This new video has emerged showing the brutal attack on a tourist in Baltimore on St. Patrick’s Day. The video also clearly shows a man who stands above the victim to take his picture as he and others laugh at his being beaten, stripped, and robbed on the street. In the meantime, the Baltimore Police Chief Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III is being criticized for dismissing the possibility of a hate crime — insisting that this is nothing like the Trayvon Martin case.
Various commentators have asked why the attack by the black mob on the one white person shown on the street was not treated as a possible race crime. Bealefeld, however, insisted that the video shows that this is just a “drunken opportunistic criminality” by people on the street. Notably, he said that he did not want to hear people raising race and suggesting that this is another Trayvon Martin case with “race-baiting” and “fear-mongering.”
While I am not sure that race was a factor based on this evidence, I am unsure how the Police Chief can rule it out on this evidence. You have a single white individual shown on the street who is singled out for this attack. He was not simply beaten and robbed but demeaned. The stripping of this clothes and taunting of the victim was an act of hate not opportunistic crime. Without speaking with a single witness or perpetrator, it is unclear why this is being immediately dismissed as a random act of violence where in the Martin case the Justice Department Civil Rights Division intervened within days into the Florida case as a presumptive hate crime.
Part of the problem rests with the vague definition of a hate crime. Race is often a factor in crime. There are some areas of cities like Baltimore where a white person is unwise to go into out of fear of an attack. As mentioned once on this blog how my sister was once told by an African American police officer that she should leave a Chicago neighborhood immediately because she is white. The officer was doing this out of genuine concern for her. Conversely, black people have been followed and attacked in white neighborhoods, as alleged in the Martin case. Police know that, if they are honest about the role of race in crimes, there would be an explosion of cases defined as hate crimes.
Here is the Maryland law:
§ 10-304.
Because of another’s race, color, religious beliefs, sexual orientation, or national origin, a person may not:
(1) (i) commit a crime against that person;
(ii) damage the real or personal property of that person;
(iii) deface, damage, or destroy, attempt to deface, damage, or destroy the real or personal property of that person; or
(iv) burn or attempt to burn an object on the real or personal property of that person.
(2) commit a violation of item (1) of this section that:
(i) except as provided in item (ii) of this item, involves a separate crime that is a felony; or
(ii) results in the death of the victim.
The question is whether a crime occurred “because” of the person’s race. Many crimes are triggered by a person being singled out due to their race in a hostile neighborhood. Thus, many crimes begin with a confrontation with racial elements or identifications. Part of the controversy over hate crime prosecutions is the lack of a clear standard which crimes can be denoted as hate crimes. Some Maryland organizations insists that a crime is a hate crime when the “victim perceives it to be a hate crime.” That is a pretty low standard and dangerously subjective. One site advises readers that the victim’s perception is enough for a hate crime:
What is a Hate Crime?
A hate crime is a criminal act directed at an individual or group because of membership in a particular racial, religious, ethic or gender group. Vandalism to a house of worship, assault on an individual, or a bombing of a building – each may be a hate crime – if it meets any of the following criteria:When racial, religious or ethnic statements are made during the incident.
When hate group symbols are displayed.
When the motive of a crime is to harm, injure or intimidate a particular group or organization.
When the victim perceives it to be a hate crime.
Frankly, it is often difficult to have an objective and civil discussion of such cases with passions running high. I am not convinced that the Baltimore case is a hate crime and I certainly understand why the Police Chief does not want to add an inflammatory race element to a crime that is already causing public discord. However, the Baltimore and Martin cases do raise interesting questions on how certain crimes are defined as suspected hate crimes. The question is whether “but for” the race of people like the Baltimore tourist attack, the mob would have left him alone. He was the only person currently known to have been subjected to this demeaning attack on that day. It is unclear how that question can be answered from these videos alone. If he was initially singled out due to his race, does that make this a possible hate crime? In either case, do you believe it is possible to exclude race as a motivating factor based on this videos?
Source: Baltimore Sun
PS I did not emigrate. I left as a civilian mercenary, to make some cash to go to Europe. The rest is another story. Good luck with handling your qualms.
BettyKath,
Loved your answer. Most of my stuff is not actually pointed at the person who I’m nominally addressing. My outrage is addressed to our American polylemmas.
How can they be solved. I don’t know. It’s just my frustration coming out.
And you’re not the real target, I realize now.
All the ultimate advice I have is: Lend your voice and protest when an opportunity comes. For example, if several hundred thousand come to stand around the Republican convention, all carrying picket signs with pro-choice , etc ; then what can they do? They can’t kill us all. Which is what Mahatma Gandhi probably said once upon a time..
I say hypothetically IF, just so that I can’t be said to have incited an unlawful event.
Our constitutional rights of assembly peaceably to protest and request redress seems to be trumped by the new “Parks and national events law”.
Good luck, and give your sweety a clap from me.
PS Thanks for giving me new insight into one of my many personal problems. Did you know you did?
707,
Sorry I misunderstood your post. So I guess I can’t make any assumptions here either: “My only snark was in fact good advice….”
I refuse to live in fear. I’m pretty good at avoidance so, no, no sprays, guns, tazers, sirens, etc. gps seems to take me places I don’t want to go. My traveling companion these days is a dog that is “lacking in intimidation” but overflowing with joy at being with me.
By “quieter country” are you suggesting that I emigrate? I’ve considered it b/c I don’t like what this government is doing in my name.
SwM,
You’ve got a puppet using your name. Not the first time I guess.
Can we bomb him? Send the special ops boys? Get Obama’s permission to drone him? Or do you know some “contractors”? I got an ex-CIA guy, but he did not do “wet jobs”, although his classmate had it as a specialty. And loved it. “I got one today”, he’d say.
Don’t they have ones which have danger zones marked in red? And audible warning like in airplanes. “Pull up”! ==”Turn around. Leave this zone immediately.” Etc.
Oh yeah, most humans see what they are expecting/hoping to see.
BettyKath,
Not testy my friend, for you are one, if you are here. That’s half of my requirement.
Just in fact was making fun of my assumptions. By adding something obviously impossible, such as smelling breath, etc.
I, like most I accuse of the same thing, had made up my mind before I looked at the thing. The Professor is so easy to read (excuse me sir) at times as to his intent. And here his outrage was so apparent.
So, contrarian as I am, I was looking for what shit the white victim got, not so much at the rest.
My only snark was in fact good advice. Or get one of those things that guide you in the car, and a two BIG stuffed dogs, one beside you and one for the backseat. And a recording of a raging dog growling if the door window should be smashed in one of those neighborhoods.
I assume you have the usual sprays, knives, tazers, guns, hatpins. acid, etc.
And a vvvveeerrrryyyy loud siren, and auto connect to nationwide alarm system.
Considering a quieter country?
Question: If an individual of mixed race, say like our president, entered into a primarily single race neighborhood, say llke an American Native reservation, and was treated like this — would you say it was a hate crime or just a plain old crime? Likewise if you put a very dark skinned person in the middle of Beverly Hills and a bunch of blue tinted silver haired heiresses released their big hair foo-foo doggies after the inebriated intruder – would that be a hate crime or just a plain gcb crime? AND how about those who were whooping and whoomping and vocally encouraging the offenders in shown in the video? Are they culpable as in the case depicted in the movie “The Accused” with Jodie Foster that I believe was based on a true story?
707, “Because he was reeling, because he fell for their feints, because he acted out instead of retiring, because he was where he was odd man out and should not have been there at all, because he was totally out of control of his body, etc.”
Guess we saw different things in the video. I saw him reeling from getting pushed or hit, no opportunity to retire. We agree, he shouldn’t have been there, but a tourist doesn’t always know that. Others took control of his body.
“Because I smelled his breath and did blood tests.”
And now you’re just getting testy. Unless you were there. If that’s the case, why didn’t you stop the assault?
sorry, I meant idealist 707 not 707.5
AY,
“The end result no one got what they bargained for…… They were all black….. I guess race played out there as well…..”
Oh, yes indeed.
You’ve noticed, I’m sure, that frustrated people, of all sexes and “races” (even hybrids), take out their frustration on the nearest human, animal. tin can. or plant, or graffititously on a wall. Odd, isn’t it?
And those gratuitiously denied a future are more inclined to feel frustrated than those with an assured one.
PS Just to go further with what you wrote earlier. I remember in school the only police we saw wes the one on the three-wheeler marking tires on parked cars to give tickets to on his next round. And no police in schools.
Even if I was dissruptive, one person hardly merits policing. Smile.
isealist, you should watch the “Wire”. Maybe you were at Fells Point.
SwM.
Agreed. Of course they are. Anything that promotes dissension, polarization, and ultimately votes.
I was in a white neighborhood, a bar district. That was enough.
Cheers.
BettyKath,
How do I know he was drunk?
Because he was reeling, because he fell for their feints, because he acted out instead of retiring, because he was where he was odd man out and should not have been there at all, because he was totally out of control of his body, etc. Because I smelled his breath and did blood tests.
BTW. I would not recommend driving so carelessly. Not because of the neighborhoods, but because you are a naive woman.
As for “bad” neighborhoods. Have you ever spent any time wondering why they are getting larger and larger? And what created them in the first place?
India, one of the poorest in the world, has no bad neighborhoods.
Only ones where the beggars and “holy men” will take you to the cleaners.
Read Ishmael Jones: “The Human Factor” for proof.
Egregious seems to be a popular word today. Is it snobbery, or an indication of our social condition? And of what it takes to get attention?
I don’t care what label you put on it, but the police should be able to arrest several people who prominently appear on the video…if they are even trying to find the felons that did this.
I’m waiting to comment. I need Chris McCauley to show up and tell us all how the white guy deserved it because he walked towards the black guy.
707,
“This was simply an example of humiliating someone who gets so drunk he can’t hold himself up.
—————————————–
How do you know he was drunk?
============================
Members of mobs tend to do things that they would never do when on their own.
I travel frequently by car and more often than I intend, I end up in a “bad” neighborhood. The first time it happened, the police pulled me over to find out why a white woman was spending so much time in a black neighborhood. I was frustrated, not scared, and just looking for the route out of town which wasn’t marked. I resented them pulling me over just b/c of my race. But b/c I still had a long drive ahead of me, I was grateful for my first police escort out of town.
DHMCarver:
if we place ourselves into a situation that we know is dangerous, we should be prepared, conscious, and responsible for the repercussions. if a woman dresses in a provocative way and walks through a neighborhood in which she knows that the men will feel threatened, she is being self-destructive. sometimes people want to be hurt and they put themselves into dangerous situations to insure the probability. this does not mean that the perpetrators should not be held responsible for their actions but also that the person that put them self into the situation is responsible for taking that risk.
idealist, The last time I was in Baltimore was about 2005. You have to be very careful there no matter what race you are. This does not appear to be a hate crime unless there is more evidence presented but it definitely is a crime. I think there are people out there looking to find hate crimes acted out against white people but they are reaching with this one.
Stefanie, did you really mean what these words seem to imply: “the white guy put himself into a dangerous place. he made that choice. he was self-destructive?” — isn’t that EXACTLY like saying by wearing a revealing outfit, a woman is responsible for her rape? And that she wanted to be raped? Please clarify.
I would disagree with those on this thread who say that you need to get to death and/or a lynching to reach a hate crime (regardless of what you feel about hate crimes). Additionally, don’t forget that the victim was beaten so thoroughly here that he woke up in the hospital with no memory of the attack — which means that for all those who were stripping him knew, he was dead already. I don’t think they cared.
A last word — if the trolls who invaded the last thread on this attack crawl back out from under their rocks, please ignore them.