Seriously, people say that with a straight face.
How, then, to explain this story?
Racism a factor in L.A. gang violence
By ANDREW GLAZER, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 40 minutes ago
LOS ANGELES - Alejandro "Bird" Martinez and a crew of fellow gangbangers were joyriding in a stolen van when they came upon a black man parking his car — and decided to kill him.
Three of them riddled Kenneth Kurry Wilson and his Cadillac with bullets from a .357-caliber revolver and a 9 mm semiautomatic and blasts from a 12-gauge shotgun.
This month, Martinez and three other members of the Avenues, a Hispanic gang entrenched in one Los Angeles neighborhood, were convicted of federal hate crimes usually tagged on white supremacists.
Although the slaying was seven years ago, the verdict this month was one in a series of reminders that racially motivated black and Hispanic gang violence is still a Los Angeles reality.
While some police, academics and even gang members insist racism isn't a factor in the violence, a pair of headline-grabbing killings — of a Hispanic teen by a black assailant described by witnesses as yelling a gang name as he fled and a drive-by shooting by a pair of black gunmen who killed three Hispanics — suggest otherwise.
Indeed.
Unfortunately, Civil Rights laws were designed and intended to protect minorities from the majority, not to protect ethnic and racial minorities from each other.
ReplyDeleteWhy is that "unfortunate", when the laws actually were designed to prevent discrimination of any kind?
ReplyDeleteFor the very reason you give, EllenK, I don't support hate crimes legislation. Murder is wrong by definition, no matter what the motivation. I'll consider evidence in mitigation and extenuation, but I won't consider trying to get into someone's mind to determine if their motivation is "hatred" or not.
ReplyDeleteAre you explaining, or justifying?
ReplyDeleteEither way, I like to point out inconsistencies and hypocrisy. This is a big one.
And what kind of credentialing class? Why, the kind required to be a teacher in a California high school--and probably the same type of course offered all across the country.