Our U.S. Senators Absent On Hate Crime Vote

18 Responses to “Our U.S. Senators Absent On Hate Crime Vote”

1. Brawndo the Thirst Mutilator writes
   July 17th, 2009 12:31 pm

   Cue the folks worried that the law will muzzle preachers in 5, 4, 3, ….

2. TNVolunteer73 writes
   July 17th, 2009 12:38 pm

   No, I want somone to explain to me why the killing of a minority is more evil, criminal

   than killing a white woman.

3. Chris Sanders writes
   July 17th, 2009 12:50 pm

   It is just as evil if it’s done because she is a white woman. The categories are neutral…they apply to all of us. When the TBI, for example, tracks hate crimes based on sexual orientation, they track crimes against heterosexuals as well as gays, lesbians, and bisexuals. And, yes, there was an attack against a straight person because he or she is straight in the TBI hate crime report released this year for 2008.

   Now to the real matter hand, I’m glad someone in some media outlet in Tennessee noticed that our 2 U.S. Senators were absent during the vote.

4. Black Community writes
   July 17th, 2009 12:51 pm

   TNVOLUNTEER what are you talking about? Do you even listen to what you’re saying. No one thinks it is “MORE” evil, you are smart enough to know the difference in “SEEKING” out to kill a certain member of the community based on race, creed or sexuality as opposed to just murder. BOTH have the same value as being terrible, but one is sought to do so on purpose due to the factors i stated above. Come on man, dont bring in the Pat Buchanan law of reasoning!

5. Donna Locke writes
   July 17th, 2009 1:00 pm

   I’m for the label, as determined in court — for public awareness and for tracking — but I am not necessarily for stronger punishment than for any similar crime not designated as against a collective. But we need these crimes labeled and followed.

6. TNVolunteer73 writes
   July 17th, 2009 1:07 pm

   Black..

   So you say shooting a store clerk in a robbery is less evil, than killing someone that you dont like.

   How can this be equal protection under the law.

7. TNVolunteer73 writes
   July 17th, 2009 1:09 pm

   I think the state of mind plays a part in sentencing, not in what is criminal or not.

   Murder, assult, battery ect.. are all Crimes, the reason for commtting the crime should not make one more of a crime than another.

8. Brawndo the Thirst Mutilator writes
   July 17th, 2009 1:58 pm

   TNVol73: “So you say shooting a store clerk in a robbery is less evil, than killing someone that you dont like.”

   Both are evil. That’s not the issue. A hate crime is effectively an act of terrorism against a group of people.

   “No, I want somone to explain to me why the killing of a minority is more evil, criminal
   than killing a white woman.”

   That’s stupid. Those would both be considered hate crimes *if* the assailant killed because of their prejudice.

9. Brawndo the Thirst Mutilator writes
   July 17th, 2009 2:01 pm

   “I think the state of mind plays a part in sentencing, not in what is criminal or not.”

   So you’re arguing that we shouldn’t have legal distinctions between 1st degree murder, 2nd degree murder, and manslaughter?

10. TNVolunteer73 writes
    July 17th, 2009 2:03 pm

    Hate crimes make a crime against a minorty more of a crime, than against a non minotrity.

    So I want the senators that voted for hate crimes bill to explain why the murder of Matthew Sheppard is more of a criminal act than the murder of a girl name Sarah Jackson who was murdered in a robbery.

    murder is murder if it is during a robbery or a hatefilled rant.

11. dan writes
    July 17th, 2009 2:08 pm

    Chris just curious, how many people have been murdered the last ten years because they were gay? I know there was the Shephard case. I don’t recall hearing of anyone being murdered or even attacked because they were gay in this area of the country.

12. Brawndo the Thirst Mutilator writes
    July 17th, 2009 2:10 pm

    “Hate crimes make a crime against a minorty more of a crime, than against a non minotrity.”

    Wrong.

13. Ft. Campbell Dem writes
    July 17th, 2009 2:13 pm

    TNVolunteer73, Matthew Sheppard beaten, tied to a fence and left for dead. He was targeted because he was gay.

14. Freddie O'Connell writes
    July 17th, 2009 3:10 pm

    Unless something changed and I missed it, this wasn’t a straight up or down vote on hate crimes legislation; it was attached to a defense spending authorization.

15. common sense writes
    July 17th, 2009 3:23 pm

    It was a cloture vote that went 63-28. The real issue here is that Corker and Alexander didn’t bother to vote for or against cloture. They didn’t even vote.

16. Chris Sanders writes
    July 17th, 2009 7:18 pm

    Dan, sexual orientation is the third highest category in the U.S. for hate crimes, according to the FBI http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iMOzzJsP-MVqKUTzifzW2AW8esFgD991S5K00 . Murder isn’t the only form of hate crime, which can include attacks and vandalism.

    There were 61 documented hate crimes in Tennessee in 2008 based on sexual orientation (including one directed at a straight person, according to the TBI http://grand-divisions.blogspot.com/2009/05/hate-crime-report-alarming.html .

    Neither the FBI nor the TBI documents hate crimes based on gender identity. So what happened to Duanna Johnson in Memphis last year isn’t counted.

    In terms of the around-here question, I believe there is a hate crime based on sexual orientation that occurred on Vanderbilt’s campus mentioned in the TBI report. The report has a section that breaks down incidents by jurisdiction and the VUPD represents a jurisdiction.

17. Donna Locke writes
    July 17th, 2009 9:37 pm

    Dan, my sister was murdered in Davidson County more than 10 years ago. The man who killed her told police he had done the world a favor — because she was gay. He said some other things, too. She did not broadcast who she was, by the way, but she wasn’t closeted either. She was just an average person minding her own business.

    One of our two best friends (sisters we had known since our teens and who were in a band with us) lived nearby. We never sang or played together again after that day. We were a quartet, and one-quarter of us was gone. Another died a few years later. Two of us left now. I will hear their voices in harmony with ours till the day I die. I’m glad I can still hear them.

18. jen writes
    July 17th, 2009 10:52 pm

    TNVolunteer73, you do realize that in a lot of states that the robber who killed the store clerk in a robbery plus EVERYONE else remotely associated with the crime whether they were in the store or not would be charged with FELONY MURDER?