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Hate Crimes on Rise, Warn US Groups
WASHINGTON - Leading civil rights groups today denounced the rise in hate crimes taking place in the United States, especially against Hispanics, and called for passage of a proposal that would ensure federal jurisdiction when local officials fail to act.
Hate crimes against Hispanics have risen steadily for the last four years, and crimes against African-American, Asian-American, and Jewish people, as well as gays and lesbians, all increased last year, according to FBI statistics gathered for its Uniform Crime Reporting Program.
In recent weeks alone several incidents have taken place, including the murder of 37-year-old Ecuadorian citizen Marcello Lucero by a group of Long Island teenagers, cross-burnings in New Jersey, and the timely arrest of skinheads planning to assassinate Barack Obama in Tennessee.
"The wave of hate that is seeping through our communities threatens the fabric of our nation and is costing lives. Americans will not be cowed by those trying to advance intolerance -- we must stand up to the presence of hate groups and extremists in our communities and speak with one voice to say we will not be dehumanized," argued Janet Murguía, director of the National Council of La Raza, the oldest and largest Hispanic-American civil rights organization.
MurguÃa was joined by representatives of African-American, Asian-American, and Jewish groups concerned about the rise in hate crimes, especially in the context of the election of Obama as president and the deteriorating economic situation.
Speakers at the Washington, DC press conference included Mark Moriel of the National Urban League, who stressed the importance of enforcing laws currently on the books.
"We fought long and hard" for these laws; they are not "ornaments" but rather "tools to be used" to prosecute those responsible for hate crimes, said Moriel, adding: "We will not remain silent" in the face of attacks on people due to their ethnic origin, religion, or gender.
Wade Henderson, CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, urged passage, "early on," of the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crime Prevention (LLEHCP) Act to expand the federal reach in the case of hate crimes, strengthen enforcement, and improve reporting of such crimes.
At present, local officials have wide latitude in defining what constitutes a hate crime, and depending on the local environment, may ignore many crimes meant to be covered under existing legislation.
The bill passed the House of Representatives last year but was dropped during negotiations in the Senate. Civil rights leaders are "optimistic" that the LLEHCP Act will be taken up early by the incoming Congress and administration, according to Henderson.
Need for new legislation, the panelists agreed, stems in part from the fact that local officials may be the very figures encouraging hate crimes; for example, speaking out against those perceived to be taking jobs or using or abusing services -- a major argument in the ongoing debate over immigration.
According to Peter Zamora of the Mexican American Legal Defense Fund, some leaders in Suffolk Country, where Lucero was killed, "have made a career of promoting hate."
Controversial media pundits such as Bill O'Reilly and Lou Dobbs and a rise in Internet-based sites promoting hate also play a key role in spurring individuals to commit racially or ethnically motivated crimes, according to the speakers.
The boys arrested for stabbing Marcelo Lucero to death, all under 18, had simply decided to "go beat up a Mexican," according to media reports.
"That hate that has trickled down to a new generation is very disturbing," said the National Council of La Raza's MurguÃa after Lucero's death, noting that the growing climate of hate surrounding the immigration debate was partly responsible.
"Words have consequences," she said, "and hateful words have hateful consequences."
28 Comments so far
Show AllThe O Reilly's, Limbaugh's, Dobbs and the rest of the xenophobic's that foment hate need to be taken to task for what they are. They are domestic, terrorists that hate black and brown America but hide behind either the flag or the church and have sold out for filthy lucre.
You took my comment. May I just add that the human limbic brain is eager to seize upon this us-versus-them mentality, and our STILL decider has branded THEM as being evil. What is the obvious course of action for a not-too-bright racist?
Free speech has limits. It may not be pleasant but I suggest you listen to some of this talk radio if you think they are merely harmless windbags.
Perhaps we should censor their programs, and send them to Guantanamo until they are re-educated?
The adverse reaction of the SA portion of the population is truly not surprising, as they have come to the slow realization that demographics and culture are now against them as they slowly slide towards irrelevance. Of course, their death throes will not be pretty, and despite the obvious schadenfreude at play here, due diligence is highly advised.
www.wunderman-comics.com
Some communities do not want to enforce "hate crimes" laws/prosecutions. Not sure why. Then there's the factor of police brutality and excessive force, which comes out of the same nonregard for people of color and others who are deeemed "different", including the disabled.
It's the anniversary of the murder by NYPD of Sean Bell. www.justiceforsean.net is the family's website.
This is again vastly overstated. And its being used by rascist groups to promote their agenda.
O'rilley and Limbaugh are no brainers as stated above, I have heard them deneigrate most everbody but I have yet to see or hear Lou Dobbs one time say anything hateful or xenophobic about illegal aliens or anyone else. Every time I've monotiered his show, I have heard nothing like what he is being accused of. Is there anyone here that knows of a specific show that I can see or broadcast I can listen to containing this stuff? I haven't seen that many of his shows so maybe I've missed it.
You all act as though racism is a new thing. This is the most racist country there is. It was founded on racism, and ethnocentrism...what else did you expect 230 years later? Americans are so blind to all of it because they have been living in a world of denial because we have all been taught that this is the land of "equality" and the land of the "free"...tell that to my ancestors. You have all been walking around in the dark, protecting the "ideals", and not acknowleging the facts. Now it is time to face the facts, and the facts are; that you are all racists in some way....white, black, yellow, red, brown, Chrisitan, Jew, Muslim, etc...doesn't matter the skin tones...you are all racist in some way, so what are you all going to do about it? That is the question....O'Riley, Hannity, Limbaugh, and the like are just the canaries in the coal mine...
That's an interesting comment. So.......my question is, what's the solution? Is there a solution? My personal solution is the USA in the rear view mirror. But that only solves the problem where I'm concerned. For those "left behind" what's the solution?
Hmm, care to name some countries that are less racist? France, maybe? (Burning Banlieus, half the prison population Muslim.) Japan? (World War II was basically a race war against the west.) Russia? (Chechyna, Dagestan, etc.) China? (Tibet, the Uighurs) Mexico? (Minim Pinguin, treatment of Indians.) Zimbabwe?
Ya, the US is so racist that we elect blacks to be president. Oh, the humanity...
Grappa
Maukwa, "You all act as though racism is a new thing"."This is the most racist country there is". I know this racism you refer to is potent, but by no means can you support your statement with facts. I go back quit a few years and know the racism of the pre- civil/rights act. I have traveled the world and there are many , many countries that appear to be as racially intolerant if not more, as this country.
The truth as I perceive the world, this nation has a race problem, but it has a class issue every bit as troublesome as race,
OK i know the people here will hate me for this, but there's also an increase of hate crimes against whites from other races as well. When this happens, the perpetrator's race is not disclosed in the news. In Seattle, we lost the Tuba man to a roving set of black thugs. Folks that prey on their own in their own community. If it was the other way around, it's splashed on the news.
I despise racists of every race, whether white, black, hispanic, etc. There are racists of every skin color out there. Let's be fair and honest and report them all. I won't tolerate hatred against whites any more than i would tolerate racism from whites against others.
I don't hate you for saying.
The news here in Texas seems to always be a Black person did this wrong, an Illegal immigrant did this sin, way too much disproportionate focus on certain groups when it seems to suit the media's purpose. Ie ..when the ranch and farm owners were scared about Illegals crossing the border..then all of a sudden its a new Mexican crime wave has hit..when actually nothing has changed but the amount of attention.
I couldn't understand how in some of these places where whites and hispanics outnumber blacks that blacks still wound up the focus ..or even Asians...for that matter...post 9/11?
Crime is crime..it all deserves punishment...
http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/hatecm.htm
BTW the crimes are published and broken down n 2 demographics ...Wasn't surprised because of how the media tends to slant things...I know that most majority for one reason or another don't make it into the media unless they stole money-Enron or did something heinous like the dragging death in Jasper......thanks to online reporting ..I can get the slant in the opposite direction or I can get equally weighted slants.. or just straight up social science... After viewing this..I still feel no better off than I started....The only thing that surprised me after going to the link was how much of crime was happening to each group and which two states had the biggest incidents!
This depends on your definition of racism. From a sociological perspective, racism is about power:
"In my class and place, I did not see myself as a racist because I was taught to recognize racism only in individual acts of meanness by members of my group, never in invisible systems conferring unsought racial dominance on my group from birth."
-Peggy McIntosh, "White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack"
Could it be a lot of people are tired of paying taxes so minorities can have more rights than others?
In Philadelphia the parents of hispanics expect the taxpayer to provide them with translators so they can help their kids in schools. Is this evening the playing field or giving the hispanics more services than others in the community?
Since the usa is regressing into a 3rd world status you can expect more hate crimes-just like the arabs and such who fight against different tribes and religions.
Crimes against the homeless are also increasing-what ethnic minority does that fit under?
"Hate" is an emotion. You can't legislate to change emotions any more than "Big Brother" of George Orwell's "1984" could change people's thinking by commissioning "Thought Police".
You can, of course legislate against the violence that arises out of hatred, and most countries (if not all) have long since done that. You can't fix the problem of laws that aren't being adequately policed simply by making new laws. But what you CAN do by creating so-called "hate laws" is hand a weapon to the extremist minority groups to use against the majority, so that anyone speaking against their actions - no matter how genuine, how well-reasoned and researched their case - can be accused of speaking "hate". Its a farce, serving only to provide a protective cover for those who want to manipulate society to their own ends to work under and to have their own actions and manipulations removed from scrutiny.
When, oh WHEN will the general public wake up to this con? to wake up to the powers they are handing these people on a plate? Power to remove topics from legitimate public debate FOR EVER on the blatantly stupid, unreasonble and even treasonous smokescreen that to publicly debate issues that concern every member of the community is somehow synonimous with "hatred"!
We don't NEED more law! We need proper policing of the ones we've got! We need magistrates that do more than slap someone over the wrist and say, "naughty, naughty". And we need to realise that if someone is attacked, beaten and left for dead in a dark alley, its just as serious if it results from hooliganism or gang behaviour as it is if its because the perpetrator doesn't like the victim's skin colour. ALL deserve the same protection at law from violence, not by virtue of being a member of a minbority group but simply by virtue of being human!
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Fellow victim of the Hegelian Dialectic
"Hate crimes against Hispanics have risen steadily for the last four years, and crimes against [...]"
OK, so how exactly does a reporting and statistical mechanism differentiate between a so-called "hate crime" and an act of violence that engenders no hatred? Can someone "in the know" enlighten us?
If a black person, or a hispanic person, or a homosexual, or an Asian, or a Jew, or a muslim is assaulted, is that assumed to be a "hate crime" because they happen to be a member of that minority group?
Does anyone happen to have the figures on whether acts of violence against white heterosexual atheists have increased or remained static during the last year? One assumes, from the article that they have remained static, since it is only (by inference) the "hate crimes" that have increased.
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Fellow victim of the Hegelian Dialectic
A law was passed in the Soviet Union soon after the Bolshevik revolution making "anti-semitism" a crime against the state. The Cheka (secret police) were 90% jews, indeed had been the main group pushing such a law. They used this law to arbitrarily arrest, torture and murder thousands upon thousands of mostly Christian peasants, sometimes burning them alive in groups inside their churches. The aim this time is to shut up people who are opposed to the Zionist Jew agenda of undermining our repubhlic through any and every means possible. A Zionist Jew owns/controls the company which publishes Websster's Dictionary, and in his publication has defined anti-semitism as opposition to Israel. If they get the right law passed, an American who doesn't think the Jew State is all that wonderful night be prosecuted under hate crime legislation. These Israelis are the very people who murdered our boys on the USS Liberty, and who stab America in the back on an ongoing basis. We should not reward their treachery by handing them another sword to stab us further.
What's next in your rant; "The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion" is a blue print for Jewish domination of the planet? Save your spewing for the Resistance Records message boards, they would appreciate your bile. You conveniently omit the fact that Stalin was rabid anti-Semite who's pathological paranoia towards Jews you want to emulate. The time of the dominance of your Sturmabteilung way of thinking is passing from the scene, and the only emotion I have towards you is schadenfreude.
www.wunderman-comics.com
I find it all too convenient that no one mentions the rise in hate crimes against whites. Our government and most ethnic groups seem to be okay with any hate crime directed at a caucasian target.
FYI - Being born white doesn't automatically make you a racist. However, continually excluding caucasians from lists of specific targets in hate-crime legislation might produce vastly different results.
Well said, MrSensible! You have expressed more concisely some of my thoughts in my previous 2 posts, just down the page.
There is an agenda here: Thesis, Antithesis, Synthesis!
The synthesis, as always is "loss of freedom".
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Fellow victim of the Hegelian Dialectic
Get real. Which group has the "track record" of collectively or as individuals, of exploiting, enslaving, dispossing, lynching, placing in concentration camps, etc. etc. etc. the other groups?
Appearing "real" and getting "real" aren't the same thing. You too are falling for the propaganda of main stream media.
Try googling "most slaves were white" for a perspective.
Then think long enough to look back over history to see the plain fact that bloody empires have arisen from many different, er... "groups".
It isn't the colour of your skin that determines whether you are prone to "exploiting, enslaving, dispossing, [sic] lynching, placing in concentration camps, etc.". It is the "love of money" [and therefore power] which is "the root of all evil"
Certain "groups" (I think that must be the politically correct word we have to use these days) have of course, through history demonstrated a fanatical "religious" bent to persuading others through violence. Look a little perceptively behind the obvious though and you'll find in the leaders who foment such violence the same lust for power and wealth.
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Fellow victim of the Hegelian Dialectic
I do not know, you tell me. I cannot think of any Americans alive today, of whatever race, who enslaved others, can you?
In the most recent case to be brought to court, a federal grand jury indicted six people in Immokalee on January 17th, 2008, for their part in what US Attorney Doug Molloy called "slavery, plain and simple" (Ft. Myers News-Press, “Group accused of keeping, beating, stealing from Immokalee laborers,” 1/18/08). The employers were charged with beating workers who were unwilling to work or who attempted to leave their employ picking tomatoes, holding their workers in debt, and chaining and locking workers inside u-haul trucks as punishment ("How about a side order of human rights," Miami Herald, 12/16/07).
http://www.ciw-online.org/slavery.html
for one...
All criminal acts are "Hate Crimes", you do not commit a crime against some one you truly Love, do you?