The definition of hate crime has progressed over the years. When hate crimes first occurred they were defined as the factorization of minorities due to their racial or ethnic identity by members of the majority. As time progressed we have now classify a hate crime as “criminal offense against a person or property motivated in whole or in part by an offender’s bias against a race, religion, disability, ethnic origin or sexual Hate crimes have been occurring for 300 plus years. One of the first instants of hate crimes in the sass’s which would be the near genocide of the
Yuk and Cheyenne Indians. Some major historical events have led to how far we have come with hate crime laws. As well as some major cases that helped install the new laws and enforce. This all leads to where we are today, trying to stop hate crime as a whole, or minimize the extremist groups. “One hate crime is committed approximately every hour of every day In this country. “- Anna Opaque There have been many events that have helped shape the laws we have today, one of the most renowned hate crimes occurred with the mass genocide of the Jewish community.
The infamous Doll Hitler took the charge of the Nationalist Socialist German Workers Party; he had forbid all Jewish people to join the party and wanted to keep it to Aryan nation as one. He would be sentenced to 13 months in prison for his actions taking place for wanting the removal of the Jewish community. In prison he writes a book called Mien Kemp (My Struggle), which would later become a best-seller. The Nazi party then becomes a prominent in the German government taking over seats in the parliament. All propaganda has to be popular and has to accommodate itself to the impression of the least intelligent of those whom It seeks to reach. “-Doll Hitler The president at the time appoints Hitler to become the chancellor of Germany. He begins to brain wash the community by telling them there will be no more poverty or unemployment. Hitler also strengthened the military so he could start the extermination of the Jewish community as a whole. He institutes the Gestapo, a secret police force that is used to spy, and interrogate the Jewish people.
One of Hitter’s famous quotes “Demoralize the enemy from within by surprise, terror, sabotage, and assassination. This is the war of the future. (Minch). Hitler didn’t care for others beside for his perfect race. He destroyed many lives and many peoples future by committing the crimes he did. As a result of the ignorance of Hitler more than 4 million Jews were killed. Auschwitz, one of the most prominent Jewish concentration camps, there was three main camps located within the town of Cosmetics, was in charge of killing most of the men, women, and children throughout Hitter’s era.
These people were forced to work for the military working In factories while being treated very poorly. Food rations were small, and living quarters were not very spacious. There were about 426,000 people deported to this concentration and extermination camps. Many were killed by gas chambers, others by the crematorium, and others Keller Day Delve so anomalousness. In III/ ten camps were mace Into a museum Tort the Jewish community. Over the years over 5,000 Germans were sentenced to death and over 10,000 were imprisoned for their parts in the Nazi camps. “If you tell a big enough lie and tell it frequently enough, it will be believed. -Doll Hitler Another act of racism and pure hatred happened in 1955. The murder of Emmett Till happened in Mississippi. Emmett was a 14 year old boy from Chicago, when he went down south to visit his Uncle Moses Wright. He was hanging out with friends when they went to a general store. His friends bet him that he wouldn’t go into the store and talk to the white lady at the cash register. As he left the store he said “bye baby’. In Mississippi many people still had a problem with the equality of African-Americans(Able). The owner of stores’ wife was the women that Emmett Till said bye too.
Roy Bryant, the owner, and his brother in law, J. W. Mila went to Till’s uncles house and kidnapped him during the night. They brought him to a barn beating him unrecognizable, than gouging his eye out. They would later shot him in the head and tie barb wire around his neck to a cotton gin fan. After this they drove him to a bridge and ended up throwing him into the river. He was then later reported missing and found in the Tallahatchie River by two men who were fishing. The body found was almost unrecognizable, you could tell who he was by badly beaten his face was.
The only way they were able to identify him was by the ring that he was wearing, which had initials of L. T. , his father Louis Till and the date Emmett Till was born. In the sass’s this case was seen as disgusting and the white officials pledged to have all men involved punished. His mother Miami Bradley would bring it to the nation’s attention how bad her son was beaten and wanted every to see how bad this really was. “Have you ever sent a loved son on vacation and had him returned to you in a pine box, so horribly battered and water-logged that someone needs to tell you this sickening sight is your son”.
She would later get an open casket for her son, and many people wanted the state of Mississippi to file charges against the two men involved. “We cannot afford the luxury of self-pity. Our top priority now is to get on with the building process. My personal peace has come through helping boys and girls reach beyond the ordinary and strive for the extraordinary (Novice). We must teach our children to weather the hurricanes of life, pick up the pieces, and rebuild.
We must impress upon our children that even when troubles rise to seven-point- one on life’s Richter scale, they must be anchored so deeply that, though they sway, they will not topple”-Miami Bradley (Emmett Till’s Mother) When the case was brought to court they asked for witnesses to stand up against the white men involved. Some of the best defense lawyers were involved in this case. Emmett Till’s uncle stood up in trail against the men saying they had kidnapped Till sometime late in the night. Even with a case this horrifying racial segregation stood stronger than ever (Novice). The Jury was made up of all white members.
One of the most famous sayings from this case was the closing statement from Defense Attorney John C. Whiten inform fathers will turn over in their graves if [Mila and Bryant are found guilty] and I’m sure that every last Anglo-Saxon one of you has the courage to free these men in the face of hat [outside] pressure. ” With that in mind the Jurors took a recess to discuss the outcome of the case and the men were found not guilty. The Jury foreman would later say that the prosecutors could not identify the body of the young boy so odometer teen couldn’t prove It was actually Emmett “Nonviolence Is a powerful Ana just weapon.
It is a weapon unique in history, which cuts without wounding and ennobles the man who wields it. It is a sword that heals. ” -Martin Luther King A year later Mila and Bryant would admit to the murder of Emmett Till since the law of double Jeopardy they couldn’t be tried again. In 2004 they dug the grave site up and didn’t an autopsy on the young boy and would later prove that he was actually Emmett Till. The two men who actually committed would actually succumb to cancer (Multiform). Roy Bryant lived in fear for the rest of his life that he would have to serve time but ended up dying before he had too.
It’s a sad day in history to know that no one served time for this senseless crime. The African-American community was so angered and this triggered the means for the civil rights movement which had already been taking place. The last hate crime I have brought to attention was the ruder of Matthew Sheppard. On the night of October 6, 1998, Matthew Sheppard went to a bar for a few drinks. At this bar he met two men Aaron McKinney and Russell Henderson both 21 at the time. The two young men intended to rob Sheppard but instead brought him to a location Just outside Laramie, Wyoming.
They tied Sheppard to a fence posted and pistol whipped him so bad he was put in a coma. He was found about 18 hours later, and was spotted by a cyclist that was riding around the area. He went sent to the hospital but was not able to survive the incident. Sheppard ended up dying about 6 days later. The two men involved McKinney and Henderson were put under arrest after police discovered they had Sheppard’ wallet and shoes in their truck. They case made national news not only because of the horrifying murder that was committed but Sheppard was a homosexual. They noticed this when Sheppard had arrived at the bar earlier.
Mckinney and Henderson would act liked they were into the man and would lure him into riding back home with them. That is exactly what they did, but instead of dropping him off they brought him to a remote area and beat him with the butt of the pistol. The two men were taking to trial. Henderson agreed to cooperate with the authorities and agreed to testify against McKinney. Henderson wouldn’t end up getting the death penalty but would get 2 life sentences without parole. Mckinney would have received the death penalty but his lawyers worked it out and he is serving two life sentences without the possibility of parole. The arc of American history almost inevitably moves toward freedom. Whether it’s Lincoln and the Emancipation Proclamation, the expansion of women’s rights or, now, gay rights, I think there is an almost-inevitable march toward greater civil liberties. -James McGreevy Henderson and McKinney were not charged with a hate crime because there was no statue in Wyoming that would fall under sexual orientation as a hate crime. This brought rage to country where we wanted people to be equal and stop the over hate (Multiform). Wyoming would later raise a new law trying to pass the hate crime of someone of a different sexually orientation.
In Wyoming that would later fail when it came to house. Well later that year the federal government took into their hands to pass a new bi-law adding to the hate crime law. This would include: “(1) the rime was committed because of the actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin of any person or (2) the crime was committed because of the actual or perceived religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or TTY AT any person Ana ten crime affected Interstate or Torrent commerce or occurred within federal special maritime and territorial Jurisdiction. As you read this law they added the gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability of any person. This new law would be called the Matthew Sheppard and James Byrd Jar, Hate Crimes Prevention Act. James Byrd was brutally murdered in a hate crime that took place in 1998 where he was dragged behind the truck of three men. It was a horrific hate crime that took place all because they didn’t like his skin color. L think that there’s no doubt that as I see friends, families, children of gay couples who are thriving, you know, that has an impact on how I think about these issues. “-Barack Obama All through the evolution of life there has been some hate crime that has took place. Through the years laws have toughened and in 2009 the law even expanded further. Although hate crimes Just got really put into the prospective in the sass’s we eave been moving forward since then. Hate crime statistic have Just recently started being recorded (Bias).
The reason behind this paper was to show you the progression of hate crimes. People need to be aware of hate crimes that still take place; they are just rarely reported on a national level. There is no reason for the world to still have ignorance toward another race of someone. Californians Section 190. 2, was passed in 1978 and provided for penalty enhancement in cases where murder was motivated by prejudice against four “protected status” categories: race, religion, color, and national origin.
As stated before the new “(1) the crime was committed because of the actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin of any person or (2) the crime was committed because of the actual or perceived religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability of any person and the crime affected interstate or foreign commerce or occurred within federal special maritime and territorial Jurisdiction. ” Most of all, we’re working to increase awareness of these crimes by establishing liaisons with civic and religious leaders and credible community organizations.