Hate Crimes: "Walking While White"

The Cincinnati Enquirer ^ | Wednesday, 05, 2003 | Peter Bronson

[yankeedame]

Wednesday, February 5, 2003

Hate crimes

by Peter Bronson

Ed, who doesn't want his last name published, says he was a victim of "walking while white'' last week. About 10 black teens attacked him near Fountain Square about 6:30 p.m. on Thursday.

"They said, basically, `You don't belong here,''' he said. "I've seen them do it before where they just intimidate people."

Ed was walking home from dinner at Redfish when he saw the gang of teens blocking the sidewalk. "It was like running the gantlet. I made it through. Four or five tried to punch me. I was able to avoid some of them."

But one landed a solid blow. The next morning, he had a black eye and his right cheek had a swollen, purple bruise the size of a fat plum.

Enough laws

The punch knocked him to the sidewalk, and he heard the attackers laughing at him. Then a van pulled up and the thugs scattered.

He's sure he was assaulted because he was a white guy alone. He's 56, a retired insurance underwriter, on the small side - an easy target.

I asked him if it was a hate crime.

"I think it was, but there's no way I can prove it,'' he said. "I don't think we need any more laws. We just need to enforce the ones we have."

I agree, but I don't know if City Hall is listening. They're hearing instead from gay-rights activists who want to expand city hate-crimes laws to include sexual orientation.

Statistically, this is like arguing over a leaky faucet in the middle of a flood. FBI reports show that hate crimes make up less than 0.0008 percent of all crimes: just 9,730 reported nationwide in 2001. About 45 percent are racially motivated. Sexual orientation (14.3 percent) comes in fourth, behind ethnicity and religion.

Victims of hate crimes are traumatized, injured and scared - just like victims of all crimes. That's the point: We already have laws against violent crimes and property crimes. Courts already consider motives to apply tougher sentences. Cincinnati police and the state of Ohio already include sexual orientation in their definitions of hate crimes. So why is City Council starting another culture war to make some victims feel more special?

Not enough cops

Politically correct "affirmative action" for some groups of crime victims has little effect on bias crimes, which are already very rare. But it gives activists an excuse to spread fear and accuse anyone who opposes it of a "hate crime.''

If City Council is determined to waste time adding new groups of victims, why not just detour the debates and add all Homo sapiens. Even columnists. Because every crime is a hate crime.

And let's add more cops to enforce the laws we have. What happened to Ed is not rare enough.

"Everyone should be allowed to move about freely without being cursed at or threatened," Ed said.

He also wants everyone to know that Cincinnati Police Officer Andrea Smythe responded in a matter of minutes, and she was very kind. She's black. He's white. "I just judge people individually by how they act," he said.

So should the law.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Put in a call to Charles Bronson...

[chance33_98]

What is so sad is that something which should be common sense now needs to be argued on a regular basis. Loony liberals...

[kycat]

Hey, it can't be a "Hate" crime, he was white! He was keeping the black man down with his walking through their section of town. Al Sharpton should be showing up soon wondering why the cops aren't arresting him for provoking the poor, misunderstood black men.(Sarcasm)

[HadEnough]

"And let's add more cops to enforce the laws we have"

Sure..the cops would be glad to mop up the mess and declare his dead body another statistic.

I realize Ohio won't let their plantation slaves carry concealed, but that would NOT stop me.

10 maggots on the sidewalk...hmmm. that is only one magazine, got two more under my coat, no problemo.

[Fzob]

Forget Bronson, get Bernie Getz.

[putupon]

"They said, basically, `You don't belong here,''' he said.

We have areas like that here in my town. I take them at their word and don't.

[AppyPappy]

Yeah, well, they didn't catch them. He was a victim. Victims end up like that.

CCW.

[HadEnough]

"The point of enacting and enforcing hate crime laws is to have them serve as a deterrant"

You make an incorrect assumption that these dudes have ANY respect for the law.

The gaping muzzle of a .45ACP pistol guarantees their "temporary" respect.

[biblewonk]

Blacks are biggots too, just like whites and everyone else. We need to just quit pretending that we have evolved out of the sin of hating our neighbors and work within the truth.

[FreedomPoster]

>>The gaping muzzle of a .45ACP pistol guarantees their "temporary" respect.

No doubt about it. Unfortunately, the predator class in Ohio has little to worry about from law-abiding citizens, because the Civil Masters there have declared concealed carry of firearms illegal for commoners. By his appearance and demeanor, I'm sure this gentleman was instantly ID'd as "law-abiding", and not likely to empty a piece on these scum.

Ohio needs concealed carry; it would reduce this type of incident considerably. As Heinlein said, "An armed society is a polite society".

[diotima]

Are you serious? Laws do not stop or prevent crime. According to your logic there would be no murder in America because it is against the law.

Hate crimes are a propaganda tool of left to perpetuate the idea that everyone (white people) are ready to violate the rights of other citizens that are non-white, if they are not prevented and brainwashed to be "sensitive."

There is no way to determine whether a crime was committed based on race, gender, sexual orientation, ie "hate." All crime is hate crime. Besides, hate crimes are a one way street: protected minorities are not charged with crimes against non-minorities.

[Dubya]

bump

[Blood of Tyrants]

Better yet, let the guy arm himself and when he sees the thugs, simply open his coat and say, "I don't want any trouble. Okay?" The thugs will usually quickly agree.

[Blood of Tyrants]

Get a gun that starts with a "4" and you need only one bullet for each.

[gregwest]

The problem is especially bad at the schools here in Norfolk, VA. White kids get verbally abused, shoved around, etc. in the public schools. I raised my kids to be "color-blind," thanks to their having lived in Alaska for most of their lives. Racism is bad and I have had many black friends over the years. Yet, after moving to Virginia a few years ago, my kids have become the victims of black prejudice against whites. One of them was robbed in the school by a group of black youths and a year later, he was beaten up by a group of black kids on the street adjacent to the school. My kids don't eat lunch in the cafeteria because they get shoved around and opt to hang with their teachers in their classes where they feel safe. This week, a 300-lb black boy threatened to slap a petite girl he called a "white b*tch" unless she gave up her seat on the bus to him. So much for Rosa Parks and Black History month! The school administrators won't do anything. The police can't do anything. They just file a report.

A Norfolk city council member threatens to bring down Jesse Jackson and the Black Panthers every time a black man gets roughed up while resisting arrest. (Yet a white fool who burned an 8-inch cross on a black person's lawn as a bad joke is possibly facing life in prison for a "hate crime.") Meanwhile, one in four black men in Virginia can't vote because they are felons. It's a scary feeling living in a place where 50% of the population thinks that O.J. Simpson was truly innocent! What's wrong with this picture! I'd move to Alaska or Montana or Utah if I could, but I have aging relatives with health problems that live here, so I'm "trapped" for the time being.

How much time do you think we have before full-scale race war breaks out?

GW

[OneLoyalAmerican]

Concealed carry bump.

[putupon]

About a year or so ago I posted a story from here in Richmond. Teenagers told a white girl, girlfriend of a black guy with his kids by a previous girlfriend(black) in her car, that she didn't belong in the area and shot her in the head. No hate crime charge there.

Then there were the black teens that were going aroud Charlottesville (whose city council just passed a we love terrorists, don't hurt Saddam resolution, BTW), beating up Asian and white UVa students, informing them that it was for racial reasons. Again, no hate crime charges.

[SauronOfMordor]

How much time do you think we have before full-scale race war breaks out?

If Osama wanted the US engulfed in race war, all he would have to do is get a white Chechen Muslim to assassinate Louis Farrakhan in public. The cities would be burning within an hour

And the cops mostly disappear or run away (as happened in LA during the last riots), or be ordered to not intervene (NYC and numerous other cities). In such a situation, citizens would need to defend their homes and neighborhoods (and don't think that just because you live in the suburbs, that the gangs can't drive to your area to trash it). In such a situation, the minimum requirement would be at least one gun, plus at least a thousand rounds of ammo for it (if you're going to keep them away by firing into the ground, you need enough ammo to keep doing this frequently over the course of 24-48 hours. If you're going to send the message across by having piles of bodies around your place, you can do with less ammo, but you are guaranteed of more hassle afterwards)