Hate Crimes Not There

Byron York reports on some interesting research by the Justice Department about hate crimes. A couple of key excerpts:

There were no significant differences in rates of hate crime vulnerability for racial or ethnic groups. Whites were victimized at a rate of 0.9 per 1,000, blacks at 0.7 per 1,000, members of other races at 1.4 per 1,000, Hispanics at 0.9 per 1,000, and non-Hispanics at 0.9 per 1,000.

Moreover, the report says that "victims of violent hate crimes [ones in which victims actually saw the perpetrators] reported white and black offenders in close percentages." Forty-four percent of the reported victimizations involved a white offender, while 39 percent involved a black offender. If the study is correct, hate crimes, at least those covered in the Justice Department report cited by the Times, are a bit more diverse than DiversityInc would have you believe.

So, the next time you hear Democrats raving about 'hate crimes' and see Ted Kennedy trying to attach 'hate crimes' amendments to defense spending bills, think twice about what he's trying to accomplish. Is he really concerned about hate crimes, or is he just trying to allow the liberal elite more power of what you can do, say, and think?

There's my two cents.