Colorado Springs Gazette
It has been 11 years since Matthew Shepard was beaten, tied to a lonely Wyoming fence, and left to die because his attackers hated gay men. That same year, James Byrd, Jr., was dragged to his death behind a pickup truck in Jasper, Texas, a victim of a racially motivated crime. One of Byrd’s attackers wore tattoos including the image of a black man hanging from a tree.
Shepard and Byrd were not the only victims of those horrible crimes. In both cases, the murderers were not simply committing a crime against Shepard or Byrd; they were sending a chilling message to everyone who shared the characteristics of the victims — to every American who is gay or black. “You, and anyone like you, are not welcome here,” the perpetrators said through their hateful violence. “You, and anyone like you, are not safe here.” In fact, they were sending that message to all Americans.
The most recent FBI statistics show that there were 7,624 hate crimes in 2007. That’s almost one hate crime for every hour of every day. Most of those crimes were based on race, and many victims were targeted because of their religion, ethnicity or sexual orientation. Crimes against Latinos are on the rise, fueled in part by demonizing rhetoric about undocumented immigrants.
It took a long time, but now — finally — the United States Congress has sent a resounding message of support to victimized groups, a serious warning to those who would be perpetrators and a statement of safety and security to all who live in this country. Last week, Congress passed the “Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act,” and sent it to President Barack Obama, who has indicated that he will sign it into law.
All violent crimes shatter the peace, and all victims deserve justice. But, just as crimes against police officers have a widespread impact beyond individual incidents and receive separate treatment under the law, hate crimes also have a broad effect on the fabric of our society.
In its findings for the new law, Congress specifically mentioned that bias-motivated crime devastates not only the individual victim but “savages the community sharing the traits that caused the victim to be selected.”
Hate crime laws protect us all from bias-motivated violence. Whether any one of us is black or white, Latino or Middle-Eastern, Jewish or Christian, gay or straight — if we are targeted because of our race, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity or disability, this law covers us.
This new law will allow local law enforcement agencies to request additional resources from the federal government when a hate crime occurs.
It also provides authority for the federal government itself to prosecute some violent crimes directed against individuals because of their sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, or disability, authority the federal government never had before.
State hate crimes laws are a patchwork. Five states do not have any hate crimes laws. Of those that do, many do not cover sexual orientation, gender, gender identity or disability. If a locality cannot or will not prosecute a hate crime, federal authorities now will be able to act.
Some people decry hate crimes laws as attempts to legislate thought. Not true. Hate crimes laws apply only to criminal activity: assaults, murders, property crimes, criminal threats or harassment. No one can be prosecuted simply for thinking hateful things, or for expressing them out loud. As odious as hate speech is, it is still protected by the First Amendment of the United States Constitution. It is only when a perpetrator goes beyond hateful speech to take criminal action or incite others to do so that the hate crime law will be triggered.
Every person living in this country should feel safe and secure from hate-motivated violence. At long last, this new law is a major step forward in helping that part of the American dream come true.
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DeBoskey is the Mountain States regional director of the Anti-Defamation League.