If This Is Not a Hate Crime... What Is?

Imagine a group of white men verbally assailing a white female for being married to a black man. Then imagine one of those white men ushering racial slurs at the black man prior to knocking him unconscious and fleeing the scene with the other white men. Would perpetrator of this assault be charged with a hate crime? You bet!

So, why is it any different when the assailants are black and the victim is white? That is the question many are asking in regards to a racially motivated incident involving former Natomas High School Football standout, Joseph Rudolph. He (a black man) assaulted a national guardsman (a white man) who was home on leave from the war in Iraq. (Click Here for the Story.)

Am I mistaken or does there appear to be a double standard when it comes to the application of a law that is meant to reduce hatred for people based on race, religion, national origin and (in California's case) sexual preference and gender identity.

By not charging this Joseph Rudolf with a hate crime, we are saying that our toleration of hate, depends on who is the target of that hate. I other words, if you shout racial slurs at a black man (because he is black), physically assault him, burn down his house or in any other way violate his civil rights, you deserve a special place in hell. But if you do the same to a white man (because he is white) somehow this hate is more tolerable, because we will not provide the same protections to him as outlined in hate crimes laws.

If hate crime laws are not to protect everyone, then all they will do is precipitate more hate. And proponents of these lopsided applications are communicating that it is more acceptable to hate heterosexual, Christian white men than black men, gay men or Muslim men. Hate is hate! And if we are going to punish it, let’s punish it equally.What bothers me even more is that I have been accused by some blacks of being an "Uncle Tom" for even daring to mention this injustice. Not that I care about what others think of me. But what does that say about how far we still have to go in truly coming together as a people?

I guess some don't believe that Justice should be colorblind.

Also See Eric Hogue's Blog on the same subject here.

Craig DeLuz
Listen in to Uncommon Sense Raido
Weekdays from 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm
97.7 KDEE FM

Also, Visit the Home of Uncommon Sense...
www.craigdeluz.com