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A Compilation of Critiques on Hate Crimes Legislation
Many liberal, and even self-proclaimed progressive, organizations are fighting for “hate
crimes” legislation nationally and state-by-state. The Senate just voted in favor of the
“Matthew Shepard Bill”. Challenges and critiques are made over and over again by
queer/trans/gender non-conforming folks, people of color, low-income/poor folks, and
others most impacted by the many tentacles of the prison industrial complex, yet the
campaigns continue on. This document is intended to be a bullet point compilation of
materials put out by the following organizations (in no particular order): Sylvia Rivera
Law Project, Audre Lorde Project, FIERCE, Queers for Economic Justice, Peter Cicchino
Youth Project, Denver Chapter of INCITE! Women of Color Against Violence, Denver
on Fire, and the article “Sanesha Stewart, Lawrence King, and why hate crimes
legislation won’t help” by jack. The intention behind this document is to present a
somewhat simplified critique that can inspire a desire for more information.
If a particular crime is deemed a hate crime by the state, the supposed perpetrator
is automatically subject to a higher mandatory minimum sentence. For example, a
crime that would carry a sentence of five years can be “enhanced” to eight years.
Plain and simple, hate crimes legislation increases the power and strength of the prison
system by detaining more people for longer periods of time.
Trans people, people of color, and other marginalized groups are disproportionately
incarcerated to an overwhelming degree. Trans and gender non-conforming people,
particularly trans women of color, are regularly profiled and falsely arrested for
doing nothing more than walking down the street.
If we are incarcerating those who commit violence against marginalized
individuals/communities we then place them behind walls where they can continue to
target these same people. It is not in the best interest of marginalized communities to
depend on a system that already commits such great violence to then protect them.
Hate crime laws do not distinguish between oppressed groups and groups with
social and institutional power.
This reality of the state makes it so that white people can accuse people of color of anti-
white hate crimes, straight people accuse queers, and so on. Such a reality opens the
door for marginalized people to be prosecuted for simply defending themselves against
oppressive violence. This type of precedent setting also legitimizes ideologies of reverse
racism that continuously deny the institutionalization of oppression.
Hate crime laws are an easy way for the government to act like it is on our
communities’ side while continuing to discriminate against us. Liberal politicians
and institutions can claim “anti-oppression” legitimacy and win points with
communities affected by prejudice, while simultaneously using “sentencing
enhancement” to justify building more prisons to lock us up in.
Hate crimes legislation is a liberal way of being “tough on crime” while building the
power of the police, prosecutors, and prison guards. Rather than address systems of
violence like health care disparities, economic exploitation, housing crisis, or police
brutality, these politicians use hate-crimes legislation as their stamp of approval on
“social issues”.
A Compilation of Critiques on Hate Crimes Legislation
Hate crimes laws focus on punishing the “perpetrator” and has no emphasis on
providing support for the survivor or families and friends of those killed during an
act of interpersonal hate violence.
We will only strengthen our communities if we take time to care for those who have
experienced or been witness to violence. We have to survive systems of violence all the
time and are incredibly resilient. We must focus on building our capacity to respond and
support survivors and create transformative justice practices that can also heal the
perpetrator (though focusing first and foremost on survivors).
Hate crime law sets up the State as protector, intending to deflect our attention from
the violence it perpetrates, deploys, and sanctions. The government, its agents, and
their institutions perpetuate systemic violence and set themselves up as the only
avenue in which justice can be allocated; they will never be charged with hate
crimes.
The state, which polices gender, race, sexuality, and other aspects of identity, is able to
dismiss the ways it creates the systems that builds a culture of violence against
marginalized communities as it pays prosecutors to go after individuals who commit
particular types of interpersonal violence. Hate crimes legislation puts marginalized
communities in the place of asking the state to play the savior while it continues to
perpetuate violence.
Hate crimes don’t occur because there aren’t enough laws against them, and hate
crimes won’t stop when those laws are in place. Hate crimes occur because, time and
time again, our society demonstrates that certain people are worth less than others;
that certain people are wrong, are perverse, are immoral in their very being.
Creating more laws will not help our communities. Organizing for the passage of these
kind of laws simply takes the time and energy out of communities that could instead
spend the time creating alternative systems and building communities capable of starting
transformative justice processes. Hate crimes bills are a distraction from the vital work
necessary for community safety.
Passing hate crimes legislation will not bring back those who have been killed by
hateful violence, it will not heal the wounds of the body or spirit, it will not give
power to communities who have felt powerless after episodes of violence.
Organizations like the Human Rights Campaign, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force,
and others take advantage of our pain and suffering to garner support for these pieces of
legislation. Advocates in the campaigns for hate crimes legislation tokenize individuals
like Sanesha Stewart and Angie Zapata while still pushing forward the white, class
privileged, gay and lesbian agenda. To truly honor those we have lost and to honestly
heal ourselves we must resist the inclination to turn to the state for legitamacy or
paternalistic protection; let us use the time to build our communities and care for our
selves.
from blackandpink.org
2009