country closes if the president succeeds at making the economy better.

“There are more jobs now than there have been in decades in this country,” Terwilliger said. “He is standing up for our manufacturers, our farmers, for our foreign trade. It has been totally lopsided. All the other countries put terrible tariffs on us.”

Terwilliger added that people are worrying too much about issues like immigration policies.

“Too many people are crying and moaning about every little thing,” Terwilliger said. “Everybody is just too tender. Everything upsets everybody.”

McCandless added: “Everyone needs to get along instead of fighting with each other.”

Down the road from the Subway, Larry Bucy was selling fireworks at a fireworks stand with the words “Tekamah Area Vet” written in red paint out front.

Bucy said the media was blowing news events out of proportion, creating divides.

“If you just look around, it seems like we’re OK,” he said. “Then if you watch the national news, it’s going to hell in a handbag.”

Driving closer to Omaha, the next stop was in Fremont, Nebraska, a booming town of 26,000 that has a Hormel Foods hog-processing plant that produces Spam and other products. In 2017, Costco broke ground for a chicken processing plant, which is scheduled to open in 2019.

Glen Ellis, 54, has lived in Fremont for 14 years and owns Milady Coffeehouse, in the city’s historic downtown.

“We’ve gotten away from civility,” he said. “When I grew up, the reds and the blues could talk and share different opinions and not have a hatred. It seems like it has gotten worse and worse. It seems like the older I’ve gotten, I sense it more.”

Ellis is running for the Fremont City Council. His goal, he said, is to help people feel welcome in his town regardless of who they are.

Fremont made national news in 2010 when the Fremont City Council passed an ordinance to prohibit renting to illegal immigrants. Additionally, the ordinance requires all new renters to purchase a $5 permit from the city and swear they have permission to live in the country legally.

The U.S. Supreme Court declined in 2014 to hear a challenge on the city’s ordinance and the law has been enforced since that year.

Ellis said his town is more than that and, in his campaign, he stresses that Fremont is a welcoming city. He pointed to the town’s Latino community, many of whom were drawn to the town because of the meatpacking plant.

“We got a lot of loving people here in Fremont,” Ellis said.

News21 fellows Catherine Devine, Penelope Blackwell and Lenny Martinez Dominguez contributed to this report.

Follow the News21 blog for updates as the team reports on the road.

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SIOUX FALLS, South Dakota — America’s early presidents would not be proud of the U.S. today, according to some tourists visiting Mount Rushmore in South Dakota.

On the seventh day of the News21 roadtrip, the fellows visited an iconic American site to talk with people about the state of hate in the country.

In the powerful presence of the stone-carved faces of four admired U.S. presidents, tourists discussed race issues and America’s current political divide.

Jeff and Janet Smith from Michigan, perched on a bench to take in the famous mountain.

“Being here at Mount Rushmore just levels me so much,” Janet Smith said. “Our country needs to go back to what the founding fathers stood for. We need to be together and not 100 different groups fighting for our own thing. If you’re going to be here, be American like the founding fathers were. You came here for a reason, be dedicated.”

Her husband, Jeff, said the country has a long way to go with race problems, but the political problem is “huge,” too. He said the media is spurring the tension by showing all negatives and no positives.

“There are as many positive people in the country as there are negative and we always show the negativity,” Jeff Smith said. “You can persuade people to think one way if that’s the only way you show it.”

Looking at the mountain, he said the founding fathers wouldn’t be proud of the country today. If there were “men of their caliber today, we could be united again,” he added.

“The presidents here at Mount Rushmore could straighten out America,” he said. “America doesn’t have as strong of a leader today. We have too many ego politicians that are all about themselves and these guys weren’t. They were about building America.”

Charles Smith from Orlando, Florida, echoed the thought that politics is currently dividing the nation.

“The left is opposed to our president who we fully support,” Smith said. “They’re not doing what’s good for America. I think the founding fathers would be upset with the divides.

“Ninety-one percent of the media is reporting on Trump negatively,” he added. “The media has the Trump effect. People criticize Trump for tweeting, but that’s the only way he can reach the people, because the media won’t report what he’s saying accurately.”

Teacher’s aide Phil Dempsey from LakeLand, Florida, applauded efforts made today to deal justly with every culture, but he said political and racial divides are getting in the way.

“It’s really hard for African Americans no matter where they are,” Dempsey said. “They are racially profiled. Police come into neighborhoods and stop them for no reason. It’s always been bad but there is just more attention on it now and it’s bringing it to the forefront.”

Despite the divides in America, Dempsey said the early leaders of the country would be proud of certain aspects of America today.

“They would be proud of the economics of the country but there are things we could still change racially,” he said. “I don’t think they would be proud of the immigration policies at the moment, with families being separated at the border.”

Steve Mellado, of Michigan, on vacation with his wife, Brandy, and four children, said how children are raised affects whether they will feel hatred against people who are different from them.

“As you can see, we’re diversified, multi-colors and multinationals,” Steve Mellado said, pointing to his own mixed family. “There are political and racial divides and there always will be. It’s like that in every country. I think the hate is more media-driven at the moment.”

He added that these times are different in another way – hate is spread more widely and easily because of social media.

About 300 miles east of Mount Rushmore, the News21 SUV pulled up outside a lesser, but venerable, roadside attraction: The World’s Only Corn Palace.

The palace, in the heart of Mitchell, was built in 1892 as a way to prove to the world that South Dakota had a healthy agricultural climate.

About 500,000 tourists come from around the nation each year to see the corn murals.

Among them was Lauren Langston of Virginia, who is traveling the country in an RV with her husband, Devon. She said she likes that America is a melting pot, saying it’s part of its character, and always will be.

Langston added that although there are “divides among every group at the moment,” it’s important to remember our nation’s history, and that racial segregation wasn’t that long ago. She remembers her mother telling her about whites-only drinking fountains.

“Racial tensions don’t just go away because laws are made. It takes time,” Langston said. “It’s the same with gay marriage. Just because it was legalized doesn’t mean everyone feels great about it. If you want to change people’s minds you have to do it by getting to know people and having love and compassion for them.”

News21 fellows Brandon Bounds, Penelope Blackwell and Lenny Martinez Dominguez contributed to this report.

Follow the News21 blog for updates as the team reports on the road.

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LARAMIE, Wyoming — As the News21 road warriors cruised through the West, they saw the attitudes change with the landscapes.

In Elko, Nevada, a casino town of 20,000 people, several residents said there were no major tensions or divisions in their town.

Janet Peterson, who works at the Cowboy Arts and Gear Museum in Elko, said while there is a climate of hate in America, Elko is very welcoming. She said it is home to about 5,000 Hispanic immigrants.

“They keep to themselves,” she said.

But she sees value in their presence: “There’s a good Mexican store a few blocks away, I can’t remember what it’s called, but I go there because I like the tamales.”

There are problems with hate in America, Peterson said, “but I don’t think it’s one skin color versus another, or one culture versus another.”

Across the dusty Elko bridge, the News21 SUV tracked down the recommended tamales at La Unica Mexican Market.

Patricia Sanchez, a Mexican immigrant who lives in Elko with her family, had a different view of the town, going back a couple of decades.

“I experienced racial bias when I was working here in the 2000s,” Sanchez said. “I was a manager and an American woman didn’t like that I told her what to do. I would ask her to do something and she would ask ‘why?’ and said that I was a Mexican and that she didn’t have to listen to me. It was really tough.”

Sanchez said she worries about the national temperature.

“I’ve seen more racism and discrimination with our current president, who calls us ‘Indians’ that have come to take American jobs,” she said. “Many times, we Latinos do the work that Americans don’t do.”

The News21 SUV headed 230 miles east to Salt Lake City in Utah.

Along the endless I-80, the landscape quickly changed from gray-orange to green as trees and rivers hugged the highway into Utah.

In Salt Lake City, the News21 SUV pulled up outside the Utah Capitol where an estimated 2,500 people were protesting President Donald Trump’s immigration policies, mandating the separation of children from immigrant parents. It was one of more than 700 protests across the country that day calling for families to be reunited.

Lisa Corsetti from Heber City, Utah, said the president’s policies promote hatred and separation between groups.

“Donald Trump has subtle ways of promoting the hatred of certain groups, like calling immigrants animals and saying that they are infesting our country,” Corsetti said. “That is all hate speech that promotes a mob mentality. We’re better if we love people and take people for who they are and not how they look or who they love.”

Corsetti said she believes the president has given permission for hate speech.

“Hatred in America has always been below the surface, but because of Donald Trump, it is now acceptable for people to say they hate people,” Corsetti said. “I’m not proud of America. I’m not going to fly my American flag on the Fourth of July. Instead I’m going to fly my resistance flag.”

Nayeli Huerta from Salt Lake City, who protested with her 16-month-old son Adarius, said she fears for her son’s future because he is biracial.

“There is a lot of brutality and violence and I fear that could be a problem for him, just because of who he is,” she said.

She is hoping it gets better, but for now, she said “it’s worse than the past.”

“In Salt Lake City, there are a lot of racial and political divides,” she added. “I’m not as proud of America as I used to be.”

Brianna Manzanares, a sociology student at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, interviewed at the protest, said her roller derby team strives for diversity and inclusion, but not everyone agrees on some of today’s cultural issues.

“There are divides all across the board,” Manzanares said.

There are those who don’t believe in LGBTQ rights, those that believe that being transgender is inhumane, she explained. One person said having these beliefs is too much for 2018.

Still, Manzanares described Salt Lake City as more open to diverse communities than 10 years ago.

“There is a strong LGBTQ community and there are a lot of immigration programs,” she said. “Salt Lake City has become an inclusive place for everybody, and while there is more work to do, we are taking steps in the right direction.”

After Salt Lake City, the News21 road warriors headed toward greener pastures in Wyoming.

About 150 miles east of Salt Lake City, the SUV stopped outside the Little America hotel on Interstate 80. The location is surrounded by mountains.

Technician Mike Smith and his wife Tirzah, a second grade teacher, were with their church youth group on a road trip to Martin’s Cove, a historic site on the Mormon Trail in Wyoming.

They expressed pride when talking about their diverse home community, Orem, Utah.

“People from Mexico, Brazil, South Africa, Romania live all within three of four blocks of where we live,” Mike Smith said. “Pride is a choice. Friends are friends. You should consider all your neighbors your friends.”

The couple also spoke of frictions beyond their own Utah community of 90,000 people.

“Throughout the whole world there is diversity, but that doesn’t have to divide people,” Mike Smith said. “There will always be small pockets of people who are screaming about the squeaky wheel and they’ll get all the oil. That’s what you hear on the news. It’s a bunch of junk. You don’t see all the anger that you hear on the news. I don’t think the media is creating the hate, but they publicize what they think will sell. It’s just natural. I don’t see the tension that the media reports. I love America. I wish the squeaky wheels would grow up and realize that there is no difference between everybody. The majority of Americans are the best thing in the world. We have a lot of diversity, the people are as different as the landscapes.”

About 100 miles east, the News21 SUV stopped at a fluorescent fireworks business “in the middle of nowhere,” according to brothers Nate and Ross Melchio who run the store at Creston Junction in Wyoming.

The fireworks store, which has been opened for 55 years, stands isolated near I-80, with its only neighbor – an abandoned gas station. The business has its busy times, the brothers said, and a cross-section of American society stops by the store. Many people cross the border from other states to buy their fireworks, especially around July 4.

Nate Melchio said there is “always friction” between people, but that “it’s mostly political and racial at the moment.”

Still, Melchio said, “I am proud of America still though because there is opportunity for people to run businesses like what I’m doing here now. You can make your future better if you are willing to work hard.”

His brother, Ross, added that there is hate wherever you go.

“The media puts out that African-Americans and the LGBTQ community are the most targeted,” but he said he still views America as “a country of freedom and diversity.”

Back on the road again, the News21 SUV headed toward a night’s rest in Laramie, Wyoming, a community of more than 32,000 people.

Outside Laramie, there is no sign of civilization, with vast green fields stretching for miles. Small lakes abutt the roads, and hundreds of cows dotting the fields in the distance.

The town is near where Matthew Shepard, a student at the University of Wyoming was beaten, tortured and left to die near Laramie on the night of Oct. 6, 1998. It has been described as one of the worst anti-gay hate crimes in American history.

Shepard’s murder garnered international attention and spurred federal hate crime legislation. In October 2009, the U.S. Congress passed the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act.

Buck Ward, who runs the Buckhorn Bar & Parlor, declined to comment on the legacy of Matthew Shepard, saying the event does not represent Laramie today.

“Hate and friction is everywhere around us. Even here in the bar, we disagree about politics,” Ward said. “I think Trump is a big (expletive). He’s out of touch with America and what Americans want. It’s the things he’s saying and not saying that is spurring hate.”

“There is a clear political and racial divide in America,” Logan Lee said. “Being an interracial couple, we see the race thing. Talking about it and hyping it up makes it worse for us. People have made comments to us, but it’s a lot better in Wyoming than in South Carolina when we go back home. Here, there isn’t the history of racial tensions.”

Fred Lee said he doesn’t have any worries as an interracial couple and the media has a huge influence on the public perception of hate.

“The media is making things a bigger deal than they are,” he said. “Everything becomes more heightened when the media can reach millions of people on their phones.”

News21 fellows Brandon Bounds, Penelope Blackwell and Lenny Martinez Dominguez contributed to this report.

Follow the News21 blog for updates as the team reports on the road.

The post <b>The State of Hate:</b> ‘You don’t see all the anger you see on the news’
appeared first on Hate in America.

ELKO, Nevada — Traveling along the famous dusty Winnemucca Road, the News21 SUV crossed through the gateway to the Nevada outback, the fellows taking in the last of the mountain air.

On the third day of the cross-country road trip, News21 traveled through “the Silver State” of Nevada to ask a small sampling of the 3 million residents about the climate of hate in America.

In a small coffee shop in Incline Village, a town of 8,777 on the Nevada side of Lake Tahoe, local resident Charlie White, who was sitting at the IV Coffee Lab, said there has always been friction in America, but people are now getting lost in the negative news stories.

“Love will always overpower any hate and misunderstanding that is happening in the world,” he said. “If you focus on love instead of hate and all the good things that happen in this country, you’ll see there is far more love in this country than there is hate.”

Sitting across the coffee table, White’s close friend Jeff Rauenhorst echoed the sentiment.

“I just came back from doing the Camino de Santiago, the pilgrimage in Spain, and everybody there was walking together on the same path and working together,” Rauenhorst said. “We are all just people walking this planet together. We have more in common than we have differences and most people just don’t realize that.”

A few miles down the road, at a site overlooking the blue expanse of Lake Tahoe, Nate Thomas from Boston, Massachusetts, said America can be a hostile place.

“We’ve gone backwards as a society,” Thomas said. “Racism, hate and segregation is not getting any better. It’s now more visible to everyone through the power of social media.”

About 35 miles east of Lake Tahoe in the center of the historic town of Virginia City, Paul Coombes handed out free samples of kettle corn to tourists outside Breck and Dave’s Kettle Corn Depot. When asked about attitudes and conditions in America today, he said his family has experienced hate.

“I come from an ethnic family. My daughter, Zoe, is half African-American, so I am very sensitive to the topic of hate,” Coombes said. “I think all races have a lot of work to do. It’s better than it used to be, but we have a long way to go.”

He said his daughter has been the subject of hate speech by a fellow student too young to have those opinions without prompting from home.

“That’s not something a child would think for himself,” he said.

Another 60 miles east, deeper into Nevada, Brian Baldwin, who supplies produce to gas stations and small stores in Lyon County, said America has become too political.

“America was pretty cool for quite a while there. You could go anywhere and do anything,” he said. “I had African friends who would make their traditional meals for us and Mexican friends who would make proper Mexican food. Today, you go and get sushi and you’re accused of cultural appropriation. People are too politically sensitive.”

The News21 SUV in now traveling farther into the Silver State of Nevada, heading toward Utah.

News21 fellows Brandon Bounds, Penelope Blackwell and Lenny Martinez Dominguez contributed to this report.

Follow the News21 blog for updates as the team reports on the road.

The post <b>The State of Hate:</b> ‘America was pretty cool for a while’
appeared first on Hate in America.