Editorial

After reading the editorials to the Burlington Free Press about the Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2007, I realized that both the group for it and against it have some very powerful points. For someone like me who doesn't believe in the death penalty, I don't think that the hate crime law should be the reason for someone to be sentenced to death. On the other hand, I do believe that some groups do need more protectin then others. Yes our laws do speak of equality, and in that case each crime committed should already be considered a hate crime, but our world isn't perfect, and not all citizens believe every one is equal. This is why hate crime laws should be considered. It is a way of telling every one in the U.S. that the government isn't going to sit idly by while people are getting lynched because they are black, or while people are getting tied to posts and beaten to death because they are gay. Someone mentioned in their editorial how our founders of this land automatically assumed that the laws applied to everyone. This isn't true. The Declaration of Independence was written by white males. At the time, the freedoms they talked about only applied to white males, not blacks, or women. So it is about time to stand up for those groups that have been pushed down. The truth is, the majority of the population need to take responsibility for the minority. We need to admit that the regular laws out there against violence just aren't enough to stop people from killing others because of their race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, etc... You know there is a difference between these laws, when someone can kill a black person out of hating that persons character compared to hating that persons color. In once incident the murderer knew the person, and hated him, the other incident, the person was killed just because he was black. If we can help stop at least one form of hate, why shouldn't we?