By Puja

I had a nice little blog half written about BOOK IT! inspired by Laura’s lovely piece about her accidental book club…but that seems disingenuous given the fact that I am the most easily riled up “sister” of this blog.

First the Context

The FBI defines a Hate Crime as the following:

A hate crime is a traditional offense like murder, arson, or vandalism with an added element of bias. For the purposes of collecting statistics, the FBI has defined a hate crime as a “criminal offense against a person or property motivated in whole or in part by an offender’s bias against a race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, ethnicity, gender, or gender identity.” Hate itself is not a crime—and the FBI is mindful of protecting freedom of speech and other civil liberties.

Federal Hate Crime Act *(18 U.S. Code § 249) is defined as the following:

a) In General.—

(1)Offenses involving actual or perceived race, color, religion, or national origin.—

Whoever, whether or not acting under color of law, willfully causes bodily injury to any person or, through the use of fire, a firearm, a dangerous weapon, or an explosive or incendiary device, attempts to cause bodily injury to any person, because of the actual or perceived race, color, religion, or national origin of any person— 

(2) Offenses involving actual or perceived religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability.—

(A) In general.—Whoever, whether or not acting under color of law, in any circumstance described in subparagraph (B) or paragraph (3), willfully causes bodily injury to any person or, through the use of fire, a firearm, a dangerous weapon, or an explosive or incendiary device, attempts to cause bodily injury to any person, because of the actual or perceived religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability of any person—

[Ed Note: Sentencing sections removed for flow]

* States also have the option of further defining or expanding the definition with their own statutes.

Now the Issue

This was part of the NY Daily News article reporting on the murder of Srinivas Kuchibhotla in Kansas last week:

Oh you say, that was old news, when it was breaking, it has been a few days:

THAT WAS THIS MORNING. First of all CBS why the hell is “Kind Soul” in quotes? Second of all Apparent U.S. Racist Shooting?

A brown man was murdered at the hands of a white man in what, as witnesses described, was a racially motivated crime. Because last I checked, being screamed at to “Go Back To Your Country” isn’t done by a member of that country’s tourist board. It isn’t “Go Back To Your Country, Enjoy the Serene Vistas!” It is “Go Back To Your Country Because Someone Led Me and My Tiny Brain to Believe that You Are a Threat to My Livelihood.” So this to me, is a hate crime. But I guess in a world of alternative facts and outright lying, lets go ahead and hedge our bets.

Call the thing the thing it is: A HATE CRIME.

And you know what is scary? Our Attorney General is a known racist. Check to make sure his pocket square isn’t actually a  hood folded neatly and held close to his heart. I’ll wait. No I won’t.

The Southern Poverty Law Center tracks hate crimes via Hatewatch. Here is something to worry about:

• 1,094 Hate Crimes were reported in the MONTH after the Russians handed Orangemort the election.
• 917 Hate Groups are operating in the US (this is up from the last time I checked (about 840 back in January I think)

WOW America. Side note: someone told me the other day that they didn’t watch the Oscars because it was going to be “too political” and that insulting “the President” is America airing it’s dirty laundry. Ummm…ok have you heard of the internet? Do you read? Americans are showing their ass all up and down these latitude and longitudinal lines, so don’t say shit like that to me and then get offended when I roll my eyes and walk away without a word.

So what are we supposed to do when if you are any type of minority you are being told to go back to your country and then shot at or having fecal matter smeared on your domicile?

I say let’s go ahead and try the perpetrators as domestic terrorists.

Per  18 U.S. Code § 2331:

(5) the term “domestic terrorism” means activities that—

That is since yesterday. SINCE YESTERDAY.

Thing Keeping Me Sane This Week:

Douglas County District Attorney (GA) Brian Fortner and Douglas County Superior Court Judge William McClain for ensuring that people who think it’s cool to spread hatred in the streets are expelled from their community.

The judge handed down the final two sentences Monday. Torres was sentenced to 20 years, serving 13 in prison. The mother of his children, Kayla Rae Norton, 25, was sentenced to 15 years and will serve six. After their prison terms, they will be banished from Douglas County. They were found in violation of the Street Gang Terrorism and Prevention Act; Norton was found guilty of violating the act as well as a count of making terroristic threats. The jury convicted Torres of three counts of aggravated assault, one count of making terroristic threats and one count of violating the act.

Source: The Washington Post