Trump-inspired hate and overt racism is happening all across the country now, and coming to a community near you. Most recently, it came to Villanova PA., a clean and scrubbed college town filled with mostly white, clean-cut, good-hearted Catholic kids haling from the better-off suburban Philadelphia families residing in the more wealthy enclaves of the state.
Or at least that was the thought:
VILLANOVA (WTXF) - Officials at Villanova University and Radnor Police are investigating an incident in which a black female student was assaulted by a group of white males, running towards her chanting President-elect Donald Trump’s name.
According to a university source, the incident occurred Thursday night. The student was reportedly walking through a SEPTA tunnel on campus.
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At that time, she came across multiple white males who allegedly ran toward her chanting “Trump, Trump, Trump!”, the university source confirmed
Police say the student was not seriously injured, but was shaken by the incident.
It seems like everywhere you look, some Trumpian Brownshirt is exercising his newly emboldened “freedoms” by attacking someone who his Fuhrer has taught him its OK to hate:
Fears of heightened bigotry and hate crimes have turned into reality for some Americans after Donald Trump's presidential win.
Racist, pro-Trump graffiti painted inside a high school in Minnesota. A hijab-wearing college student robbed by men talking about Trump and Muslims in California. Messages about lynchings popping up on freshmen's phones in Pennsylvania.
While Trump has been accused of fostering xenophobia and Islamophobia, some people have used his words as justification to carry out hateful acts. In fact, the
Southern Poverty Law Center has counted hundreds of instances of "hateful intimidation and harassment" following the presidential election.
Unfortunately for Trump and his Republican base of support, they’re arriving a bit too late to the party with these beliefs. Because whatever these folks may wish or think, American society already has wrestled with this type of “behavior issue” and has pretty much decided that it’s not OK.
So, Trump voter, now that you’ve pulled out your yard sign and think you need to show more of your support, and before you get it into your head to get together with your “Bro’s” and go “kick some Beaner or Haji Ass” or whatever it is you say to gin yourself up to this type of bullying, here’s a little foretaste of what you’ll experience when—not if, but when-- you get caught, whether it’s by someone with a handy smartphone, a surveillance camera in the parking lot of the bar you just left, or just good old eyewitness testimony.
It’s always helpful to start with some definitions:
A hate crime (also known as a bias-motivated crime) is a prejudice-motivated crime, which occurs when a perpetrator targets a victim because of his or her membership (or perceived membership) in a certain social group.
Examples of such groups can include but are not limited to: sex, ethnicity, disability, language, nationality, physical appearance, religion, gender identity or sexual orientation.[1][2][3][4] Non-criminal actions that are motivated by these reasons are often called "bias incidents".
"Hate crime" generally refers to criminal acts that are seen to have been motivated by bias against one or more of the types above, or of their derivatives. Incidents may involve physical assault, damage to property, bullying, harassment, verbal abuse or insults, mate crime or offensive graffiti or letters (hate mail)
Not coincidentally, the most common victims of violent hate crimes in the U.S. happen to be the folks who Republican Trump voters have been targeting throughout the election season: Jews (65%), Hispanics (15%, although Trump seems intent on improving on that ratio) and African-Americans (13%). Hate crimes against Muslims were way up in 2015, according to the Southern Poverty law center and the FBI. Overall, though, most victims of non-violent hate crimes in the U.S. are African American.
And however enthusiastic and emboldened some Trump supporters may be now about spewing their hatred at different-colored folks, sorry but we just aren’t living in the Reconstruction Era any more. The fact is that 45 states and the District of Columbia have statutes on the books severely criminalizing this type of behavior, that is, making it a felony that will effectively end any given Trumpian’s productive existence on the Earth (bias felony convictions are a real job-killer) . And there are potential Federal penalties as well:
In addition to state laws, there are also several federal laws against hate crimes, including the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr., Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009, which offers greater protection to victims than some state laws.
It’ll take some time for the Trump Administration to pollute the Justice Department with a bunch of corrupt hacks who won’t enforce those hard-ass Federal statutes so unless you’re super-confident none of your fellow Trump-supporting friends will ever rat you out if they’re caught, or you’re super-confident about the attitudes of your local District Attorney, it may pay for you to think twice about committing this sort of violent bias crime. While the effectiveness of such laws is disputed, even among the groups who they are designed to protect, the black-letter penalties imposed are uniformly severe, more severe than ordinary assaults:
Criminal penalties for hate crimes vary from state to state but many hate crimes are felonies (crimes punishable by more than one year in prison). Under federal hate crime legislation, bias-motivated violence is punishable by ten years to life in prison, and some bias-motivated crimes are punishable by the death penalty. (18 USC §§ 245, 249.) For more information on federal prosecutions, see Federal Prosecutions for Civil Rights Violations.
And if you’re relying on stats that say most hate crimes go unreported, I’ve got three words for you: Just watch us.
For those who may have to put up with this harassment, there are many established ways to report these types of hate crimes, whether you’re a victim or simply a witness. Many major cities have hate crime hotlines, as do certain regions in the country such as Southern Arizona. The ADL has a map outlining each state’s hate crimes provisions and what each one covers. The group Muslimadvocates.org has some good advice applicable to all:
If you believe you have been a victim of a hate crime, it is imperative that you report the incident to law enforcement immediately. Contact your local police department and file an incident report. In addition to filing a police report, you may report the incident to your local FBI field office for potential further investigation. You may also contact your state Attorney General’s office to inform them of the incident.