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Loading ...Attorney General Holder tells Congress new hate crime law needed
06.25.2009 3:04pm EDT
(Washington) Attorney General Eric Holder urged Congress to pass a new hate crimes law so the government could prosecute cases of violence based on sexual orientation, gender or disability.
At a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Thursday, he cited the recent killing of a security guard at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington. The alleged assailant is a white supremacist.“One has to look at the unfortunate history of our nation. There are groups that have been singled out, that have been targets of violence,” the attorney general said. “We have to face and confront that reality.”
Lawmakers debated the possible effect of the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act, named after a gay man killed in Wyoming in 1998. It would allow federal prosecution of violence committed because of the actual or perceived gender, disability, sexual orientation and gender identity of the victim.
For more than a decade, Democrats have sought to update the hate crimes law, which already makes it a federal crime to attack someone because of their race, creed or color.
Republicans questioned whether the change would expand federal power unnecessarily into cases already being prosecuted by state and local officials. They also asked why certain victims of violence should be singled out for particular types of protection.
“That’s part of the problem. Some are protected groups and get special protection under this law,” said Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions, the committee’s top Republican. “You argued your case. I’ve listened to it and I’m not persuaded.”
According to FBI data, the number of hate crimes per year is relatively unchanged in the past 10 years. In 1998, the FBI reported 7,755 hate crime incidents and 7,624 in 2007.
About half of all hate crimes are motivated by racial bias. The other two most frequent hate crimes are those motivated by religion or sexual orientation.
Holder said the statistics show hate crimes against Hispanics have increased four years in a row.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., said some of the debate in her state over immigration “has been part of hate and people have been beaten up because they happen to be Hispanic, they happen to be on a street corner where somebody doesn’t want them.”
Sessions, who opposes the bill, and Democratic Sen. Richard Durbin of Illinois, who supports it, asked whether the law could be used to prosecute a church leader who speaks out against homosexuality, if a member of that congregation then assaults a gay person.
“This is a bill to hold people accountable for conduct, not for speech,” Holder insisted.
The Traditional Values Coalition is urging lawmakers to vote against the bill, claiming it will jeopardize religious freedoms and “elevate” homosexuality within federal law.
The Traditional Values Coalition?? Does that translate into “my values and my values only are traditional! No one else values are of any importance!” MY WAY OR THE HIGHWAY!
Traditional Values Coalition is a registered hate group with the Southern Poverty Law Center. So please be sure to remind your Senators and Representatives in the House, when you contact them, that TVC does not speak for the majority of Americians. Encourage them to go to SPLC web site to confirm these facts for themselves.
I will not take a back seat to religious belief
“That’s part of the problem. Some are protected groups and get special protection under this law…”
In other words, why give “special” protection to groups that are specially picked out by their assailants for violence? What a ridiculous line of reasoning to hide behind. These folks need to be called out for what they are- bigots.
I wonder how many in congress has bothered to investigate the TVC before listing to their crap? One or two or am I being too optomistic?
Traditional Values, you know….hate, injustice, exclusion, religious intolerance and segregation!
Perhaps there would be fewer hate crimes against homosexuals if the DoJ did not equate homosexuality to incest or sexual relationships amongst minors, in order to support DOMA?
I asked a friend to call the congressional rep from his and mine congressional district to support the hate crimes bill and to remind our rep that Traditional Values Coalition does not speak for most Americans. Our rep is gay-friendly and I am sure he is ready to tune out the TVC anyway. But reminders are always a good idea. We live in the same district. I plan to call my rep also as soon as he and I are finished with attending a funeral at our church this morning.
How about prosecuting the Department of Justice for comparing our relationships to incest and pedophilia, hate speech if ever there were, or enough to incite hate speech. Nobody can tell me that Holder wasn’t aware of that decision, let alone Obama.
Someone once told me that all crimes were hate crimes. All crimes show disrespect, if not outright contempt for others. I agree. But crimes solely motivated by hate are different — especially if they are meant to send a message of intimidation, not to just an individual, but to an entire community.
For example: Jerry and few of his friends just spray painted “Tommy loves Sally” on the garage door of Mr. Rogers, their neighbor. Well, obviously that act shows totally disrespect for the property rights of others. That is vandalism. Jerry and his friends should be sentenced, by the courts, to pay for the damage as well as to perform community service — like being required to clean up graffiti around the city as a punishment for a set period of time.
But later that week, Jerry and the boys come back, after hearing a rumor about Mr. Rogers, and spray the threat, “Mr. Roger’s is a Faggot! All Fags must die!!!” on Mr. Roger’s garage door. Was this the same as the earlier act of simply vandalism? I think not.
No, it was a clear message to the community that it would not be safe for Mr. Rogers nor any other members of that particular minority group to live in that neighborhood. In this case, it is up to the court to make it very clear that there is a major distinction between simple vandalism and threats of violence through intimidation. An enhanced sentence should reflect that very obvious distinction.
From a practical point of view, the damage to Mr. Rogers’ property is identical. Yet, the cause and effect are quite different.
So, it is asinine to say that ALL crimes are the same and motivated by the same factors. If that were the case, then we would not have 1st, 2nd and 3rd degree felonies — including murder and assault. Obviously, motivation is a big factor in the determination of the seriousness of a crime and in the determination of the sentence warranted.
Perhaps the term “Hate Crime” should have been substituted with the term “Domestic Terrorism and/or Group Affiliation Intimidation and Assault”. That would make it more difficult for the homophobes to toss their red herrings out there in their effort to trivialize a serious problem.
Either way, I find it hypocritical that some conservative pseudo-christian groups call this “special protection/rights” for homosexuals when not too many years ago a federal law was passed, without much discussion, making it a federal crime to burn down a church.
So why was that necessary? Why is setting fire to an empty church a more important crime than some homophobic arsonist burning down the home of a homosexual who is not afforded such federal protections? After all, aren’t they both “Hate Crimes”?
Ask some hypocritical minister or phony politician that question next time they pull the old chestnut about “special rights” out of their behind. Is it more important that the US government give “special rights” to religious cults and their properties than to actual living American citizens who only wish to be safe in their homes, in their communities and in their person security?
© Bud Evans, 2009
sojourn Said:
“Make homosexuality illegal.”
Been there, done that, didn’t work. Maybe we should try making heterosexuality illegal instead…
Isaac,
Please don’t reply to Sojurn. She/he is a troll who has been banned.
James
sojourn Said:
“A Crime is a Crime. It is wrong. Just like Homosexuality is WRONG.”
Except homosexuality is not a crime. It pleases me that fact keeps you awake at night.
In other news, I see that Thursdays DNC fundraiser managed to score an additional quarter million dollars than last year , for a total of 1 million dollars handed over to the dems by same-sex “advocates”.
sojourn – Really sweetie, seek our some professional psychiatric care.