Sen. Gordon Smith is calling for passage of discrimination again.
The FBI reported in its annual report ?Crime in the United States 2003,? released last week, showed an increase in hate crimes last year.
?Hate crimes tear at the very fabric of our nation by intimidating entire groups of Americans,? Sen. Smith said. ?They target people because of who they are. It is an attack on their entire community, and the values of tolerance that we, as a nation, hold dear.
?Today?s report shows why it is imperative that we come together and pass legislation that protects all Americans. The government should be able to come to the aid of those who have been wronged and protect victims, but under current statute the federal government cannot, and we must change that.?
So far, Sen. Smith and Sen. Ted Kennedy?s attempts to pass bills giving more special consideration to hate crimes that lead to death or bodily injury have failed. Their failed attempts in 1999, 2001 and 2003 also tried to add protection for sexual orientation, gender and disability. A 1969 law already allows federal prosecution of hate crimes if the victim is engaged in six ?federally protected? activities.
If hate crimes ?tear at the very fabric of our nation,? certainly also do other crimes, which deprive persons of their rights to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness.
Hate crimes target persons because of ?who they are,? as if an impersonal robbery is somehow morally superior. Most assaults are certainly hateful too, but protecting a woman from her husband?s hate doesn?t appear as important to Sen. Smith as protecting certain special types of citizens.
Hate crimes are an attack on their entire community? How? Huh? Seems that crimes happen to individuals not communities.
Sen. Smith may be trying to say those individuals sit in their communities frightened and terrorized. In that case, Sen. Smith should do something to help reduce other forms of crime. Some neighborhoods can make the same kind of claim about run-of-the-mill burglaries, thefts, robberies and assaults, which have nothing to do with ?hate.? Those neighborhoods might be characterized the same way, and those crimes are no less immoral than hate crimes.
Hate crimes are an attack on the tolerance we as a nation hold dear. Yes, Sen. Smith is probably right. A single theft or criminal mischief, however, is an attack against another value our nation, people in Sen. Smith?s party, once held dear, the free market, the ability to trade freely. Sen. Smith?s legislation suggests that attacks on that particular value by those who will not work or take responsibility for their own lives is somehow less important than someone beaten over his skin color.
The report does not show why ?it is imperative we come together and pass legislation.?
What is imperative is that convicted criminals are truly punished instead of constantly being released with almost no consequences to their actions.
Sen. Smith should work to repeal the 1969 law. It oversteps proper boundaries between states and federal government.
He said the federal government ?should be able to come to aid of those who have been wronged and protect victims.? Sen. Smith seems to think these hate crimes are so bad they somehow become a federal problem while other crimes remain under the jurisdiction of the states, suggesting again that he does not consider other crimes as important.
Unfortunately for him, the black man killed or beaten by another black man for his shoes is just as dead or bruised as the black man killed or beaten by a racist over the color of his skin.
The black man might wonder why someone taking his shoes is less a crime to Sen. Gordon.
Such acts, motivated by hate or greed, are pure evil and remarkably enough, illegal already throughout the United States.
Sen. Smith wants to provide special treatment to benefit certain groups of people in certain situations. He wants the federal government to protect the black man beaten or killed for his skin color. He does not suggest the federal government step in when that black man is beaten or killed for his shoes.