The most obvious parallel is how white racism still exists in American society. Racist attitudes are the root cause of acts motivated by racism, making them excellent indicators of future hate crimes. One of the most known hate crimes is slavery. The first notable instance of slavery is in 1472 when the Portuguese negotiated the first slave trade agreement (Smith 1995). By taking advantage of racial power disparities, the slave trade pact between the Portuguese and the Kingdom of Benin in 1472 represents a type of white supremacy. Fundamentally, white supremacy justifies the dominance of white people by claiming that white people are inherently superior to those who are not white. In this pact, the Portuguese used their military strength and technological advantage to create a trading network that deliberately degraded and exploited African people out of commercial reasons and a desire to increase their dominance (Launching the Portuguese). The Portuguese helped to spread the idea that individuals of African origin were nothing more than commodities to be traded, purchased, and used as labor slaves by exchanging European products for Africans held in slavery. With Africans being forced to endure the horrors of slavery and white Europeans acting as the traders' protectors and supporters, this system served to further entrench power structures based on race. Thus, the 1472 agreement provides a striking example of how the transatlantic slave trade's racial relationships of power were used to establish and maintain white supremacy (Launching the Portuguese). Racism used to be just as common as it is now. It was demonstrated by cultural and institutional behaviors. Black Codes, anti-Asian laws, and Indian Relocation schemes were examples of government practices that promoted institutional racism. Policies of this kind were encouraged and supported by social sentiment. It