History Of Hate Crimes: The Long Road To Equal Rights
A number of terrible offenses have been reported in the history of hate crimes. An outrageous number of people have been injured or killed after having committed no crime other than being homosexual. In many instances it is irrelevant that hate crime laws are on the books. The perpetrators see themselves doing the work of their religion. However, the truth is, they are violating one of the basic principles of every civilization since the beginning of time.
According to statistics, hate crimes are decreasing. Many experts thing that this is because crimes against gay people are not seen as hate crimes. There are are lot of arguments going on today about whether crimes against gay people should be called hate crimes.
Despite this thought, they are hate crimes. Thousands of people have become victims throughout the history of hate crimes. This country is built on equality, but thousands of people are getting hurt or killed for thinking and being different. Many times the people who commit these crimes are problematic, and have some version of homophobia.
The history of hate crimes tells us that they do not ever go away. As more people become educated on the topic, they will decrease. If we have learned anything from our nation's past, and the civil rights movement of the sixties, we will realize that there will be hate crimes far into the future.
Recent hate crimes against gays appear to be declining. This can be deceptive. Most victims do not trust their local law enforcement to act in their best interest so they do not report it when the crime occurs. These gays are afraid, hiding away in the shadows and unintentionally creating more problems for future victims.
What are the reasons that people commit hate crimes? While some say it is due to religion, other people simply find fear in people who are not following the social norms. Culture is another reason for hate crimes. Despite the wide array of reasoning, all hate crimes are wrong. History generally repeats itself, so we may see a long and hard fight ahead of us to attain equality.
The history of hate crimes against gays is staggering. Thousands of people are victimized because of their sexual orientation. While the nation itself has hate crime laws, many people do not care. They see what they are doing as a higher calling. What they are really doing is hurting another human being. Statistics are showing that recent hate crimes are declining, but this may simply be an artifact of classification. A lot of people don't think that the police will act for the good of the gays, and so many people who have been victimized go into hiding. This makes the whole problem worse.
Published March 11th, 2008
Filed in Government
