hate crime
Our early ancestors left the control of Great Britain for the right of equality, yet time and time again over the past 200 years the equality of American citizens has been questioned. We now have many laws forbidding the harm of racial and ethnic minorities, but is hate speech considered harmful? Before we can determine if hate speech is harmful, we should decide what is exactly hate speech. Congress defines it as "a crime in which the defendant intentionally selects a victim, or in the case of a property crime, the property is the object of the crime, because of the actual or perceived race, color, national origin, ethnicity, gender, disability, or sexual orientation of any person." Most people agree with this definition of hate speech, but their opinions on how to treat it differ. One group believes that the answer to hate speech is more speech; this group believes that hate speech is protected by the first amendment. Another group believes that hate speech is harsh and threatening, and is a violation of the fourteenth amendment (American Government p.416). This group believes that restrictions should be put on the first amendment. Some scholars believe hate speech will only continue if the Supreme
Welch, Susan. American Government. Pgs. 416-7. @1999 On the other hand, some scholars believe that regulating speech would be a direct violation of the first amendment, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances" (American Government p. 631). These scholars believe that hate speech is just a way to express someone's feelings. They also believe that the way to counteract hate speech is with more speech. However, the supporters of speech codes believe that this "more speech" tactic makes a direct challenge and leads to violence (American Government p.417). In contrast with the scholars, Smith supported the "more speech" approach and stated if "they (Supreme Court) try to restrict our legal means then we have no recourse but to resort to terrorism and violence." This shows that either way government acts individuals may resort to other tactics such as violence. Hate speech is a very sensitive subject to many Americans today. Through the readings and our discussions during class I concur with the scholars who s
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Approximate Word count = 846
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)
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