FD #5

Can’t We All Just Get Along?

Chaz Hirata

6 May 2011

FD #5

Although we like to call Hawaii the “melting pot of the world”, social issues such as race and sexual orientation are generally ignored or swept under the rug. Recent newsworthy stories include the homosexual slurs uttered by Warrior head football coach Greg McMackin during a University of Hawaii football press conference and the now-famous DUI arrest of Oscar winner and suspected anti-Semite Mel Gibson. While we may picture ourselves as tolerant, open-minded individuals, national statistics say otherwise. According to the FBI, “Racial prejudice, most often directed at black people, was behind more than half of the nation’s 7,400 reported hate crime incidents in 2003 (Anderson).” Even more troublesome is the increasing percentage of these crimes and the people involved. The number of active hate groups in the US has grown from 474 in 1997 to 762 in 2004 according to the SPLC, and in the past four years the number of hate websites has risen from 366 to 468 (Knickerbocker). [THESIS] In order to solve this growing problem, steps need to be taken by the federal government to insure that hate-related crimes are appropriately addressed. [THESIS]

There is reason to believe that the number of hate crimes that take place in the United States could be much higher. Heidi Beirich, spokeswoman for the Southern Poverty Law Center, said the FBI’s hate crime totals are probably low because reporting by local law enforcement agencies is voluntary, and some states have weak hate crime laws. She adds, “We have found several flaws. We think there’s really more like 50,000 hate crimes out there each year (Anderson).” I imagine that many bias crimes go unreported because of the victims’ fear of further retaliation in the future. Since hate crime laws vary from state to state, victims feel that pursuing criminal charges are a waste of time and could draw even more unwanted attention. 

These exhibit the need to establish a standardized set of hate crime laws that are identical in every state. If the federal government is serious about preventing hate-related crimes, we need strict regulation and equal enforcement by all fifty states. There is no reason that a felony in one state should be a misdemeanor in another. If the punishment for such crimes were consistent, offenders would be properly reprimanded and be less likely to get away with a slap on the wrist.

As University of California, Los Angeles psychologist Edward Dunbar, PhD states, “People who commit bias crimes are also more likely to deliberate on and plan their attacks than those who commit more spontaneous crimes. Gay-bashers, for instance, commute long distances to pursue their victims in spots they’re likely to find them, suggesting a strong premeditative component to these crimes. In addition, those who commit hate crimes show a history of such actions, beginning with smaller incidents and moving up to more serious ones (DeAngelis).” This information reveals that hate crimes are usually calculated attacks that are thought-out in advance. Although our judicial system has always been unsympathetic to criminals who intentionally commit crimes, hate-related crimes do not attract the appropriate amount of punishment and condemnation. Individuals that deliberately commit these heinous crimes need to be punished accordingly and made an example of. 

Furthermore, I propose that we start a national hate crime website which would monitor and post all biased crimes that occur in the United States. This would be similar to the government website that registers sex offenders for the public’s safety. Every person that commits a hate crime would have to register with the state and have their past transgressions documented for all to see. Besides deterring future crimes, the database would be a valuable tool for law enforcement. Local police would be able to monitor and identify trouble areas and increase safety measures in those neighborhoods. 

Detractors may say that such a website could actually increase the amount of hate-related crimes by publicizing or glorifying these actions. There is the possibility that family members and friends of the victims could use the website to find the perpetrators and exact some sort of revenge. However, I would argue that the positives far outweigh the negatives. A hate-related crime website would expose this problem and bring it to the forefront by increasing the general public’s awareness on the issue. 

We have all been the target of racism at some point in our lives. Like Coach McMackin or Michael Richards, many of us have used a racial or homosexual slur in anger, without thinking of the consequences. If we are to move forward as a nation, we must learn to be tolerant of other cultures and their respective customs and beliefs. Our differences define us as individuals and make us special.

Works Cited

Anderson, Curt. “FBI Reports More Than 7,400 Hate Crimes.” Charlotte.com 22 Nov. 2004. 6 May 2011. [http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/10246350.htm].

DeAngelis, Tori. “Understanding and Preventing Hate Crimes.” Monitor on Psychology 32.10 10 Nov. 2001. 6 May 2011. <http://www.apa.org/monitor/nov01/hatecrimes.html>.

“Hate Crimes Today: An Age-Old Foe in Modern Dress.” APA Online 1998. 6 May 2011. [http://www.apa.org/pubinfo/hate/#top].

Knickerbocker, Brad. “National Acrimony and a Rise in Hate Crimes.” csmonitor.com. 3 June 2005. 6 May 2011. [http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0603/p03s01-ussc.html]. [from the June 03, 2005 edition of the online Christian Science Monitor]