Often times when I hear the Democrats asked about Gay Marriage, they start talking about how we should focus on getting Hate Crimes Legislation passed. My question is, why? Why is Hate Crimes Legislation so important, and how will it make our country better?
I say all this as a Black man, mind you, and yes, I am against Hate Crimes Legislation. Why, you ask? Because I do not believe that the Government has a right to give someone special punishment because of what they were thinking at the time of the crime. That, to me, is a little Orwellian. A man who commits a brutal crime against someone because they are Black or because they are Gay makes him a brutal criminal, and it makes the crime a brutal crime that lacks mitigating circumstances. Now, if you told me that the law does not allow a judge to adequately punish people for brutal crimes with no mitigating circumstances then I would say let us expand the law so that Judges have more discretion on punishing
all brutal crimes.
Focusing on certain crimes because of the mindset of those crimes or the beliefs associated with them, to me, is a little dangerous, and a little absurd. If I am walking down the street and someone brutally attacks me because I am Black, I don't want them to be punished because they are racists. I want them to be punished because they attacked me for no good reason. But more importantly, these laws set up a precedent that allows the Government to expand the definition of hate crimes in order to go after groups who are peaceably protesting. Imagine if there was hate crimes legislation in the 60's. Do you mean to tell me that the Government would not have used this in order to prosecute peaceful Civil Rights groups who protested where violence broke out (MLK, Black Panthers, Chicago 7, etc.)? However ironic it may be, the conservatives are sometimes correct in their assumption that more laws mean less freedom for the people. The ironic part is that they are usually the ones who are all about restricting freedom.
But more importantly, the main argument for such laws, that is a deterrent, is bogus. People who drag people behind trucks or tie someone up to a tree and beat them to death have no respect for logic or consequences. How will Hate Crimes Legislation stop these crimes that we use as the reason for making these laws? Why is it that some of the same people who argue that the Death Penalty is not a deterrent argue that Hate Crimes Legislation is?