JySatirical+Esasy1

=Hate Crimes in America=

Hate crimes are a major problem in society today. A hate crime can also be described as a biased-based offence in which the assault of another person occurs with the motivation being the victim’s race, religion or orientation. Hate crimes are not part of a new trend, they have been documented for as long as it has been illegal to commit a hate crime. These crimes are both physically and emotionally devastating to the victim. There is a current debate over hate crime laws. On one side of the issue, a crime that is committed based on the victim’s race, gender, nationality, or orientation should be punished more severely than the crime committed for a different or what is considered lesser reason. On the other side of the issue is the argument that laws against hate crime, “criminalizes thought by increasing the penalty for crimes based on the motive for committing those crimes” (Source 2). In other words the court system would be allowed to add punishment for if the assult was inspired by a cultural difference or a hatred for the victims nationality. For example if the assailent yelled slanderous remarks towards the victims nationality during the assault, the crime would then be considered a hate crime. The Ku Klux Klan or KKK for short is a national white supremist organization. They were founded in 1866 by ex-confederate generals. In the last 150 years the KKK has been terrorizing black communities, predominatly in the south. Today the KKK has dwindled but their message has carried on into interracial neighborhoods all across the country. This paralells Mark Twain’s Novel, //Huckleberry Finn//, in that there is much racial inequality in both worlds. In the novel, the character “Jim” recieves unfair and demeaning treatment from many of the important characters that they come into contact with. On many occasions Huck tries to trick Jim just because he can. '"It warn't the grounding - that didn't keep us back a little. We blowed out a cylinder-head." "Good gracious! anybody hurt?" "No'm. Killed a nigger." "Well, it's lucky; because sometimes people do get hurt"' (Twain 264). This quote shows the disregard to the life of a colored person. She did not consider the lost life of a black man, a lost life at all. Today the top government officials in America have been strenuosly working to find a solution to this horrid problem. The solution that has been derived is a costly one, but the proposition seems to have many taxpayers support at this point. Especially those of communities that include gangs or racial violence. The government has proposed that a national dress code be applied. In addition to that, every citizen of the United States of America will have to have their skin tone changed so that everybody is the same color. Opposers to the plan say that it would cost much to much money. However, much, if not all, of the opposition is coming from upper class, predominatly white neighborhoods. The government has proposed a catch 22 for any oppostion that arrises to the proposition. Any person who opposes the bill should be required to be stripped of all possessions and forced to live in South Central Los Angeles for one week. If they decide not to then they are not allowed to vote on the bill. However if they decide to go and try it, they would be declared crazy and not capable of producing a valid vote. This proposition would be benificial to the entire nation in that nationality based hate crimes would no longer exist. Hate crimes based on nationality are a big deal in America. In 1995 nearly 1800 hate crimes were reported in California alone and 8000 nationwide. ("Criminal Justice Information Services." __FBI - Uniform Crime Reports__ . 1995. FBI CJIS Division . 26 Jan 2007 .) With the elimination of all of these hate crimes the crime rate overall will go down as well as allowing many citizens in the United States feel much, much safer.