Introduction
Colin Ferguson was convicted of the December 7, 1993 shooting of 25 people aboard the Long Island Rail Road commuter train out of Penn Station at Merillon Avenue station in Garden City, New York, New York. He killed six and wounded nineteen before being stopped by three of the passengers: Kevin Blum, Mark McEntee, and Mike O'Connor. Ferguson's trial was notable for a number of unusual developments, including his firing of his defense counsel and insisting on representing himself and examining himself as a live witness.
Before the trial, William Kunstler and Ron Kuby attempted to argue that Ferguson was driven to mental illness through years of living in an oppressive and racist society. They argued that Ferguson's insistence on representing himself and not pleading insanity demonstrated his psychological incompetence to stand trial. Some argue that Ferguson's attack was a hate crime; however, the case was not prosecuted.
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A hate crime is a violent act against people, property, or organizations because of the group to which they belong or identify with. Hate crimes are committed against many different groups of people. Many hate crimes are based on racial or religious bias. Racial bias is the largest cause of hate crimes. Hate crimes are a specific type of crime committed against individuals or groups because of their race, religion, sexual orientation, gender, age, or
Vox’s news article clams that its happened again that a white police officer of unnecessary shooting killed a black man and was founded not guilty by court. Protests has erupted in St. Louise because of this verdict. Jason Stockley shot and killed Anthony Lamar Smith after an alleged drug deal, he claimed he was afraid Smith was reaching into his car to crab a gun. Although, prosecutors argued that Stockley had planted the gun to justify the killing. Prosecutors claimed they heard Stockley saying he was going to kill Smith on the police dashboard camera video but, Stockley’s defense insisted that he never said this and it is hard to make out in the video.
Plessy vs Ferguson : A Landmark case While I was researching the Plessy Vs Ferguson case I found many interesting facts. Plessy's life before the case was an average life he had many jobs . He worked as a shoemaker ,an insurance agent and clerk ,and he stepped onto the stage of history in June 1892 (Cassimere). One major problem he had in life was his race, he was considered to be Plessy was an “octoroon”—a person who had one black great-grandparent (Cassimere).
In the book Between the World and Me, author Ta-Nehisi Coates shares the experience of a traffic stop through the eyes of a Black man. Recounting a memory to his son, Coates explains, “They took my identification and returned to the squad car. I sat there in terror… At that point in American history, no police department fired its guns more than that of Prince George’s County” (Coates 75-76). Given the increasing number of stories arising of unjustifiable police brutality, when pulled over by the police, understandably, Coates was genuinely concerned that they may take his life away.
Police Brutality and Racial Profiling in the 21st Century In modern day society, racial discrimination and stereotypes are common and unavoidable. Especially in African American cultures and societies, they struggle with racism nearly everyday. Author Angie Thomas addresses these societal issues in her novel, The Hate U Give. Thomas describes the effects of such issues through Starr Carter and the death of her best friend Khalil Harris due to police brutality.
Long Island Railroad Massacre On December 7, 1993 Colin Ferguson boarded a Long Island commuter train at the Merillon Avenue station and open fired on unarmed passengers. Six were killed and nineteen were injured. Colin Ferguson was born on January 14, 1959 in Kingston, Jamaica to Von Herman and May Ferguson.
Plessy V. Ferguson The Plessy V. Ferguson trial was a civil rights case in Louisiana in the 1890’s concerning an African American man who refused to sit in a Jim Crow car. The courts ruled that Louisiana's separate but equal doctrine was constitutional; Ferguson won. This case affected humanity in a negative way culturally and politically. The trial established standards of “the separate but equal laws”.
Wilson was violent toward Brown and shot Brown several times even though Brown had already surrendered and put up his hands in the air. People who are on Brown’s side claim that a white police officer abused his power, and a sign of race discrimination among police officers. On the day of shooting, Michael Brown and Dorian Johnson went to Ferguson Market and Liquor Store where it was reported for robbery. According to Johnson 's attorney, Freeman Bosley, Michael was involved in shoplifting(CNN). The police released the video of Brown robbing and pushing a clerk of the store from the convenience store 's security camera.
In conclusion, the idea of racial profiling and the issues on racism in today’s society calls attention to sustain peace and ethnic equality within communities all across the nation and around the world. It is important to acknowledge that the main solution to change the issues on racial profiling and racism is among the duties of government authorities, law enforcement officials, and the people of a nation. Everyone, of any race, ethnicity, nationality, religion, or authority needs to understand that our voices and actions are capable of fixing the issues of racial injustice into a more fair environment to all people of color. Therefore, it is up to our knowledge and actions to help people understand that the solution to obtain racial equality
The argument for hate crime laws is supported by the Supreme Court’s ruling in Wisconsin v. Mitchell (1993) that hate crime laws punish conduct rather than thought.
Hate Crime is a “criminal offense against a person or property motivated in whole or in part by an offender's bias against a race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, ethnicity, gender, or gender identity.” If an African American commits the same crime as an Caucasian it is more likely for the black person to be charged and arrested due to the racial issues we have today. There are many pros and cons towards the issue of racial crime, but hate crime is still a very difficult issue for our country to overcome. In order to overcome the issue of hate crime it would require changing legislation, public and police attitudes.
Plessy Against The Court Think of a time when people were separated by the way they looked and the way they were born. During the twentieth century, many African Americans were discriminated because of their race and were separated from others in many ways. Others would determine where they belonged in society by the color of their skin. At this time, state legislatures promoted an act called the “Separate Car-Act” supporting that the 13th and 14th Amendment do not count against transportation separation. A man named Homer Plessy tested how far it takes to change the way the South is controlled.
Racism is an evil act that can destroy a society. The U.S is a nation of immigrants and, as such, it is a diverse society where racism has no place. In the past few years police officers in America have been discriminating against the black community. Police officers are meant to protect the public, not cause further damage and stress. They use over excessive force towards black people, target minorities and abuse their power.
In the recent news, everyone’s heard of the rise in hate crime. Most hate crime is “motivated by racial, sexual, or other prejudice, typically one involving violence,” (Dictionary.com). Hate crimes have spanned across the country and impact thousands of lives each year. The FBI started investigating hate crimes at the turn of the 20th century. The FBI define hate crime as, “criminal offense against a person or property motivated in whole or in part by an offender’s bias against a race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, ethnicity, gender, or gender identity,” (FBI).
The time in which we live is the age of communication and the speech or talking one of the important ways of communication and expression. There are different types of Speech and communicate, one of them hate speech. Hate speech means attacking a person or group based on different basis such as gander, religion, race, ethnic origin or nationality and disability. In the other hand, some of human rights treaties agree with freedom of speech or freedom of expression it could offend or disturb others so government of Countries placed laws of hate speech to avoid harms, troubles and problems. Over years Hate speech law became one of the most known laws in international law.
“Weather the crime in question is assault, theft, verbal abuse or even murder.” (crime museum) Hate crimes have not been a recent thing they date back to ancient civilization. An early example of a hate crime is like, Rosa Parks on the bus and she sat down when she was not aloud to . According to the Crime Museum “ The Romane Empire was part of a hate crime, which was well known for persecuting various religious groups.