Cyndi Loza

Hate crimes and white supremacist organizations will be discussed at Sage Ridge School on Thursday.

Professor Keith Akins of New Mexico State University will discuss group violence, hate crimes and terrorism with Sage Ridge School upperclassmen. Students in grades nine through 12 will learn about groups such as the Klu Klux Klan and the Aryan Nations.

The event is not open to the public.

“They’re out there among us, and by and large they only get covered by the mainstream media in cycles,” Akins said. “They don’t go away, but people think they go away if they don’t hear about them for a while.”

As a specialist in hate crimes and group violence, Akins said he hopes to give students a better definition of the types of terrorist groups in existence and its practices.

“I’m hoping that they come to an understanding that not all terrorists are from overseas; there are some that we produce here in our own society,” Akins said.

Longtime activist Dolores Feemster, 77, said she thinks more discussion about discrimination is needed in the community because “we’re still kind of behind the times as far as understanding.

“I mean, we’ve gone a long way, but I truly think we have a long way to go.”

As a graduate of Damonte Ranch High School, Garcia Emmanuelle said she noticed subtle racism would go undetected.

“I think that’s the main problem — we really don’t recognize it as students, and we let it continue if it is happening,” said Emmanuelle, now a sophomore at the University of Nevada, Reno.