Was Samuel generous in his description of his own people the Lamanites? No. He said, “[T]he Lamanites hath [God] hated because their deeds have been evil continually, and this because of the iniquity of the tradition of their fathers.” Some might view this as hate speech, but Samuel was describing his own people and maybe even himself. Samuel essentially was saying, “God hated us because we did not keep the commandments.” That is not hate speech—that is a confession. Samuel wanted the Nephites to look at themselves and realize they were in a similar situation. If they did not shape up, it was not going to be any better for them.
Book of Mormon Central, “Why Did Samuel Say the Lord “Hated” the Lamanites? (Helaman 15:4),” KnoWhy 186 (September 13, 2016).
S. Michael Wilcox, “Samuel the Lamanite,” in Encyclopedia of Mormonism, Daniel H. Ludlow, ed., Macmillan Publishing Company, NY 1992.