Nearly 11 years ago, one of the most gruesome racial crimes
of the post-civil rights era occurred in Jasper, Texas. After leaving a family
gathering, James Byrd Jr. was kidnapped by several white men who beat him,
chained him to a pickup truck and dragged him for three miles before leaving
his disfigured body at a black cemetery. In a similar crime of hate, a gay
teenager named Matthew Shepard was beaten and pistol-whipped to death because of his sexual orientation.
Joined by Byrd’s and Shepard’s families , President Barack Obama recently signed
the Hate Crimes Prevention Act in honor of James Byrd Jr. and Matthew Shepard.
“Time and again we’ve been reminded of the difficulty of building a nation in
which we’re all free to live and love as we see fit,” President Obama said
during a reception in the East Room of the White House. “But the cause
endured and the struggle continued, waged by the family of Matthew Shepard, by
the family of James Byrd, by folks who held vigils and led marches, by those
who rallied and organized and refused to give up, by the late Senator Ted
Kennedy who fought so hard for this legislation.”
The bill,
which President George Bush threatened to veto, extends to crimes motivated
by actual or perceived differences in race, color, religion or national origin. Those convicted of hate crimes involving firearms can get 10 years in prison; convictions for kidnapping, sexual
assault or murder could result in a life sentence.
“You
understood that we must stand against crimes that are meant not only to break
bones, but to break spirits — not only to inflict harm, but to instill fear,”
President Obama said. “You understand that the rights afforded every citizen
under our Constitution mean nothing if we do not protect those rights — both
from unjust laws and violent acts. And
you understand how necessary this law continues to be.
“In the most recent year for which
we have data, the FBI reported roughly 7,600 hate crimes in this country. Over the past 10 years, there were more than
12,000 reported hate crimes based on sexual orientation alone. And we will never know how many incidents
were never reported at all.” –amir shaw
