Slurs and monkey sounds blare near a Black family’s home. Some wonder why it’s not a ‘hate crime.’
The racist actions of the neighbor have terrorized Jannique Martinez and her family in Virginia Beach for several months — and police say they are unable to do anything to stop the man’s actions. Some are pushing for it to be a hate crime.
Hasnain says:
“Forde-Mazrui, who said the Supreme Court has long protected speech that’s racist in nature, wondered whether the racial epithets and sounds could be classified as “fighting words” — a category of speech not protected by the First Amendment that can “inflict injury or tend to incite an immediate breach of the peace.” The law professor questioned whether there was a societal double standard as to which victims were protected by authorities.
“Without speaking directly to the motives of Virginia Beach or its police department, would authorities be willing to intervene if a White family was being subjected to this kind of thing in the privacy of their own home and on their own home property with language that would be as insulting?” he asked. “This will seem like an anecdote of a bad apple to a lot of people, but incidents like this happen every day in America.””
Posted on 2021-10-08T18:10:24+0000