Hate crimes have been an unfortunate aspect of communities throughout history and continue to plague us today.
A hate crime involves a crime that is threatened or committed against a person because of a certain characteristic (race, ethnicity, religion, gender, disability, etc.).
The offender is motivated because he or she holds negative attitudes against a certain community of people with a similar characteristic.
A hate crime is also committed when a person incites another person to act against a certain community, even if he or she himself does not act.
Typical crimes involve vandalism, destruction of property, harassment, malicious complaints, assault, and murder. Crimes can be committed against an individual (e.g. a person being assaulted) or against several members at once (e.g. a mass shooting in a place of worship or community centre). They can also occur against people who are perceived to belong to a certain community. For example, as hate crimes against Muslims increase, Sikhs are also often attacked because they are misidentified as being Muslim.
It is also important to note that hate crimes can affect individuals who are associated with certain groups even when they do not share those characteristics themselves (e.g. immigration lawyers, human rights activists).
Not all crimes committed against people in such communities are motivated by hate. Sometimes it is a coincidence or just happens to be a crime of opportunity. This means that it can get a bit tricky for the legal system to determine the motivation behind the crime.
It is important that communities do not ignore these incidents. Left unchecked, these incidents can lead to community tensions that are a lot harder to deal with once they escalate.
One way to reduce the impact of such incidents is to report them to the police if you have witnessed them.
Another way is to liaise with marginalized communities – both informally and through their organizations. If you are in a country that does not yet recognize these crimes, find ways of making this change happen.
[ctt template=”5″ link=”Gp67g” via=”no” ]You may not be able to change legislation, but you can make the effort to change your community.[/ctt]
Also, give these communities the opportunities and freedom to indicate grievances that have affected them.
It is easy for people who do not feel threatened by hate crimes (i.e. those in the majority) to turn a blind eye, but it is important to learn to speak up for those whose voices are more likely to be ignored. This may mean speaking and acting out against ‘your own’ to bring about justice. But an important part of maintaining positive community relations is acting as if a threat to one is a threat to all.
