Hate Crimes

[Pah]

FBI: More than 7,400 hate crimes last year

Monday, November 22, 2004 Posted: 11:55 AM EST (1655 GMT)
http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/11/22/hate.crime.ap/index.html

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Over 7,400 hate crime incidents occurred nationwide last year, more than half of them motivated by racial prejudice most often against black people, the FBI reported Monday.

Hate crimes motivated by anti-black racial bias totaled 2,548 in 2003, more than double such crimes against all other racial groups combined. There were 3,150 black victims in these cases, including four who were murdered, according to the annual FBI report.

The overall total of 7,489 hate crime incidents reported in 2003 was slightly above the number reported in 2002. Nearly two-thirds of the crimes involved in such cases are intimidation, vandalism or property destruction.

But there are also hundreds of violent crimes, including 14 murders. There were more than 2,700 assaults, 444 bias-related robberies, burglaries and thefts, and 34 arson incidents.

The report shows that crimes categorized as anti-Islamic remained at the about same level in 2003 -- 149 crimes -- as the year before. There had been a spike in such crimes immediately after the 2001 terror attacks, helping drive the overall hate crime number much higher that year.

By far the most hate crimes based on religion were directed at Jews, with 927 incidents in 2003, about the same as in 2002.

The report also found more than 1,200 hate crimes based on sexual orientation, including 783 against male homosexuals. That included six murders.

The FBI hate crimes report is drawn from information submitted by more than 11,900 law enforcement agencies around the country. Only about 16 percent of those agencies reported any hate crimes in their jurisdictions during 2003.

 

[Engyo]

I would be really interested to see a deeper study done on these statistics. What were the motivating factors, beyond the obvious one of the selected target? Were there religious motivations, or ethnic/racial ones? Were these acts personal or dogmatic? Were they done under emotional stress or intoxication of some sort? How much mob mentality was involved? How many perpetrators have feelings of remorse later?

 

[Dadball]

Anger, hostility, resentment and aggression are all rooter in fear.

 

[Engyo]

So, why are all of these people afraid? Why are people afraid of homosexuals, or blacks?

 

[Sunstone]

Is it simply a matter of how people are raised, brought up, and taught from a young, uncritical age to fear and hate some group of people?

 

[Engyo]

I don't know. I am a straight white guy, 45 years old. I live in a small mixed neighborhood, hidden away in one of the worse areas of Houston, TX. I have lived within a mile of here since 1986. I have never had any problems with black people. I have never had any problems with homosexuals, male or female. I have numerous friends, acquaintances and co-workers in both groups. I just don't know how to tell people that most of this stuff is all in their heads.....For example, I was at the gas station a few weeks back. A white man approached me (the only other white person visible) and asked for a couple of bucks for gas "so he could get out of this neighborhood alive". I stared at him dumbfounded, and asked him what was wrong with this neighborhood? I told him I had lived here for almost 20 years, and there was nothing dangerous around here. He looked at me like I had lost my mind, and almost ran to get away from me. How can I help someone like that? Giving him money will only reinforce his image of the area........How could I have helped him to understand that the only danger was his own fear?

 

[Sunstone]

Sounds like you stumbled across one very closed-minded individual, Engyo. It reminds me of the old adage "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink." If someone is determined to cling to their fear and hatred of some group of people, they will find all sorts of "reasons" why that fear and hatred is "rational". There is not much you can do about someone who is unwilling to learn, IMHO.

 

[Dadball]

How could I have helped him to understand that the only danger was his own fear?

All we can do is plant seeds by our actions. The seed may never grow, or it may grow and we will never get to it, but it won't grow if we don't plant it.

 

[Pah]

Sounds like you stumbled across one very closed-minded individual, Engyo. It reminds me of the old adage "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink." If someone is determined to cling to their fear and hatred of some group of people, they will find all sorts of "reasons" why that fear and hatred is "rational". There is not much you can do about someone who is unwilling to learn, IMHO.

Perhaps, in the case of that particular individual the saying should be "You can lead a horse to water, but if you can't make him drink, drown him"

Bob

 

[Simon the Cat]

I think it all relates back to this fear that there may not be enough for everyone and the guilt associated with that fear. It is easier to exclude people you don't like/think are deserving/equal etc....

"freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose...."

 

[huajiro]

I have lived in many areas with no white people (and I am white) and had no problems what so ever. I know exactly how you feel. I actually lived in Tijuana, Mexico for 3 years. I remember story after story of Americans that said that they were "ripped off" by Mexicans. I have crossed the border more than 4500 times, and have only had problems when I was basically really drunk and looking for trouble, or with Americans in Mexico.

My point is, that the people who report these crimes are the ones giving their side. Many of these reports are not true.

 

[Ardhanariswar]

So, why are all of these people afraid? Why are people afraid of homosexuals, or blacks?

its all grown from tradition and what people believe is right. white supremacists dont even view people of color as people. when we use labels, we dehumanize. people lose thier identitiy and become generalized into a stereotype.

for example, when americans saw how osama bin ladin wore a turban, many became hostile to sikhs in america, even though they are not muslim, even fundamentals.

thank god i live in NH, a friendly (though mostly white) place. i really didnt have any trouble after 9/11.

 

[Melody]

Anger, hostility, resentment and aggression are all rooter in fear.

You can hate without fearing the thing you hate.

 

[Ardhanariswar]

we hate because we misunderstand. homophobia... even serious phobias like aracnephobia, even though the majority of spiders in n. america are harmless. bad example i think. phobias are mostly the result of a psychological disorder.. but anyways... we fear beacuse of ignorance. our lack of knowledege about anything. how lots of americans hate islam because of 9/11, even though the attackers were fundamentlaists, interpretting the quran in a radical and incorrect way.

 

[michel]

It is hard to understand racial intollerance - ethnic intollerance - surely, our beloved Televisions portray Blacks, Chinese, Japanese, Indians - martians ? - as part of daily life. Engyo, your "So, why are all of these people afraid? Why are people afraid of homosexuals, or blacks ?" I guess must be the root cause - but it is one that is alien to me. I cannot 'visualize' it - it is beyond my ken.

 

[BUDDY]

Perhaps, in the case of that particular individual the saying should be "You can lead a horse to water, but if you can't make him drink, drown him"

Bob

Wouldn't that be a hate crime though.

Personally, I have never understood why anyone makes a distinction between a "hate" crime and any other crime. If someone does something violent against someone else, then I would think there is some hatred there regardless of race. What people are really talking about is predudicial crime. I think a crime is a crime. To seperate them and dish out harsher penalties because someone decides to classify it as a "hate crime" is to ignore the fact that it is the crime itself that is wrong. People can think and feel whatever they want. There is no crime in it. It is when people turn there anger into action that we lock them up. Otherwise we are penalizing people for their thuoghts and beliefs and that is certainly unconstitutional, isn't it?

 

[Scuba Pete]

I hate bigotry.

I hate the evil it brings to the world.

I don't hate the bigot.

 

[Pah]

Wouldn't that be a hate crime though.

Personally, I have never understood why anyone makes a distinction between a "hate" crime and any other crime. If someone does something violent against someone else, then I would think there is some hatred there regardless of race. What people are really talking about is predudicial crime. I think a crime is a crime. To seperate them and dish out harsher penalties because someone decides to classify it as a "hate crime" is to ignore the fact that it is the crime itself that is wrong. People can think and feel whatever they want. There is no crime in it. It is when people turn there anger into action that we lock them up. Otherwise we are penalizing people for their thuoghts and beliefs and that is certainly unconstitutional, isn't it?

There is a principle of criminal law that looks at motive and makes a judgement based on motive. There is a tremendous disparity in the punishment handed out in the various cases of someone killing another.

 

[Original Freak]

Not all crimes are done because of hate. If you rob someone it's more along the lines of greed, necessity, desperation or many other reasons, but I doubt hate has much to actually do with it. Hate crimes are done specifically to punish someone for looking a certian way or having a certian life style.

 

[Fluffy]

I hate bigotry.

I hate the evil it brings to the world.

I don't hate the bigot.

I respect this attitude very much and feel bad that I often fall short of such an ideal. I find that my hatred of bigotry rises the most, not over hate crimes themselves, but the reaction of the bigoted community to hate crimes. This callousness and cruetly over such tragic events is enough to push me to the edge sometimes.

I honestly did not realise there were that many hate crimes per year before viewing these statistics. A bit of an eye opener. I don't suppose anyone knows of the distribution of hate crimes across America?

Edit: By the way, the link to the original news story didn't work for me but that is probably just my internet screwing up or something.