What is hate? Much less, what are hate crimes? Everyone has their own definition of hate and crimes, but when it is put together it comes to such animosity towards any kind of human race you would have to wonder how can our nation be called free when everyone is still standing segregated. We salute our flag and all stars and stripes, but do we fully understand that we are also saluting each other. All races, homosexuals, religious groups and all, yet we still drag James Byrd, deadly attack Matthew Sheppard, and shoot at various children in Jewish communities because of hate. So, is it racism, prejudice or just plain arrogance on everyone's part and yes I do mean everyone? So, my answer to this question is all of the above.
Lets talk about the dragging death of African-American James Byrd, Jr., in Jasper, Tx. This man, who is now a victim of a hate crime, was 49 years old and had three children who, was just like everyone else and everyone liked him. On June 7, 1998 this man was walking home from his niece's bridal shower when three white men picked him up and he then got beaten badly and then was chained to the back of the truck until he died or shall I say different parts of his body were dismembered. I read that it was reported that these three men were part or had ties to a white supremacist group meaning that this connects with the Ku Klux Klan. It was denied like everything else. But the men only had numerous tattoos signifying white supremacist beliefs. So, racism had not been a quiet problem in Jasper, Tx before. Well, it became a problem now. People were trying to keep the peace but wanted justice to be done and it was. Two men were convicted and sentenced to die and the third was sentenced to life in prison, with the possibility of parole. There goes that parole.
Hate crimes are much more violent and upsetting in my opinion. It goes against our nation and everything that was fought for and these people are trying to run right over it and take it into their own hands.
