Are Hate Crimes Another Form of Self Expression?

The recent Jena 6 controversy has apparently brought on motivation for ignorant people to continue with similar hate crimes. The incident involved 6 teenagers being charged with attempted murder after beating up a white student at their high school, although, the charges were later dropped to battery. A couple of days prior to this happening, there was a noose found hanging in a tree where some black students often gathered. Needless to say racial tensions ensued after the incident. The students that were involved in the hanging the noose were suspended from school, but not charged with any crime or even expelled. Talk about justice.

Now just the other day October 12, there was a noose found at Columbia State University on a black professor's office door. Police are now reviewing 56 hours of videotape and DNA on the 4 foot long piece of twine so they can determine who the culprit is, but currently there are no suspects in the case. That same week they found a caricature of a yarmulke-wearing man with a swastika on a bathroom stall door. Police are saying they believe these two incidents are not related...Yeah right! Can you believe even after the noose was found, Columbia State University didn't even want to hand over the videotapes to police so they could catch the culprit? Police had to obtain them via court order. Columbia State officials said they thought it might violate the students' privacy. Are you kidding me?!

The same week as the Columbia University incident, there was another noose found hanging from a post office building at Ground Zero in New York, that was damaged in 9-11. The officials state they don't even know who it was aimed towards. Hmmm...I wonder. Black people, maybe? These aren't the only incidents either. More recently there have been nooses spotted hanging at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in New London, Conn., and the Hempstead Police Department's locker room on Long Island.

Okay, all of these hate crimes really gets me peeved! I have a question though. When these sickos hang these symbols of hatred around town, and they go to bed at night do they sleep soundly knowing they did a job well done? Do they say, "Man! I really showed them. I am pissing people off and it makes me feel good? I am fighting the good fight!" Honestly what is the purpose of hate crimes anyway? Do they really prove a point besides the fact that the person who committed them is pissed off at another person because they are different than them? I think it all goes back to self esteem. If someone is content with themselves and their well being then they wouldn't be tormented about how someone else looks, acts or lives their own life. These people are sad. These are the same people that are bashing gays, saying racial slurs, denouncing other's religious beliefs and just minding everyone else's business but their own. Do they really think that by hanging a noose or drawing a cartoon in the bathroom is going to change the world over to their way of thinking? I will venture to say most likely not.

My final thoughts on hate crimes are that they are completely unnecessary. If you have your own views, fine, but keep them to yourself. Chances are some will agree with you but a big majority won't, so just save some time from trying to change other people and try to change yourself. They say if you are always angry at other people and lash out at them, then there's something that you are not dealing within yourself emotionally. Wouldn't Dr.Phil say something like that? Because face it, if you live in America diversity is the way of life. You can either accept it, or move to another country where conformity is the standard.