“There aren’t that many hate crimes occurring in the country”
-Tucker Carlson of Fox News (2-22-19)
Empire is back on TV … but without my favorite actor on the show, black and gay singing/acting star Jesse Smollett. Him making up a story about being attacked (a really dumb and illogical maneuver) may have far reaching consequences, especially for Fox News viewers.
From now on, regardless of the facts, they will be told by Fox types like Carlson that all hate crimes are just “snowflake” mirages. And, because Fox viewers believe all other news sources are biased, don’t try to confuse them with reality.
The truth’s much different. Hate crimes are real, and Georgia is one of only 5 states not to acknowledge it legislatively (see HB 426 below).
And, Henry County residents, some of these hateful folks are in your backyard. Alex Michael Ramos of Butts County, just south of here, was recently sentenced to 6 years in jail for stomping an innocent, defenseless black counter protester in Charlottesville, Va. last year. Ramos, a one-time member of the right-wing Georgia Security Force III%, was attending the UNITE THE RIGHT rally for white supremacists of all types, including Georgians.
The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) is the national authority on hate crimes. The SPLC documented the rise in hate groups over the last few years. Pre-Trump (2015) there were 892 groups. The number has grown every year since, with 2018 seeing 1020 hate groups, 41 in Georgia.
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has indicated much the same. There were nearly 2000 anti-Semitic incidents in 2017, up 60% from the year before. Some were very serious, including 163 bomb threats.
FBI 2017 statistics, which only include crimes reported to the authorities and thus under-reported, show the fallacy of Carlson’s statement. The FBI documented over 8000 hate related offenses. The breakdown of these offenses was: 60% racial/ethnic; 21% religious (mostly against Jews); and the rest primarily sexual orientation. Over three fourths were committed against individuals versus institutions.
Just one week before the Carlson rant, Coast Guard Lt. Chris Hasson was arrested by the FBI and accused of planning a mass terror attack. His target list included liberal TV news personalities and Senators, among others. Advocating a “white homeland,” Hasson, who has been in the military for decades, has written that he was a “skinhead” and wants whites to “wake up.” And, he’s not the only one having been in our military with these views. Look up Tim McVeigh, Michael Tubbs, and Louis Beam. Why can’t these folks be weeded out of our defense forces?
Carlson was correct in one way; hate crimes against white, old-money, upper-class Episcopalians like him are rare (especially in lily white upper income La Jolla, CA. where he’s from … and where I once worked but could not afford to live). But he and others need to accept that this is an increasingly diverse country and folks like him are not in the majority…certainly not in growing multi-ethnic, multi-racial Henry County. The rest of us should be and are concerned about hate and violence, especially in the age of “both sides” are equally wrong Trumpism.
It is very encouraging that Georgia, one of 5 states with no hate crimes statute, is finally recognizing that there is a problem here. It is significant that last session a Hate Crimes Bill (HB 426) was sponsored in the Georgia House by a Dacula Republican, Chuck Efstration. HB 426 was passed by the House but stalled in the Senate in the 2019 session. It’s expected to be reintroduced this coming year. (Note: Georgia’s 2000 Hate Crimes Bill was declared invalid by Georgia’s Supreme Court).
As an ADL spokeswoman said: “Hate crimes are different … Hate crimes are felt by entire communities, and when they are not adequately addressed, entire communities feel isolated, disenfranchised, unsafe and threatened.” Now is the time to act, Georgia legislators.
