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Welcome To the First Annual Hate Crime Hall of Shame
FrontPageMagazine.com | August 30, 2001
IN THE SUMMER OF 1997, three white Michigan teenagers jumped a train, looking for fun and adventure. They found tragedy instead. When the threesome disembarked in a strange neighborhood, they found themselves face to face with a gang of armed black hooligans.
The gang killed fourteen-year-old Michael Carter on the spot. Fifteen-year-old Dustin Kaiser got a bullet in the head, yet somehow survived.
The third victim, a fourteen-year-old girl, suffered the worst fate. She was pistol-whipped and forced to perform oral sex on the gang. Afterwards, they shot her in the face. While the atrocity received some attention from local media, it did not make the national news. The six perpetrators were later captured, but were not charged with any hate crime.
Writing about this case in his 1999 book Hating Whitey and Other Progressive Causes, David Horowitz noted:
"The crime took place on July 21, 1997, but among the readers of this book, there will not be one in a hundred who has even heard of it, because as a hate crime, it was in a perverse sense politically incorrect. To notice that black people, as well as whites, can be responsible for vicious crimes of hate is improper. Hate crimes can only be committed by an oppressor caste; therefore, what happened in Michigan was not a hate crime at all."
Thus was born "Politically Incorrect Crimes" – a new concept in American jurisprudence and a regular feature of David’s FrontPageMagazine.com webzine. The feature was later renamed "Politically Correct Hate Crimes," to reflect the fact that, when blacks kill whites, such acts are considered "politically correct" – even praiseworthy – by the leftist elite who run our law schools and criminology departments.
The name has changed, but the concept remains the same. Since February 2000, our "Politically Correct Hate Crimes" section has kept readers abreast of all the hate crimes your network news anchors don’t want you to know about, from the genocidal massacre of whites in Zimbabwe to the ex-NAACP leader beaten by fellow blacks because he dared to express pride in his native Southland’s Confederate heritage.
Just to clear up any confusion, we at FrontPage do not advocate prosecuting black people for hate crimes. We oppose hate-crime legislation altogether. When we point out the government’s failure to press hate-crime charges against certain black criminals, we do so only to expose the hypocritical sham that lies at the core of the hate-crime concept itself.
Some well-meaning black commentators, such as Earl Ofari Hutchinson and Clarence Page have bravely urged fellow blacks to support a more even-handed approach to hate-crime prosecution, in which black people are charged with hate crimes as readily as whites. But these writers, for all their good intentions, are trying to make a silk purse from a sow’s ear.
There is no place in a free society for "hate crime" laws. A prosecutor who probes deeply enough can pin a "hate crime" on anyone, as noted in my column, "Are You a Hate Criminal?"
A journalist can do the same. Whoever you are, given enough time and access to information about your private life, I guarantee that I can make you look like a racist, if I choose.
In a society that condones "hate crime" legislation, any person unfortunate enough to hurt, kill or even offend a person of another race in self-defense finds himself at the mercy of journalists and government bureaucrats who may or may not choose to demonize him, depending on their whim.
Take Bernhard Goetz. He shot and wounded four black youths who tried to mug him on a New York subway on December 22, 1984. The media and civil rights establishments branded Goetz a racist and demanded his head. He was jailed for possession of an unlicensed weapon, and slapped with a $43 million judgment from one of his attackers.
As FrontPage columnist John Perazzo notes in his book The Myths that Divide Us, Austin Weekes – a kind of black version of Goetz – had a far different experience. While riding a Brooklyn subway on the night of April 13, 1980, Weekes was accosted by two white teenagers who spat at him and said, "What are you looking at, nigger?" Weekes pulled a gun and shot one of them dead. A sympathetic grand jury let him walk.
With every major newspaper and television network beating the "hate crime" drum, our "Politically Correct Hate Crime" section may seem a feeble retort. But an old fable says that a boy once dared to call the Emperor naked – and an empire was forced to agree.
Our first annual Hate Crime Hall of Shame presents many shocking stories that first appeared in our "Politically Correct Hate Crime" section – as well as some that did not.
For this special edition we are indebted to many people: to our former web designer Rick Phillips who first conceived the idea of publishing a parody or retort to MTV’s one-sided hate-crime extravaganza last January; to Associate Editor Jennifer Kabbany who suggested asking all our FrontPage columnists to contribute to the special issue; and to Associate Editor Scott Rubush who compiled and edited the Hall of Shame.
Most of all, we are indebted to our war leader David Horowitz, editor-in-chief of FrontPage. When the passions of our day have subsided and the history books are written, I think they will call David Horowitz a man who spoke the truth when all around him fell dumb with fear.
The Hate Crime Hall of Shame is David’s gift to the world – a somber gift, brimming with blood and tears. Yet it is also a talisman of hope, filled with the power of truth which alone can heal our divided land.
In a time of cowardice, David has charged us with courage. In a time of silence, he has given us a voice. Thank you, David. We are proud to serve in your army.
Richard Poe is editor of FrontPageMagazine.com and SlapHillary.com. He is the author of Black Spark, White Fire and other books. His latest book, The Seven Myths of Gun Control, is available now! For more information about Poe and his work, visit RichardPoe.com. E-mail him here.
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