January 2014, two Indiana residents were arrested for burning a cross outside the home of an African-American Johnson County family.
Last week, a Black family’s home in Manhattan Beach, Calif., a predominately white area, was fire bombed.
And just days ago a Black friend of mine who resides in Georgia was followed for over a mile as she drove down an isolated street. Individuals in the other car held a sign on the inside of their windshield that had the word “nigger” printed in large, bold letters. The aggressive occupants in the other vehicle eventually turned onto a different street, leaving my friend shaken and questioning why so much hatred existed in the world.
Hate crimes are classified as “an offense in which the person who committed the offense knowingly or intentionally: (a) selected the person who was injured; or (b) damaged or otherwise affected property by the offense because of the color, creed, national origin, race, religion, or sexual orientation of the injured person or the owner or occupant of the attached property was associated with any other recognizable group or affiliation.”
As Indiana prepares to celebrate 200 years of existence in 2016, I question how far our state has truly come since it does not have a hate crime law.
Last month, the Recorder published a story by our very own Leslie Fuller that expanded on the issue of hate crimes and the importance of legislation.
In the article, Rep. Greg Porter (D-96), said, “In the state of Indiana this type of behavior is acceptable. We accept these (hate) groups, we embrace these groups by not passing legislation.”
The legislation Porter refers to is House Bill 1330, a bill he sponsored this year. However, he told the Recorder he is unsure it will even win a committee hearing.
Yes, year after year, Rep. Porter, and before him, retired Rep. Bill Crawford (D-98), repeatedly sponsored hate crime bills with the support of the Black Caucus, yet none of them passed.
Such deliberate dismissal of key legislation over and over is a slap in the face to Hoosiers who fall into the categories of those most often affected by hate crimes.
It is also a slap in the face to all Hoosiers of good will who have tirelessly advocated for equal rights and protection. But more significantly, the overt disregard to pass hate crime bills sends a very clear message that Indiana is not as advanced and progressive as it claims. Currently 45 states and the District of Columbia have hate crime laws, but Indiana does not. Nationwide Indiana has a reputation, amongst minorities in particular, about its ultra-conservative past.
In fact, Indiana was actually run by the Ku Klux Klan in the 1920s, with Grand Dragon D.C. Stephenson bragging that he was “the law and the power in Indiana” a man who actually appointed Gov. Edward Jackson.
How can Indiana truly “advance” if it doesn’t take bold and deliberate moves to disavow the ugliness of our Klan past?
Passing hate crime legislation does even more than send a clear message of progression and protection; it will also send a clear message to perpetrators. As the law is currently written, many hate crime acts result in minimal charges such as criminal mischief or misdemeanor intimidation. If HB 1330 passed, an offender’s penalty could be upgraded to harsher terms. And while such laws may not totally eradicate certain activities right away, at least the consequences for the extreme behavior will be more severe. This is why letting your state representatives and other elected officials know your stance on key issues is so imperative.
As a state, we have to do more to send stronger messages that certain behavior and acts, like burning a cross to intimidate people of color, are not tolerated. We have to prosecute more aggressively, but before that can even happen, we must first clearly outline and support laws that may decrease the occurrence of improper behavior.
The world is bizarre and people are killing one another simply because of the differences that make us unique. ISIS is one of the most polarizing groups in the world rooted in hatred. They take the word extreme to an entirely new level. To prevent similar barbaric acts from occurring on American soil we have to be aggressive and deliberate in our approach. America has to do more. Indiana has to do more. When we ignore or diminish the wrongdoing of others, we set ourselves up for greater failure later.
