Commentary :: Civil & Human Rights

The Ehrlich Report

Author

Howard J. Ehrlich

Date Created

07 Jun 2007

More details...

A monthly column of sociopolitical analysis featuring this month a commentary on the status of hate crimes and ethnoviolence.

The Ehrlich Report

Hate Crimes and Ethnoviolence

Social statisticians say that within the U.S. a cross is burned outside of someone’s house once a week. Even more alarming are the studies that estimate the frequency of ethnoviolent incidents at 20%, That is, during the course of a year, one out of five people are victims of violence motivated by prejudice

Although the FBI reports that the count of hate crimes decreased last year, my own professional experience and monitoring of events leads me to regard this decrease as an artifact of conventional–and politically motivated--methodology. Not only do I believe that there has been an increase, but I expect this year to show a still further and substantial increase in rates of ethnoviolence. In the attachment to this letter we provide a sampling of incidents and crimes. Sociologically, the impetus this growth are the “modelling” of violence through the war, the scandals of detention and torture, and the upswing in the general crime rate, especially violent crimes.
In addition, the Internet has facilitated the communication of rumor, false threats, stereotypes, vicious language, and racist depictions. Take for example, a song performed by the Angry Aryans, a white power rock group. The song, titled “Browntown Burning Down” includes the lyric of “Negroes in flames rolling on the ground.”

The research dealing with the victimization of sexual minorities has made it quite clear that ethnoviolent incidents directed at them are more violent than those against other victim groups except, possibly, African Americans.

Another, and unexpected, group in the panoply of targeted victims is the homeless. Obviously their population is much smaller than other victim groups, although it is growing . Not only have requests for food and shelter increased nationwide, but the institutional response has been to criminalize the homeless, for example, to make it illegal to sleep in a park or for generous citizens to feed the homeless in a public place. The result of the growth of this population, their visibility, and official disdain has led to truly horrific hate crimes including dousing a sleeping homeless people with gasoline and setting them on fire.

The newly proposed federal legislation, titled the Local Law Hate Crimes Prevention Act, will not cover the homeless but does expand existing coverage to include crimes committed against people because of their sexual orientation, gender, and gender identity. The bill, which has passed through the House is being strongly opposed by neoconservatives and evangelical Christians who claim, “We must stop it before they send your grandma...or you to jail for sharing your faith.” Despite this opposition, a Gallup Poll this May indicated that 68% of the people in a national survey supported the new hate crimes bill.

Hate Speech

A few weeks before this writing, the columnist George Will devoted his entire space to a denunciation of the idea of “hate speech.” The column was built upon substantially wrong claims both legal and sociological. Even such first-amendment purists as Nat Hentoff have denounced those of us who believe that hate speech is a serious form of ethnoviolence. I am frequently questioned about hate speech, and there is no question that the issue is highly complex so much so that the Supreme Court decisions have not moved very far from the “fighting words” doctrine. Worse yet, the Court has relied upon the 17th century “distinction” between speech and conduct—a distinction long ago rejected by the social sciences.

To distinguish hate speech from hateful speech is not simple. One needs, first, to have some sense of the motives of the actor. Secondly, we need to look at the social context in which the speech occurred .including who the target was. Finally, we need to understand that hate speech has virtually the same traumatic impact as a physical assault. Words do wound.

Enhanced Penalties

About 45 states have a statute dealing with hate crimes. Most of them provide for an enhanced penalty. Hate speech or other expressions of prejudice are protected by the First Amendment. However, criminal activity which is also accompanied by expressions of prejudice may be subject to an enhanced penalty. At issue is whether the perpetrator was motivated by prejudice and selected his victim because of the victim’s race, ethnicity, national origin, or religion. Some state statutes also include sexual orientation, gender, and physical or mental disability. So it may be the court can extend a sentence for a crime motivated by prejudice by a year or more.
Although there have been many objections to an enhanced penalty, such penalties are actually built in to American jurisprudence, Prosecutors are always engaged in the assessment of motives as they construct their cases. The difference between murder and manslaughter is just one dramatic example. A more prosaic form of enhancement can be seen in the warning on many highways where there are construction crews: Men Working Fines Doubled.

There are two major arguments supporting an enhanced penalty. The first is that persons victimized by ethnoviolence are generally more traumatized than those whose victimization was not accompanied by prejudice. There is a major difference between being assaulted because you were in the wrong place at the wrong time and being assaulted because of who you are. Finally, hate crimes warrant an enhanced penalty as a demonstration that the community does care.

Another argument, not frequently articulated is that hate crimes are destructive of democracy. As such, they warrant our special attention.

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Re: The Ehrlich Report

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13 Jun 2007

by carl of bmore

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Very nice essay. I think even though I would be in favor of the proposed hate crime legislation, I would be against hate speech legislation. A burning cross placed by trespass on private property is a hate crime. A burning cross on one's own property is hate speech, but it is not a crime. There is too much art, poetry, literature, etc. out there that could be needlessly attacked under hate speech legislation.

Re: The Ehrlich Report

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10 Jul 2007

by Anonymous Poster

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Re: The Ehrlich Report

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21 Aug 2007

by Jeff Fisher

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This is the report that Queen Hillary was posted to back in January of 2007.

Re: The Ehrlich Report

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21 Aug 2007

by Anonymous Poster

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Ralph Nader Speaks About His Family Roots in Activism
Author

* Gregg Mosson

Date Created

* 15 Jul 2007

* More details...

Date Edited

* 15 Jul 2007 11:44:57 AM

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* Current rating: 7

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public domainThis work is in the public domain.

Ralph Nader came to Baltimore on July 14, 2007 to speak on the "Seventeen Traditions" he learned from his parents. His speech was taped by independent reporter William Hughes and is available online at Google Video.
RalphNader.jpg

Ralph Nader came to Baltimore on July 14, 2007 to speak on the "Seventeen Traditions," the name of his new book. Nader noted that his new immigrant parents from Lebanon raised him in a small town of Connecticut during the Depression and World War II, teaching him to take "equality and justice for all" in the Declaration of Independence seriously.

His father owned a restaurant, and during the American Depression of the 1930s fed other townspeople who could not pay, among other things. His father did not crow about it--this was "family values" for his parents--and also what any civic and responsible American should do.

Nader appeared at St. Johns Church at 2640 St. Paul Street, in the new Charles Village space being renovated by local activists and the Red Emma's Coffeeshop / Bookshop Collective. They already have been using the large spacious church for numerous weekly and one-time progressive and radical Baltimore events. Between 100-200 people showed up to the Nader speech. The chairs were all taken; people were standing in the back; Nader's speech was inspiring.

Nader urged the audience to recall and cultivate their own family knowledge, history, and traditions. This type of cultural memory and heritage today is being lost in the raising of children, argued Nader. Today children spend more and more time with what he calls "the electronic culture": television, the Internet, iPods, cell phones, and various other devices.

Nader also dryly noted that "family values" being promoted by Southern right-wing religious conservatives like Pat Robinson today is the only type of "family values" being discussed in the mainstream media. He added that mainstream liberal leaders have forgotten to speak about how liberal values are rooted in their family structures. People are forgetting this important cultural and familial heritage.

Nader left the audience with a number of mottos. The Roman philosopher and politician Cicero said that freedom is participation in power. By that standard, said Ralph Nader, most Americans are not free.

He added that an ancient Chinese proverb goes "To know and not do, is not to know." He then urged the audience to take daily actions in their own lives to represent their values in the world. Do not worry about what others are doing, said Nader. One's own activism can include using consumer dollars to shop at small businesses rather than chain stores. It can include attending or creating community meetings, organizations and events, and of course participating in democracy.

Independent reporter William Hughes recorded the Nader speech and has posted the video online. The link is below.

video.google.com/videoplay

Photo by William Hughes.

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Re: Ralph Nader Speaks About His Family Roots in Activism
Current rating: 0
28 Jul 2007
by Mr. Nader blew it in 2004
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From: Roger Rancourt
Sent: Jul 28, 2007 8:19 AM
To: Italian Special Prosecutor Henry John Woodcock , Supreme State Prosecutor Andrej Ferlinc , Senator John McCain , Henry.waxman (at) mail.house.gov, World Metro News World's Largest Newspaper , russ_feingold (at) feingold.senate.gov, "Conspiracy>" , International Courts , info (at) europol.europa.eu, Defenders Of Human Rights , Jack Lancaster , Securities & Exchange Commission , UNITED NATIONS , unicri (at) tvcabo.co.mz, "US Sen. Conrad" , "US Rep. Conyers" , NewsGuy2005 (at) gmail.com, The Editor , Middle East Editor , "US Sen. Ben Nelson" , "US Sen. Carl Levin" , "US Sen. Biden" , US GOVEXEC , "US Sen. Leahy" , "US Sen. Dodd" , "US Sen. Lugar" , Speaker of the House , American Indian News , "US Sen. Hatch" , SFO-Fraud Office , Administrator to Potenza Court , Administrator's Desk , Hardball (at) msnbc.com, "wrh (at) whatreallyhappened.com" , Coalitionforfreethoughtinmedia (at) googlegroups.com, webmaster (at) gao.gov
Cc: syria (at) un.int, bulgaria (at) un.int, Rumer Mill News , countdown (at) msnbc.com, CNN , kolbermann (at) msnbc.com, APFN , "Al-Jazeerah.info Dr. El-Najjar" , The Observer , editor (at) usatoday.com, editor (at) onlinejournal.com, Emily Bell Editor Guardian , Iran Daily News , Lou Dobbs , GlobalCircleNet , Belgian Prosecutor's Office , jhwilson , "CCLNews>" , THE AGE , CREW , kstreetconfidential (at) washpost.com, OM Deborah , urpo (at) istat.it, CongRel (at) gao.gov, OLEC (at) leo.gov, windywanda (at) peoplepc.com
Subject: Flood the Senate & CONGRESS To Appoint a Special Counsel & force Gonzales to be charged with Perjury!!!!

To All Delegates & Prosecutors as well as Media ,

We now have finally close to conclusive proof Gonzales lied. So Flood the Senate, including Chairman Specter's office and the office of Chairman Leahy; and order them to FORCE the Special Counsel to be appointed.

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Capitol switchboard phone: 800-828-0498
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Remember we have the right to do so and force our will, because Jeff Taylor is a part of the US Attorney firings and must be by default RECUSED moving us to the next phase of the investigation.

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www.bcimpeach.com

..So hold absolutely nothing back, flood the offices.......Force our will to be imposed...

Capitol switchboard phone: 800-828-0498
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...And also, order Congress to re-pass the Judicial Independent Counsel Law AS SOON AS POSSIBLE, therefore there will be NO cover-ups whatsoever. The Special Counsel could be someone like Eric Sussman, who we all trust, you just never kno
INDEPENDENT JUDICIAL ACT: CREW LEAD REPORT
www.citizensforethics.org/node/29547

Chairman Leahy, because this man Cheney may in fact be guilty of unfiltered treason against the United States it is mandatory that you as well as Chairman Feingold, Chairman Hatch & Chairman Specter agree upon enforcing inherent contempt and getting familiar with that process again....as deemed necessary. Only you and your colleagues, the four of you, are capable of educating the House of Representatives on using "inherent contempt" again & enforcing it since it has not been used in quite a while. www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/26/AR2007072602153.html
"Such a proceeding could be used against Miers and Bolten, by the full House or possibly by a committee. Both would be allowed legal representation in a setting similar to impeachment hearings. Ultimately, the whole House could vote to mete out punishment, which could include imprisonment."

However, it was used to bring someone to Congress who was in the EPA and that was not long ago. The requirement for it being used in this particular case may be extremely needed.........after all, they can write up laws but they can't resist a US Marshal simply handcuffing them & dragging them off just like the good old days of Judges & Cowboys, Justice in the days of the Sheriff. Democracy at work.

ALL OF YOU: KEEP ON THEM & MAKE THEM FEEL THE HEAT APPOINT THE SPECIAL COUNSEL!!!!!!!!!!

www.criticalexponent.org/blog/2006/02/01/alberto-gonzales-lied-to-congress/ ALBERTO GONZALES LIED TO EVERYONE: BEGIN THE IMPEACHMENT & INDICTMENT OF ALBERTO GONZALES ONCE AND FOR ALL.....

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*** CALL EVERYONE !!!!!! PASS THE RESOLUTION 333, POLL YOUR NEIGHBORS, AND ASK THEM TO CALL THEIR REPRESENTATIVE AS WELL. PASS THIS MESSAGE ON TO YOUR LISTS.**
*** CALL AND DEMAND H RES 417 IS VOTED ON IN THE HOUSE AND IMPEACH GONZALES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd

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Re: Ralph Nader Speaks About His Family Roots in Activism
Current rating: 0
21 Aug 2007
by Anonymous Poster
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Hello Mr. Nader. Remember me! Jennifer Lynn Masryk Ellis set up the phone call from Ben Roth home in Delray Beach back after the 2004 election. Here is the headline now.

Go to this link because this website is censuring the news again.

arkansas.indymedia.org/newswire/display/21270/index.php

Commentary :: Civil & Human Rights

The Ehrlich Report

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