Friday, April 15, 2005

When is a hate crime not a hate crime?

Remember this is not a "bias crime"- a group of some 30 black teenagers attacked four white girls and during the attack they call out "Martin Luther King" (bizarrely), "white cracker" and "black power". The girls were playing on a basketball court when the black teens told them to leave. An adult intervened and the teens left- only to return later with a gang in tow. They then proceeded to carry out the "non-hate" crime, leaving two of the girls hospitalized.

Can you imagine if the situation had been reversed and a gang of thirty male and female whites attacked four black girls, and uttered the equivalent epithets at them? Don't you think that would qualify as a 'hate crime'. In fact, wouldn't racism be one of the first things mentioned? The phrase double standard springs to mind.

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