We have been discussing the national debate over hate crime laws and the standard for investigating particular cases but not others as in the recent case out of Cincinnati. A new controversy has erupted in Chicago where a woman, Susan Pedersen, says that she was attacked in her car with her children in a black neighborhood by a mob yelling that she did not belong in the neighborhood. She is white. However, two alleged attackers were charged only with misdemeanor criminal damage to property. While the case has received relatively little attention and more details would be helpful, critics have charged that a black driver surrounded by a white mob in such a circumstance would have resulted in both a state and federal hate crime investigation. There is also a question of how the police and prosecutors have charged this case generally as a property damage case even without the alleged racist motivation of the mob.
The attack occurred near the University of Chicago where I went to school. The mother had just dropped a friend off at the University of Chicago when she stopped at a red light and found her car surrounded by several dozen young people. She says that they were yelling racial slurs about her being white and smashing her windows with the children screaming inside. The group even reportedly used a bicycle to smash the window when their fists did not suffice.
As I have mentioned in prior blogs, I often heard accounts of white students and family members entering into some nearby neighborhoods and being surrounded and even roughed up due to their race. One of my sisters and a friend once went into such a neighborhood by accident and two African-American officer pulled them over to tell them that they could not stay in the neighborhood because they would likely be targeted due to their race. Likewise, when I was in college, I drove off campus and was similarly confronted at a red light by about five men who told me to get out of the neighborhood and tried to open my door while calling me racial names. For the record, this was one of only a couple times that I have faced such racial anger and I would not attribute that conduct to the vast majority of neighborhoods with predominantly African-American populations.
There are obviously countervailing stories of African-Americans facing the same response in some white neighborhoods. Some of those cases have received national attention and resulted in hate crime prosecutions or special enforcement efforts.
The question is when such crimes should be defined as hate crimes if they are motivated by race. It is not clear why some cases are immediately characterized as possible race cases and subject to federal intervention while others are not. Conversely, some have criticized the hate crime laws more generally because of what is perceived as undefined standards in enforcement as well as the ability to charge crimes directly linked to the conduct like assault. The laws also raise free speech issues in some cases.
My greatest concern is that an attack on a mother and children in a car is viewed by the police and prosecutors as simply a misdemeanor property offense and not assault or other crimes. Even if this is not to be investigated as a hate crime, it was clearly an assault on this family if the account is true. Thus far, the police and prosecutors appear to be undercharging this offense as a purely property offense in my view. Even removing the race element, there is still a car with broken windows and a terrified family who merely appear to have driven down the wrong street. Of course, if there are additional facts that have not been reported like some traffic dispute or altercation, we should be told about it. If this mother’s account is true, the handling of the case seems deeply troubling.
Source: ABC
“The only thing that beats this sort of behavior as concerns depravity are those using it to attack a political party”
Agreed. I mean, the Left is smart enough to never ever stoop to such behavior.
They are never so craven as to throw another log on the fire.
The only thing that beats this sort of behavior as concerns depravity are those using it to attack a political party. This has been going on in the good ole US of A for hundreds of years. The pendulum swings one way with the force of ‘liberal haters and blamers’ and then back. Amazing how quick to pounce some narrow minded people are. Throw another log on the fire.
Depravity seems to be shared and spewed in various forms.
This Black dude thinks white liberals are too blame, and says so quote well:
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
Things that were never not going to happen: (1) Selective prosecution of thought crimes; (2) Non-prosecution of selective prosecution of thought crimes as a thought crime. Are we surprised that making subjective racial intent an element of a crime leads to new and interesting ways to game prosecutions for political gain? This crime was undercharged so there would not be a politically inconvenient prosecution. It all ties together; you can’t separate out the undercharging from the overall problems of thoughtcrime.
I myself am Cablinasian, from Monday thru Thursday.
On Friday-to-Sundays I’m a Trans-Negri-Amerindi-Nippono-Cracker.
Every night I punch myself in the face and call me racist names. Sometimes I smash in my car windows.
Then I blame conservatives and the patriarchy.
And global warming.
As evidenced in the comments here, the only acceptable responses to this type of violence include:
1. It didn’t happen. It’s a lie.
2. It’s understandable because Racism.
3. Look over there! Voter suppression!
4. Justice should be color blind, when crackers are the only victims.
In my view, her Unbearable Whiteness triggered Post-Confederate Flag Disorder violence.
What did she expect, wearing her skirt, er, whiteness that short?
There’s that old Mark Twain line about how a cat won’t sit on a hot stove again, but he won’t sit on a cold stove either.
So once enough people in Chicago start concealed carrying guns perhaps the black mobs will stop touching other people’s stoves.
Ooooo, the baaaadddd liberals made these black folks attack this woman! Now that is sooooo intelligent.
Stupid libertarians who think they can read other people’s minds are…. Stupid.
Stupid liberals believe only white people should be charged w/ hate crimes. Smart liberals, like MikeA, see hate crimes as inherently wrong. REALLY stupid liberals think they agree w/ MikeA, when in truth they don’t. Us smart libertarians also oppose hate crimes. They’re Orwellian, and liberals have become Orwellian self parodies.
Annie
Re voter suppression.
Its not an election year. Why are the natives so restless?
http://1389blog.com/pix/epic-stupid-fetus-facepalm.jpg
“I can’t believe we’ve sunk so low into Liberalism that now you’ve got to wait for a buyer to come along with the “right skin color.”
“Karen
This IS the purpose and goal of Liberalism/Progressives: to divide people in order to control and keep power. The Liberals are obsessed with classifying people by race, ethnicity, beliefs, political classifications and all sorts of other labels like LBGT. They do not WANT people to have commonality with each other or to feel that they might actually be able to work together, understand each other or live in tolerance.
If the people decide to work together, not hate each other on the direction of the Liberals, then they might figure out that we don’t need the Liberals or a big government to control our every move or thoughts.
Indoctrinated hate and loathing of each other. Dividing groups into warring camps. This IS the goal of Liberalism/Progressives/Socialists. If there is peace and harmony, we don’t need them. So they create acrimony, hate and divisiveness.”
I am not in favor of hate crimes, but as long as they are on the books, this is one. Not only that, they have grossly undercharged this case. Normally I complain of overcharging, but not this time.
DBQ what was hilarious was your comment at 11:33AM. Tell the folks how “liberalism” caused this mob to attack this woman.
This incident doesn’t prove there is a War on Whites, does it? It proves there is still racial tension and denying blacks the fundamental right to vote hasn’t helped allieve [sic] the racial tension.
Fricking hilarious. Yep. I’m sure that the mere possibility and complete unfairness of having to prove your identity before voting was the main thing on their minds when these poor underprivileged yutes were banging on this woman’s car, calling her racial name and threatening her for crime of being White in THEIR neighborhood.
That was it……voter suppression
/facepalm.
I believe I said criminals should be charged, did I not? As Mike Appleton said to charge them with a hate crime is to politicize crime and most crimes are acts of hate. As I said, my original comment was in response to DBQ, not in any attempt to change the subject whatsoever. There is no need to change the subject.
What Scott Walker says is laughable and should not be taken seriously.
As usual your rage has caused you to misunderstand. Politifact was performing its “fact check” on a statement by Walker. Politifact supplied the polling information, not Walker.
Plus you tried to ignore the Huffpo article and UD poll. It’s like we’re having a class on how rigorously left wing partisans ignore information that contradicts their beliefs.
The fact is that this behavior. . .
I. Annie
Where is your indignation, when someone can be attacked or threatened purely on the basis of race? No insistence that the perpetrators be charged and punished with a hate crime–that is, after all, the point of this story. The fact that this behavior goes unnoticed and unpunished. instead of condemning the behavior, you attempt to somehow try to change the subject to supposed voter suppression. Yes. That’s it. The mob terrorizing this poor woman did so because its members were deprived of the opportunity to vote. Now, that makes perfect sense.