CBD wrote:
It is a lot easier to take your stance on hate crimes when, to take a personal example, you aren't the one having to worry about getting murdered for holding hands with the person you love. You can understand the fear, but living it is something entirely different.
Maybe not so much from gays, but I sure as hell do have to worry about being murdered by racist blacks, just as much as black people should worry about being murdered by racist whites.
It is very presumptuous that you assume I am from a lilly white neighborhood. I grew up in the poor section of town just outside of Philly - so I was exposed to / thrown in with all kinds of people of mixed beliefs and races, and I have had my fair share of discrimination thrown at me.
As an example, I was once walking home from school when three people - two black kids and a white kid - approached me. They were MUCH bigger than I was, and there was no way I was running due to carrying a $1k instrument that I wasnt about to leave behind. Anyway, they easily catch up to me and the black kids start going through my backpack and pockets looking through money. they destroyed a few things in my bookbag because I was poor and had no money on me (guess they didnt realize how much a saxophone is worth), and the only reason they stopped is because I recognized the white kid and could ID them. Naturally, the next day at school I turned them in, and their defense was "he called me the N word (but actually said it)." Fortunately, I had a clean record, the other three kids had a long history, and I was a goofy kid with a sax who couldnt possibly intimidate anyone, so it turned out the school administrators justly found that kid to be lying and I wasnt slandered with being racist. I took it to the cops, and the detective told me the kid was part of a gang; and that if I were to press charges, my life would have been in danger.
I got off relatively easy, but not all of my friends were so lucky. One of them was with 2-3 other friends coming out of a bar. They left the bar and one of them was waaaayyyy ahead of the rest. A black guy sucker punched the one ahead - not knowing the others were behind - and started going through his wallet. The others saw what happened and caught up and started fighting. Since it was Philly and cops are all over the bar district, a cop quickly saw it and arrested my friend and his friends - and let the mugger go, because he claimed he was jumped. Fast forward a few months later, while the "hate crime" trial (and yes, hate crime charges were brought) was going on the guy mugged a 16 year old in the same fashion but it was dismissed as evidence - which should have proved that my friend defending his friend from being mugged was not motivated by a hate crime. Now this hate crime is permanently on their record, all because a black guy tried to mug a white guy without realizing his friends were 200 feet behind him. This is one of the big reasons I am not behind hate crime laws, because I have personally seen them be used when there was absolutely no reason to, and my friend was convicted of it just for being white.
One of my other friends was beat within an inch of his life just for being white in a black neighborhood - the only way he got out with his life was he claimed he had AIDs and spit blood all over a few of their faces.
Another one of my friends was told - while walking through a black neighborhood -he "doesnt belong there" and to "leave now whitey."
Another one of my friends was almost beat within an inch of his life by black kids wanting to beat up a white kid; ironically, a black drug dealer who knew my friend and liked him scared them away with a gun.
So to say me - or straight white males - arent the ones who "have to worry" about just walking down the street while white and have never "had to live it" is way of the mark, because I sure have. Maybe there are parts of the country where that is true, but its certainly not in and around Philadelphia.
And, just to throw in an example about gay people hating, the guy who sits in front of me at work used to work for a gay man who owned the company. he actually, in some bizarre move, took out pregnancy being covered in his health plan and told people it was because he didnt want to support heterosexuals. My friend soon quit and the business went under. That kind of situation is rare, but it can happen and has happened.
And fortunately I realize that most black people - or gay, or asian, or muslim, or whatever - are just looking to live, dont want any trouble, and are productive members of society; unfortunately, after some of their experiences, some of my friends dont think that to be the case.
I am also fortunate (or unfortunate if you cant make lemonade) because I have been exposed to the idea that non-white, non-straight, non-male people can be just as racist, sexist, or heterophobic than the whitest grand dragon.
Lets be real. You assumed that since I was a straight white guy, I have never had to live in fear based off the fact that I was straight or white. It was way off base, but thats the problem: when it comes to discrimination, most people wont even entertain the fact that hate crimes are just as rampant in minorities and that the white guy is always the perpetrator or the guy who "just doesnt understand." Idiocy isnt just contained in straight white people.
Edited, Oct 29th 2009 8:14am by ManifestOfKujata
Edited, Oct 29th 2009 8:15am by ManifestOfKujata