Feelings on Hate Crimes
Feelings on Hate Crimes
Hate crimes are toxic in our community and everywhere. There are numerous instances of verbal, physical, and emotional abuse each year. The consequences of the hate crimes have been and are horrible for both the abuser and victims. As Andrew Sullivan once said in The New York Times Magazine, “ A free country will always mean a hateful country. It is reality, and while we need not endorse it, we should not delude ourselves into thinking we can prevent it”. Although this quote is true we should very much try and prevent hate and always remember that discrimination kills.
On June 7, 1998 James Byrd Jr. was chained to the back of a pick-up truck and dragged three miles to his death. James was killed by William King who was 24 and a white supremacist, anti black and anti Semitic. King and two friends killed James because it was part of a bonding ritual in their fledging supremacists group.
There are many instances of hate crimes each year. In 1993 William L. Childs was killed by a group of teenagers in Blue Valley Park, Kansas City. He was beaten, shoved, stabbed, and his head was smashed into a rock just because he was gay. Five years ago a gay man named Reed started receiving harassing phone calls. During those phone calls someone once said, “I know where you live” and another caller said, “Were going to kill you”. not much later Reed was struck by a full beer bottle. Buford Furrow Jr. calmly walked up to a Filipino American, casually asked him to mail a letter, and shot him on the spot. That was right after he had just walked into a Jewish Community Center and shot at kindergartners.
Not only the people that are being abused are the victims but so are they’re family, friends, and relatives. For example, when William King had an opportunity to say something to James Byrd JR’s family he smirked and uttered an obscenity. King bragged to an accomplice that “I have made history”. There are numerous consequences for victims of hatred. Reed had to move three times in five years to avoid the harassing phone calls and physical abuse. The consequences of hate can go from that to death. Studies show that in 1985 there were eleven mentions of hate crimes. In 1990 there were more then a thousand and...