I just don't believe in hate crimes.

If somebody calls me a wetback and kills me then it is classified as a hate crime. Talk about political correctness.

It doesn't matter. It is still a crime and that crime is murder.

What purpose does classifying a case as a hate crime serve? To me all it does is classifies the person responsible as a racist and the person injured or killed as a victim of the racist. Guess it is excellent for garnishing news.

What's remarkable is that there hasn't been more white backlash than there is. I live in the south (although my state went blue this election) and I put an Obama sticker on my car with some trepidation. I didn't know if I would find it keyed, or with slashed tires or some sort of retaliation. It was unharmed. By the same token, I don't know of anyone who displayed a McCain sticker or yard sign that was harassed in the slightest. There were many Obama signs that disappeared from yards, but that could have been the work of souvenir collectors as well as antagonists. For the most part people around here were civil to one another in spite of their political differences.

In the sixties, when the protests against legal segregation began, white people were afraid that African Americans would become "too aggressive" and rise up to murder us all. The same fears surrounded the integration of the schools. Almost fifty years of integration has had some positive effects. There is still racism but overall it's not as bad as it was then. Instead of the kkk we have threads like this one where white people still exhibit their fear of backlash from minority groups, or justify their antagonism toward them.

IMO we caucasians are the dominant majority and therefore more responsible for the oppression of less powerful groups. Let's face it--African Americans have never had the POWER to pass laws making us sit in the back of busses or keep us out of public places, even if they wanted to. Yes, there is racism against whites, but you have to distinguish that from anger at being put down and kept there.

I am distressed at the number of racist incidents following the election, but considering where we've been as a country we've come a long way. We still have a long way to go before we can reach the level of intelligent discussion about race instead of name calling. Barack Obama has asked us, as a country. to have such a conversation. That is one reason why he's been elected.

CUE STANDARD MOD SPEECH

Hey There People,

The topic of Hate Crimes and racism etc are certainly emotive topics...but please lets not let emotions override the Civility I know each of us can display to eachother.

Ie:Hold off on the sniping eachother or derogatory comments please.


Cheers,
ALIEN