This letter was published in the December 4th edition of The Denver Post

Re: “Chilling messages come knocking,” Dec. 2 news story.

Denver Post readers may have gotten the impression from your article that hate crimes on private property cannot be prosecuted. That is not the case in Colorado. Colorado’s bias-motivated crime law covers any crime committed with the intent to intimidate or harass another person because of that person’s actual or perceived race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, physical or mental disability, or sexual orientation. Hate crimes, like the carving of a swastika on the apartment door of an African-American man in Clear Creek County, must be condemned and should be prosecuted whenever possible, to make it clear to all Colorado residents that our state is no place for hate.