Okay, I've been following this case in the papers. This crazy lady & her bf even chased their black neighbors in their car, according to one report. They constantly harangued them with racial slurs, openly, on the street, & for what? Simply living there. Stupidity abounds, doesn't it?
The neighbors eventually responded. What else could they do?
My area is one of the most tense, when it comes to racism, that I've ever seen. Considering that this is supposedly a "northern border state," it doesn't really surprise me all that much. I've found, in my little bit of wandering in this country, that the north is far more problematic in this area.
http://www.journal-news.net/page/conten ... 38720.html
A few years ago, there was a black couple in town who'd just had a baby. They put up a sign in their front yard saying "It's a girl!" Their next-door neighbor then put one up saying "It's another (n-word)."
I was shocked, to say the least, but even more shocking were the number of ppl I heard laughing about it.
Still, I would hesitiate to label this a "hate crime." It clearly has a lot of hatred involved, but the epithet of "hate crime" just bugs the sh*t out of me. It's a crime. It's a crime because one person is harassing another. Enough said. Why do we need to put so many special labels on crimes? It makes absolutely no difference what the reasons for the harrassment are. It must be stopped. It must be punished.
White on black, straight on gay, male on female, whatever the crime may be, it's simply that - a crime committed by one person against another human being. Let's not exacerbate the issues by all the extraneous labelling. If this had simply been called harrassment, the AN wouldn't be trying to involve themselves.
I don't hesitate to say that I can see their point, either. Name-calling was done by both sides, though the black couple had tried to get police intervention a number of times before they responded to the hate.
It's time we stopped adding so many charges to a single illegal act. Why should anyone be charged multiple times for a single crime? It just seems kinfa stupid, to me, & it also looks like a vicious bit of overkill on the part of gov't. I suppose they can get extra money if someone is fined for all those crimes for a single illegal action, but does it actually deter anything? I think not. A bigot will remain a bigot, no matter how many ways you call him a bigot, no matter how many trumped up charges you hit him with.
A crime committed against a person is no better & no worse simply due to the reason for the crime. It's a single act. Treat it as such, & move on. Don't give anyone an extra reason to defend their actions, with extra labels & charges.
The neighbors eventually responded. What else could they do?
My area is one of the most tense, when it comes to racism, that I've ever seen. Considering that this is supposedly a "northern border state," it doesn't really surprise me all that much. I've found, in my little bit of wandering in this country, that the north is far more problematic in this area.
http://www.journal-news.net/page/conten ... 38720.html
A few years ago, there was a black couple in town who'd just had a baby. They put up a sign in their front yard saying "It's a girl!" Their next-door neighbor then put one up saying "It's another (n-word)."
I was shocked, to say the least, but even more shocking were the number of ppl I heard laughing about it.
Still, I would hesitiate to label this a "hate crime." It clearly has a lot of hatred involved, but the epithet of "hate crime" just bugs the sh*t out of me. It's a crime. It's a crime because one person is harassing another. Enough said. Why do we need to put so many special labels on crimes? It makes absolutely no difference what the reasons for the harrassment are. It must be stopped. It must be punished.
White on black, straight on gay, male on female, whatever the crime may be, it's simply that - a crime committed by one person against another human being. Let's not exacerbate the issues by all the extraneous labelling. If this had simply been called harrassment, the AN wouldn't be trying to involve themselves.
I don't hesitate to say that I can see their point, either. Name-calling was done by both sides, though the black couple had tried to get police intervention a number of times before they responded to the hate.
It's time we stopped adding so many charges to a single illegal act. Why should anyone be charged multiple times for a single crime? It just seems kinfa stupid, to me, & it also looks like a vicious bit of overkill on the part of gov't. I suppose they can get extra money if someone is fined for all those crimes for a single illegal action, but does it actually deter anything? I think not. A bigot will remain a bigot, no matter how many ways you call him a bigot, no matter how many trumped up charges you hit him with.
A crime committed against a person is no better & no worse simply due to the reason for the crime. It's a single act. Treat it as such, & move on. Don't give anyone an extra reason to defend their actions, with extra labels & charges.
SMILE - it's the safest way to spread your cheeks!
