McNaughton: Hate crimes plague society
People shouldn’t live in fear because of their race, gender or nationality
Wednesday, September 19th, 2007
The possible motivations for the brutal rape and assault recently inflicted on an African-American West Virginian woman reminded me of when I was in 6th grade and had e-mailed Sen. Sam Brownback. Remember that school year from 1998-99? “Can’t Hardly Wait,” “The Matrix” and “Idle Hands” all hit the big screen. Diddy was Puff Daddy, N’Sync debuted and The Barenaked Ladies had that annoying song, “One Week.” The first mass school shooting, at Columbine, as well as the murder of openly gay college student Matthew Shepherd, occurred that year.
One night that year I was watching an MTV News special about hate crimes, and during so many hours of the special, these minute or so long summaries of hate crimes would randomly appear. It would state what the crime or incident was, where it happened and the ages of the victim(s). Within an hour, I saw at least one hundred incidents in which people were targeted for everything from nationality to sexual preference, and age was never a factor. Some of the acts that were committed were almost unimaginable. However, this special occurred following Matthew Shepard’s death, which made the crimes all the more plausible.
I was around 10 or 11 and remember feeling scared when some of the victims in the summaries were about my age. I kept thinking to myself, if people can do that to those innocent kids, what stops something from happening to me? Those are disturbing thoughts for a 10-year-old who is supposed to be worried about recess and that upcoming history test, but the constant thought that I was one of a handful of Mexican-Americans in my elementary school was also always present.
Following Shepherd’s death, his mom and many organizations were fighting for Congress to pass a hate crimes bill. A hate crimes law was passed in 2000. An act known as the Matthew Shepherd Act, which will be an addition to the bill, will include crimes against homosexuals. It is currently waiting Congress’ approval. During the news special, it gave the senators’ e-mail address so that you could voice your opinions, and I did. I expressed to Sen. Brownback that the thought that my nationality alone putting me in danger was a punch in the stomach, I’ve always been damn proud to be Mexican. It is like when you’re a child, and your parents and teachers badger you to instill those rules that are “to help keep you safe.” Don’t talk to strangers, don’t take rides from strangers, don’t open the door to strangers and so on. The reason, at the age of 10, that I felt we needed a hate crimes law was because there was nothing I would be able to do to protect myself from something like that happening.
I’m 20 years old now, and the issue of hate crimes floats around in my head almost every day. Perhaps it’s because “Law and Order: Special Victims Unit” is my favorite TV show, or because I constantly allow my mind to drift back to that day ten years ago when I first heard the term ‘hate crimes.’ Maybe it should be attributed to the fact that we have a crazed world where people do and say some unfathomable things to each other every day. For instance, I grew up seeing Fred Phelps on street corners and at parades protesting against homosexuals and anyone else who “God didn’t love” that day. Well, the verdict is in: guilty on all three counts. The violence we are constantly exposed to in the news, along with many other things I encounter daily, take me back to that day.
The woman was 20 years old and knew her attackers. Being a petite girl, I still play by those safety rules. Yet, similar to ten years ago, I’m still fearful of those things I can’t protect myself from.
McNaughton is a Topeka junior in journalism.
Discussion
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the verdict about what is where? who is guilty of three counts of what? is this editorial about the legality of hate crimes laws, reminiscing about 1997, or the anxieties that are associated with young petite women? the author's direction is ambiguous at best. maybe this author still considers MTV news to be the apex of journalistic integrity. all viacom shareholders should beam.
You're concerned about safety, but you're also concerned with going out with large groups of guys (and gals too... I think... basing on your first column) and getting plastered.
It's important to be safe, hate crimes are a serious problem, but for some reason I can't ever read your columns seriously anymore.
Ha ha ha, Todd and llama there is no need for these personal attacks on Angelique!
But there is a need to critique what we can assume the point of the article was: hate crime legislation is good and will keep us safe.
Let me first make it clear that I think that hate crimes are a moral atrocity. But hate crime legislation doesn't come with an extra cop who is going to keep anyone safe. All they do is add punishments for things that are already illegal if they are done for the wrong reasons. Maybe it would provide a deterrent, but my suspicion is that it would only make potential hate crime committers more hateful.
And then there are issues of protecting some groups and not others (communists and skin heads are pretty hated), and federalism (nothing like federal thought crime legislation to stir the militias!).
But the scariest part of the article was the assertion (from what I could gather) that Fred Phelps is guilty of hate crimes for protesting at parades. The Constitution guarantees freedom of speech, not freedom from having your feelings hurt by a stranger. Popular messages and kind words are not the kind that require Constitutional protection from democratically elected legislatures.
I am sorry that you are often fearful, even though you are part of a group that I'm guessing is already protected by hate crime legislation. My advice is to keep playing by the safety rules, take a self-defense course, carry mace or get a conceal and carry permit, and quit letting your mind wander. After you've done all you can do, there is no point in fearing what you can't control.
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