an, Rodney King, was viciously beaten in the middle of a city street in broad daylight by three Los Angeles Police Officers while at least a dozen bystanders stood, watched and did nothing. (Lawrence)On June 7, 1998 in the small southeast Texas town of Jasper, a 49 year old black man by the name of James Byrd, Jr. was singled out because of his African American heritage, brutally beaten, tied to the back of a truck and dragged three miles to his death. The perpetrators were all members of a white supremacy group.On October 15, 1998, in Laramie Wyoming, 21-year old Matthew Shepard was another victim of hate crime violence. On this tragic night, Shepard was abducted by two young men, tied to a fence, and beaten to death. If that wasn’t enough, he then had his wallet stolen by the perpetrators. In this case, Matthew Sheppard’s homosexuality was the motivation for crime (Curtis). “In the face of this terrible act of violence, they are joining together to demonstrate that an act of evil like this is not what our country is all about. In fact, it strikes at the very heart of what it means to be an American and at the values that define us as a Nation. We must all reaffirm that we will not tolerate this. “- President Bill Clinton October 10, 1998. Some of the ways that citizens and representatives in the United States have shown that they would not stand for hate crime is with hate crime victim support groups, advocate groups for hate crimes and through state and federal legislation.In 1990, the Hate Crimes Statistics Act passed Congress, and specifies that“(1)…the Attorney General shall acquire data, for the calendar year 1990 and each of the succeeding 4 calendar years, about crimes that manifest evidence of prejudice based on race, religion, sexual orientation, or ethnicity, including where appropriate the crimes of murder, non-negligent manslaughter; forcible rape, aggravated assault, simple assault...
