Combatting Hate Crimes: a Path to Unity

Imagine you are a family member of a group of adolescent teens who were bullied not only from peers, but in society as a whole. Envision a family’s angst when they discover that the only reason they are being bullied is because of their Arabic heritage. What if these same young teens are killed because of their identity? It is often revealed on the news that innocent human beings are executed due only because of their religion, race, or sexual orientation, but they might never anticipate that it could be their time soon.

Hate crimes have drastically changed how certain people live their everyday lives; some live in fear of what may occur next. The intricacy of hate crimes is a major concern in the U.S. such as crimes committed on college campuses, public arenas, and other venues against those of different races, religions, and sexual orientation. Consequently, the tension and social uproar that is created needs to be resolved, so the world can unite as one.

For what exactly is a “hate crime?” It is important to note what a hate crime can be defined as James B. Jacobs, the Warren E. Burger Professor of Law and Director, Center for Research in Crime and Justice, states that hate crime varies in many states, but generally hate crimes are defined as a crime against others or their property impetus in full or in partial by genetic, principle, religious, gender-specific, sexual preference, and other preconceptions (Jacobs 366). So, a criminal could lash out at a person just because they are Jewish or gay, and it would be considered as a hate crime. For example, the killing of Richard Collins III in Maryland was “one of fifteen hate motivated killings that occurred in the United States last year and were reported to the FBI by the nation’s law-enforcement agencies” (Bauman, 1). This event was a huge turning point for Maryland State University campus and left many in fear and hatred in their hearts as they mourn Richard’s death.

Hate crimes are a drastic issue that our society is facing frequently. Even on college campuses, public arenas, and other venues, hate crimes has made a major impact on the livelihood of many. “Ten and a half percent of hate crime occurred at schools/colleges” (“”FBI Releases 2017 Hate Crime Statistics”” 5). The assassination of Richard Collins, III had widely shown the hatred humans have because they are different. Richard Collins, III was stabbed by another student on campus three days before graduation from Maryland State University in May 2017. “The largest year-to-year increases in hate crimes reported to the FBI, in terms of motivating bias, occurred in crimes against multiracial victims, African-Americans, and Jews.” (Bauman 2) On most college campuses, students fail to report the crimes as that they fear for their life. More than half of hate crimes that take place on college campuses involved vandalism and destruction of one’s property. For example, “the University of Massachusetts at Amherst reported to the campus community that a student’s door had been defaced with homophobic and transphobic slurs. A swastika was also drawn on the student’s door.” (Bauman 4)

Hate crimes have also taken place in public arenas such as churches and public sidewalks. Recent fires at three historically African American churches in Louisiana have sentenced Holden Matthews to jail charged with arson. He actually claimed responsibility for the fire because he was placed at the location of the fires because of phone records. (CBS 2) Some hate crimes could also occur in the work places; people often discriminate against different genders, mainly women, as some think they are incapable of doing the same job as others. Many may feel that women are inferior to them and that they do not belong in the same workplace as them often leading to people doing unusual things that they may regret later such as destruction of their property or threats. A major movement that occurred recently is the #MeToo movement. The #MeToo movement started in 2006 to help sexual violence among women. These vicious acts mainly happened in the workplace where majority men had higher power than women. This movement gained worldwide attention and helped many women share their story so that the next woman can share hers as well. Other places that hate crimes could occur are schools. In schools, hate crimes are referred to as “bullying”. Bullying seeks to harm or intimidate the next child. For example, an Arab child may be picked on because they stand out against a majority of black students. This very child could retaliate by fighting back against the bully, bringing a weapon to school to daunt the bully, or worse: commit suicide. Because hate crimes take place in all the crucial arenas, hate crimes are divided into multiple categories mainly disparate discrimination such as races, religions, and sexual orientation.

Hate crimes can be divided in several categories based upon discrimination: races, religions, an and sexual orientation. Different races are mainly targeted in some hate crimes such as African Americans, Jews, and Hispanic. “Of the 6,730 know offenders, 50.7% were whites, 21.3% were Black or African Americans, 19.1% race unknown” (FBI 1). The term “know offenders” are people who often guilty of a crime on more than one occasion. One recent hate crime regarding a certain race is the “Black Lives Matter” movement. The movement blossomed after the shooting of Trayvon Martin in 2013. This movement was trying to bring justice to young Black men being killed simply because of race. This movement causes culture uproar and many causalities of many protesters. Another major category of hate crime is religions. Religions could be from Christianity to Jews. Since the beginning of time, Jews and their religion has been a major target such as the Holocaust, where many were forced into internment camps and killed by the thousands because others felt like they didn’t blend in with society.

The Holocaust was a crucial event in history and Jews are still fighting to this very day for their right of their identity. The changing in gender is a social uproar in hate crimes as well. Hate crimes against Transgenders have increased more than half in the last two years as more people expressed their true identity such as bisexual, gay, or trans. “One report found an 86% increase in hate homicides against LGBTQ people in 2017” (Graham 6). Being gay has a bad reputation as well. Many Christians feel that no one should be gay because that is not how God created humankind, but everyone is titled to their own opinion. Some LGBTQ people are killed because they are not assimilated into the world. Example of demolishing innocent LGBTQ community is the Orlando Shooting. A craze shooter, Omar Mateen, killed 49 innocent people and crucially wounded 53 others in a shooting outside the Pulse nightclub on June 12, 2016. This left many with anguish and hate in their heart as this heartless shooting took away innocent people away from their families. Malcolm Graham’s sister was killed during the mass shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. He mentions that the “last couple days have been like déjà vu: an unhinged white guy, middle-aged, filled with hate and rage” (Graham 5). Hate crimes is revolutionary in this current time and it is time for major adjustment.

Hate crimes has shown major issues that need to be modified to help the world cope with problem. Malcolm Graham mentions that he was distraught about the killing of his sister and eight other innocent lives because they were Jewish. Graham continues to mention that “the issue for our country is twofold: Yes, we need to have a national conversation about the commonsense gun laws. But more importantly, we need to have a conversation about hate and racism.” (Graham 5) He wants the world to be “shaking up” and become uncomfortable with just settling for nothing and fight for hate crime laws. He wants to hold elected authority “accountable for what they say and what they do – and what they don’t do. And we need to prosecute people to the fullest extent of the law when they break it” (Graham 6). Not only in Graham questioning officials, Jon Meacham has his own question and opinion on this flourishing issue. Meacham states the national task is: “How can the country find a reasonable equilibrium of temperament that will check and balance the climate of division on which Trump thrives” (Meacham 9)? Meacham is, too, questioning head officials of the U.S. for hate crime laws before it dramatically expanding to greater extent that we can not fix. He elaborates on this question by conveying his own opinion: “We must attempt, insofar as possible, to focus our civic energy not on the President’s heart and mind -those seem a lost cause- but on our own” (Meacham 10).

After thoroughly researching hate crimes, I believe that more world officials should step up to provide more security of the wellbeing of the targeted people. Officials try to turn a “blind eye” to the killing of innocent people all because they are not like others. Innocent young lives are taken away from us every day and the only time officials will say anything is when it becomes a mass shooting instead on fixing the issue before expansion across the world. I, personally, think officials are not the only ones that should be held accountable; communities and states should be accountable as well. Many communities and/or states use A.C.T. A.C.T. is an acronym I like to use to describe this issue. A.C.T stands for Act, Create, Teach. The acronym act on the situation, create an alternative, and teach acceptance. Acting on a situation is better than just relaxing and let the world come down crashing right in front of you. Do something is better than doing nothing. Create an alternative to the situation such as conducting unity parade instead of a hate rally, so that the attention of media is drawn away. Teach acceptance to all. From race, color, ethnicity, or language, each person should have equal opportunity as the other person would have. Children should learn early on the benefits of accepting other for who they are. I strongly recommend that this acronym should be taught in schools from kindergarten to high school, so that the acronym becomes firsthand to the students as they travel throughout life. These three simple steps could change the way we as a society go about changing the world.

As the research has shown, hate crimes has a massive effect on the world we live in today. Hate crimes are constantly increasing everywhere and many live in fear daily without a sense of hope left. From hate crimes on college campuses to public arenas, many hearts are ripped apart after multiple deaths from LGBQT community as their lives were demolish from this world because of hatred and neglect. Unfortunately, hate amongst race, gender, and religions were hugely affected such as #BlackLivesMatter and #MeToo movement. Problems are escalating around the world and world officials are not trying to do much about it. They turn a “blind eye” to hate crimes until a mass shooting occurs. To me, the acronym A.C.T will expand a widely used system of decomposing the hate crimes for that our youth could follow in our footsteps. Are you ready to make a STAND FOR CHANGE?

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