Friday, October 14, 2011

Haters Be Hatin'

As our class dives into The Crucible, the concept of hate crimes and civil liberties have started stirring in my head. Aurther Miller's The Crucible is a play about the Salem witch trials of 1692. The town of Salem hanged 19 people after accusing them of "witch craft", something they clearly did not possess. These trials and hangings may be considered the earliest form of "hate crimes"in our country, and these trials occurred even before the founding of our country. 


I'm passionate about a lot of things, but hate crimes tend to really bother me. I've never understood the incentive for hate crimes. I'm aware that everyone has the right to free speech in America, but I don't understand how hurting or harassing someone solves anything. Hurting them doesn't change who they are, now does it?
I came across this article (link below), and it describes a recent retrial of a hate crime in California. In 2008, a 14-year old middle school student, Brandon Mclnerney, shot his openly gay classmate, Lawrence King, due to the fact that Mclerney had "white-supremacist leanings and had planned to shoot King over unwanted sexual advances". 


Although I had heard of similar hate crimes before, this one really shocked me. Although Mclnerney already had prejudice against King, he took his life just because King had a crush on him. What boggles my mind even more is the fact that it didn't occur to Mclnerney to say: "Hey, I'm sorry, but I like girls". Would that really have been so hard?


It makes me wonder if our country is headed down the wrong direction. This nation was founded on freedom and liberty, and crimes like this go against the groundwork that our very constitution is based off of. Mclnerney has every right to hate homosexuals if he so chooses, but he can't turn America, the land of liberty and justice, into a nation of prejudice and segregation. Last time I checked, neither of those things have worked out well in the past. America, it's time move forward. 




>>>>Article:
http://www.cnn.com/2011/10/05/justice/california-gay-student-murder/index.html?iref=allsearch



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1 comment:

  1. AbbeyROctober 19, 2011 at 9:37 AM

    I agree with your statement that hurting someone does not solve anything. However, I think people need to look at the crime situation in many viewpoints. For example, hurting someone is not acceptable in our society, but it's problem we haven't fixed. Reasoning's for this may include: revenge and mental problems. If our society does not change then I believe we are heading in the wrong direction.

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