11/22/2010

Q: What Happens When Loners Join The TEA Party

A: Hate crimes go down 15 percent in 2009



"Hate crimes reported last year by police agencies nationwide -- nearly half of which were motivated by racial bias -- were down by 15 percent compared to 2008, the FBI said Monday.

In a report released by the bureau's Uniform Crime Reporting Program, the FBI said 6,604 criminal incidents involving 7,789 offenses were reported in 2009 as a result of bias toward a particular race, religion, sexual orientation, ethnicity/national origin, or physical or mental disability.

The 2009 overall total is the lowest since 1994. In the District, the number of reported incidents of hate crimes dropped from 42 to 36; Virginia dropped from 263 to 150; and Maryland rose from 100 to 102.

The FBI report noted that of 6,598 single-bias incidents, 48.5 percent were motivated by a racial bias, 19.7 percent by religious bias, 18.5 percent by sexual-orientation bias, 11.8 percent by ethnicity/national origin bias and bias against a disability accounted for 1.5 percent of single-bias incidents..."

Read more @ Washington Times.

4 comments:

Roadkill said...

Intersting. The successful 2008 Democrat candidate for president campaigns as a "post-racial politician" and his party captures both the exective and legislative branches of government. Then the government tells us that hate crimes decreased after only one year.

Stunning effective presidential/Congressional influence on the mores of the people? Or perhaps some tinkering with the accounting? Hard to say. Both arguements have merit.

Personally, I hope its true, and that the coincidence is merely, well, coincidental.

Sunny Badger said...

RK:

What a difference a couple years make!

The story below comes from the 11/17/2008 edition of the London Times.

link: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/us_elections/article5172285.ece

"...Far from heralding a new age of tolerance, Mr Obama’s victory in the November 4 poll has highlighted the stubborn racism that lingers within some elements of American society as opponents pour their frustration into vandalism, harassment, threats and even physical attacks.

Cross burnings, black figures hung from nooses, and schoolchildren chanting “Assassinate Obama” are just some of the incidents that have been documented by police from California to Maine.

There have been "hundreds" of cases since the election, many more than usual, said Mark Potok, director of the Intelligence Project at the Southern Poverty Law Center, which monitors hate crimes.

The phenomenon appears to be at its most intense in the Southern states, where opposition to Mr Obama is at its highest and where reports of hate crimes were emerging even before the election. Incidents involving adults, college students and even schoolchildren have dampened the early post-election glow of racial progress and harmony, with some African American residents reporting an atmosphere of fear and inter-community tension.

In North Carolina, four students at the state university admitted writing anti-Obama comments in a tunnel designated for free speech expression, including one that said: "Let's shoot that (N-word) in the head." Mr Obama has received more threats than any other president-elect, authorities say..."


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Maybe the TEA Party has provided a forum for the individualist loner to get together with other liked minded individuals and learn that random acts of violence aren't the answer.

I don't have any proof, but it could be a possibility. Maybe we would never have heard of Timothy McVeigh, if the Internet had been around. Maybe McVeigh would have been running for Congress in November 2010, if his attention had been focused on a broader from of change. What do you think?

Roadkill said...

Sunny,

A lot of "maybe's" in that last post.

Well, maybe those four NCS students had great grand-daddy's who voted for the 1860 Democrat candidate Stevens and fought for the confederacy, had grand-daddy's who voted for the post-bellum Democrat candidates and were members of the Klan, had grand-daddys who voted for Democrat Roosevelt and enforced the segregation laws, and Daddys who voted for Democrats Stevenson and Kennedy and fought integretion.

Maybe that might explain their racism.

They are southerners, you know, and as we northerners know, all of them southerners are racists to the core. Except, maybe, for those Republicans who fought against slavery, fought against the Klan, fought against segregation, fought for integration, and continue to fight for the dignity and independence of black Americans.

Anonymous said...

Another thought just came to mind.
The students who went on Freedom Rides back then were called Communists. Gee Wiliker where have I heard those taunts come from lately?