The Ellis County Press: Anti-Jewish hit in Waxahachie a hate crime?

Anti-Jewish hit in Waxahachie a hate crime?
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Editor on 12/31/2009 13:27:00


JOEY G. DAUBEN
The Ellis County Press
WAXAHACHIE - Jewish families were the target of shoe-polished terror attacks on
their vehicle windows and doors in the Spring Creek neighborhood recently, but
was that a hate crime?
Now would be a great time to consult the phony Republican leadership of Gov.
Rick Perry, who signed the James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Act into law, just for
good measure (and since it's also election season.) The legislation had the
support of so-called conservative state representatives Jim Pitts, R-Waxahachie
and Kip Averitt, R-McGregor.
Averitt is now a senator, but he was a state representative at the time of the
hate crimes laws adoption.
"I voted for the hate crimes bill because it will essentially increase the
amount of time certain criminals spend behind bars," Averitt said to a gathering
of Baylor University's Young Conservatives of Texas chapter in 1999.
"The folks in my district would not have wanted me to vote for this bill. But,
it was something that after I researched it, I felt was a good bill."
Aside from hate-crimes, the law also protects gays, minorities, religious groups
and others from ideologies. To put it another way, if you're white and you utter
racial epithets or publicly proclaim your hatred towards blacks, homosexuals or
Jews or whatever protected group, it can be prosecuted as a hate crime.
Not sure if the recent "hit" on the Jewish families will be prosecuted under the
hate crimes law, but it was vandalism pure and simple. Sure, it was incendiary
to wake up and find "KKK" and "dirty Jew" scrawled on windows, but it's simple
criminal mischief.
I'm not Jewish, but I am Torah-observant and I keep the Biblical Holy Days, keep
kosher and wear a Star of David bracelet, but I don't believe in hate crimes
legislation.
Currently, Pitts has no primary or general election opponent, and Averitt has to
fend off a challenge from conservative Tea Party activist Darren Yancy on March
2. Perry has two challengers, Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, who recently voted for
the federal hate crimes legislation, and Tea Party activist Debra Medina.