The only thing hate crimes do is inhibit our right (and we do have this right) to be racist, sexist, ethnocentrist, etc. Even if you are a racist, your racist beliefs are protected by the Constitiution. Where is the crime? The crime is in the act.....not what motivates it. If it were the motivation, everyone on this planet would be guilty of murder. The notion of a hate crime upsets me.....not because I think people who are racist, sexist, etc. have the 'right' beliefs, but because they are no more in the wrong, legally, than you or I UNTIL AND UNLESS they commit a crime.

I am concerned here with all the friends and family members whose brothers, fathers, and uncles were murdered and not victim of a hate crime. How would you feel if someone shot and killed your father and was given seven years, while at the same time someone who shot and killed someone else was given 25 years? Would you feel like justice was served in both cases? My heart rests with the people who get slapped in the face by the law when it says that 'this murder was more significant than the murder of your father'.

I am not advocating racism, ethnocentrism, gay-bashing or anything of the like....I think that these agendas are stupid and unfounded. Nor am I saying that racial and ethnic and gender tensions don't exist in the world and that we shouldn't do what we can to stop it....but we shouldn't do it at anyone else's expense. What I do believe, however, is that with the proper will and determination, people other than white, middle-class, straight males can move ahead in the world....and far ahead at that. Two examples: Madeline Albright and Colin Powell. There are two types of people in the world: talkers and doers. Adrienne Rich (lesbian-separatist feminist) is a talker; Madeline Albright is a doer. Louis Farrahkan is a talker; Colin Powell is a doer. I have no doubt that they all have faced pressures at certain times in their lives b/c of their gender/color. Have you ever heard Colin Powell make race an issue with anything?.....what about Ms. Albright with gender? That's my whole belief.....don't make it an issue, because it's not. Anyone who DOES make it an issue is showing their belief in the inequality of themselves and someone else. When I see someone who makes it an issue (either a racist, ethnocentrist, gay-basher; or someone on the other end who expects exceptions for race, ethnicity, or sexual-orientation), I really find it kind of silly. If all people are equal, let's treat them that way and ignore the people who feel otherwise.

Of course there will be people in the world who will remain ethnocentrists, racists, and gay-bashers. And when they don't hire someone because they're gay, they should be fined and punished. When they assult someone b/c they're black, they should be arrested. When they murder someone b/c they're Jewish, they should go to jail. However, they shouldn't be punished any more or any less than anyone else who assults or murders someone.