Hate Crimes In America

We live in a society where gay marriage is legal, slavery and any form of discrimination is illegal, where murder of any kind is a crime that will not go unnoticed. Sounds like a great time to be alive doesn’t it? While we have progressed in some positive ways, there is negative progression as well. We have a man running for president who wants to deport and keep put Mexican immigrants, without any real good reason other than how he is racist and sexist. Two traits of humans which seemingly grew during the new imperialism period. There is now a ban on the southern flag because humans have found a way to connect that flag with racism when that isn’t what it directly represents. There are white supremacy groups (KKK) and other hate groups which target religious beliefs, different races, etc. We are changing the twenty dollar bill from Andrew Jackson to Harriet Tubman, when if you ask me it really doesn’t affect anyone that deeply when it comes to who is on our currency, it will be worth the same amount no matter who or what is on it. There is an array of shootings blamed upon officials being racist when in many cases that’s not why the individual was gunned down. That hatred towards each other that arose during the New Imperialism period has continued to stay, not in extreme ways, but it is there regardless. One day we may all be at

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.

The subject of hate crime and the validity of hate crime laws is a sensitive matter to many people. As a result, people tend to be divided into two groups, the first one is supportive of the laws and the second group opposes them. The laws of hate crimes might appear to be the solution; however they are not, therefore they should be revoked.

Hate crime laws are defined as a state law that involves threats, harassment, or physical harm and is motivated by prejudice against someone's race, color, religion, national origin, ethnicity, sexual orientation or physical or mental disability. The 1968 statute made it a crime to use, or threaten to use, force to willfully interfere with any person because of race, color, religion, or national origin and because the person is participating in a federally protected activity, such as public education, employment, jury service, travel, or the enjoyment of public accommodations, or helping another person to do so. However, in 2009, Obama signed the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act. This made it easier to prosecute criminals while also adding in gender, disability, gender identity, or sexual orientation.

White supremascists Shawn Berry Lawrence Russell Brewer and John King started a major racial controversy by murdering James Byrd Jr. It came as a shock to people when, for the first time in history, the press bothered to notice the lynching of a black man in Texas, society was astonished that they cared with such passion and vigor. Many American citizens found this appalling considering the country’s indifference to racial violence. Had it not been for the lynching of James Byrd Jr., the Hate Crimes Prevention Act would not exist, therefore countless acts of brutality would take place because there would not be any rules or resistance impeding them from committing the crime.

There’s going to be different charges for every case. The charges are going to be different. Punishments for hate crimes are going to depend on the case and how bad the crime is. There is going to be different charges for every case, but it’s going to depend on what the person did and what evidence they find. Steven Sandstorm and Gary Eye, of Kansas City, Missouri were sentenced multiple life sentences because of the “racially- motivated murder of William L. McCay.” The cases of Gary Eye and Steven Sandstorm are one of the many examples of what some of the charges could lead up to. Charges for hate crimes includes fines, probation, associated penalties, or incarceration. If the crime is violent the suspect could end up having multiple charges,

Hate Crimes are a very cantankerous subject but as far back as many can deliberate they have been happening. Whether it be a bombing, a beating or maybe even just a verbal assault on someone because they are Jewish or racial assaults because they are African-American or of colored decent. Even because of sexual preference these things happen. So why do hate crimes occur? They occur as a result of preconception and obliviousness. Hate crimes is a “lack of understanding about differences among people and their traditions contributes to fear and intolerance. Left unaddressed, these sentiments many often lead to acts of intimidation and ultimately hate-motivated violence”. (“Why Do Hate Crimes Occur?")

American History X tells the story of two brothers, Derek and Daniel Vineyard as they battle to discover truth within an increasingly diverse area in Venice Beach, Los Angeles. The eldest brother, Derek is paroled after serving 3 years in prison for killing two African American “thugs” who attempted to break into and steal his truck. We learn through Daniel’s narration that prior to going to prison Derek was a white supremacist, skinhead gang member that lead a number of violent racial crimes against other ethnicities within LA. Derek’s actions of hate crimes toward other ethnicities can be seen as a product of both his father’s views and an older Neo Nazi gang leader, Cameron, who took Derek under his wing after his father’s death. While

“necessary evil” in order to support the whims and pride of the white communities, along with the economic requirements of producing cotton and other luxuries (2).

Hate crimes exist because individuals or groups commit offenses that may or may not be with criminal intent. Hate crime laws impose tougher penalties on criminals who target people because of their race, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, or disability. If a criminal assaults a person because that person is Muslim, for an example, the crime would likely be a hate crime. I am opposed to hate crimes against any group of people. My source of information will support my opinion as in the case of the Charlie Hebdo attacks in the United Kingdom in January of 2015. This was a deliberate hate crime with criminal intent. On January 7, 2015, at about 11:30 local time, two brothers, Said and Cherif Kouachi, forced their

the Bureau released its latest Hate Crime Statistics report—this one containing data for 2015—that includes information detailing the offenses, victims, offenders, and locations of hate crimes. Additional findings in Hate Crime Statistics, 2015 include the following:

Modern America along with the world, is becoming increasingly more accepting of diversity; meaning more of us are freely expressing ourselves. There will always be conflict about beliefs and feelings towards one another. Most people keep their own beliefs to themselves, then there is the type of individuals that feel they must put their beliefs into action and hurt others or destroy things to get their point across. Those actions performed by that type of person are called hate crimes. Hate crimes have significantly increased over the past few years and are getting worse each day. Statistics from 2016 show that the ‘frequency of hate crimes in America are increasing as the frequency of regular crimes in America are decreasing’ (FBI 1).

Every hour, a crime motivated by the perpetrator’s bias against the victim occurs in the United States. These hate crimes terrorize whole communities by making members of certain classes - whether racial minorities, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, religious minorities or people who are perceived to be members of these groups afraid to live in certain places and be free to move about in their community and across the country. A crime motivated by racial, sexual, or other prejudice, typically one involving violence, this is called hate crimes. In the year of 2012, 5,796 hate crimes incidents that involved 6,718 offenses were reported, down 426 incidents and 536 offenses happened from 2011(Toolkit). Hate Crimes can happen anywhere

White Supremacy; “the belief that white people are superior to those of all other races, especially the black race, and should therefore dominate society.” (Blau, J. R., & Bonilla-Silva, E., 2002). Throughout history, there are many occurences with white supremacist groups targeting the minority groups of the United States, whether it was because of their religion or the color of their skin that was inferior to the average white male. “White supremacy is known for its ruthless treatment of other racial groups, and for its enforcement of a superior race” (Adams, J., & Roscigno, V. J., 2005). In the late 1800’s, there were many different racial groups living in the United States, some including the “civilized” and “uncivilized”. The creation of the white racial hierarchy had to occur in order to categorize the United States, preventing disorder . However, because of the terrible creation of “acceptable terrorism” in America, the inequitable racial structure created by the rich white male, and the unjust atmospheres where black citizens experienced social injustices because of the melanin in their skin, it is apparent that white supremacy groups, like the Ku Klux Klan, in the United States had a negative impact on the communities of color, especially Africans & African-Americans, within the American society. In America, white supremacy was terrible, with its humanitarian threats toward the public. When placed under different conditions and white bias, the creation of acceptable

The way we view racial groups is greatly influenced by the events that involve or surround that race. If the event surrounding a race is negative, then our views of that race will also become negative, this is no different for Muslim Americans. In Ferguson’s article “Muslims in America”, it talks about how Americans despise and discriminate against Muslim Americans, they make all these assumptions about their background and religion and yet they don’t know a single thing about Muslims themselves. Sociologist C.Wright Mills introduces the idea that we are able to “grasp the connection between history and biography, he called it the sociological imagination (Henslin, 2014, p.2). What Mills is saying is that the area that we grew up and the events