I’ll repeat what I’ve said about “hate crimes” laws for some time: Theyshould be more correctly called “bust whitey’s hump” laws. These lawstarget whites who commit crimes against “people of color.” You’llrarely see them used against “people of color” who commit crimesagainst whites.
This story comes to us from Broward County, Fla. Teah Wimberly, 16,is charged with murdering Amanda Coll, a friend and classmate atDillard High School in Fort Lauderdale. Both girls were 15 at the timeof the shooting.
According to police, Ms. Wimberly wanted more than just afriendship with Collette, whom she’d known since childhood. Wimberlywanted a lesbian relationship with Collette, who rebuffed the idea,news reports indicate. On Nov. 12 of last year, police say, Wimberlytook a .22-caliber handgun to school and fatally shot Collette.
Wimberly’s trial started last week and is expected to continue thisweek. This may be the first time you’ve read about the case, unlikewhen Matthew Shepard was murdered in Wyoming or when James Byrd wasdragged to death in Jasper, Texas.
My guess is you know plenty about those latter two incidents.Shepard was gay; two men beat him to death because he was gay. Byrd wasa black man whom three white supremacists chained to a truck, draggedthrough the streets of Jasper and beheaded.
Both grisly crimes, to be sure. And when President Obama signed anew federal “hate crimes” law recently, it was called the MatthewShepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act.
That’s a misnomer, because the law prevents nothing of the sort.And it creates classes of victims and perpetrators, as if some victimsof violent crime are better than others, or the perpetrators of thesame are worse.