The State of Hate the Changing Face of Hate Crimes

A jewish Light special report

online at www.stljewishlight.com

The changing face of The State of Hate hate crimes — and victims

About ‘The State of Hate’ By ELLEN FUTTERMAN & david BaugheR Hate Crimes FAQ ‘The ‘State of arlier this month, two broth- rights coalition. Hate’ is a Special ers from Cape Girardeau What is a hate crime? Report of the were charged with a felony ‘Wave of hate’ across America A hate crime, also known as a bias Jewish Light, hate crime after allegedly crime, is described by the Federal made possible by attacking a black man at a Last November, the Jewish Light Bureau of Investigation (FBI) as a crimi- a grant from the Press Club of Metropolitan convenienceE store, yelling racial slurs at received a grant from the Press Club of nal offense committed against a per- St. Louis to study hate violence against Jews the victim and assaulting him in a park- Metropolitan St. Louis to study hate son, property or group that is motivat- and other groups protected by the 2009 ing lot. violence and its effects not just among ed by the offender’s bias against a race, Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate In April, 19-year-old Jeffrey Conroy Jews, but also other groups protected religion, disability, gender, sexual orien- Crimes Prevention Act. The Light spoke to was found guilty of first-degree man- by the Matthew Shepard and James tation, ethnicity or national origin. dozens of agencies and individuals who slaughter as a hate crime in connection Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, track and investigate hate crimes as well as with the stabbing death of an which was signed into law last October. victims and perpetrators of bias-motivated Ecuadorean immigrant in Patchogue, This legislation, named after two vic- When was hate crime violence. N.Y. in November of 2008. Prosecutors tims of bias-motivated crimes, expand- The contents of this report originally said Conroy and six of his friends ed the 1969 U.S. federal hate-crime law legislation first enacted? appeared in the May 26 and June 2, 2010 attacked the victim and another Hispanic to include crimes motivated by a vic- In 1969. The Federal Civil Rights Law editions of the Jewish Light, and additional man as part of the sport they had made tim’s gender, sexual orientation or dis- permits prosecution of anyone who content also appears on our website, at out of hunting and beating up Hispanics, ability. The earlier act protects victims “willingly injures, intimidates or inter- www.stljewishlight.com/hate. The Press an activity authorities said they referred targeted because of their race, religion feres with another person, or attempts Club also provided funding for this reprint. to as “beaner hopping” and “Mexican or ethnicity, but only if they were to do so, by force because of the other The ‘State of Hate’ was created in coopera- hopping,” according to the New York engaged in a federally protected activ- person’s race, color, religion or national tion with the online publication, the St. Louis Times. ity, like voting or going to school. The origin” when a victim is engaged in Beacon, www.stlbeacon.org. Most of the And in March, three Evanston, Ill. new law removed that stipulation. certain federally protected activities — content in this Special Report also men were indicted for allegedly harass- In the past six months the Light has voting, attending school, patronizing a appeared on the Beacon website as a part ing and beating a gay man on a Chicago spoken to dozens of agencies and indi- public place, applying for employment of their series, Race Matters. Transit Authority train. The gay man was viduals who track and investigate hate or acting as a juror. trying to stop the three from attacking a crimes as well as to victims and perpe- gay youth. trators of bias-motivated violence. In While the details in each of these conversations with groups such as the How did the Matthew Shepard The stories in the series cases are very different, they are inextri- Anti-Defamation League (ADL), the and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes cably linked by a powerful four-letter Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), Prevention Act change the 1969 • How other minority groups, including word: hate. Even more powerful is the the Center for the Prevention of Hate blacks, Hispanics, Muslims and homo- emotion behind the word, which when Violence, the Federal Bureau of law? sexuals, confront hate and why it is you link it with “crime,” often manifests Investigation (FBI), the Missouri This measure, signed into law by underreported itself in violence against individuals Highway Patrol and the U.S. Attorney’s President Barack Obama on Oct. 28, • Why prosecuting hate crimes is so diffi- because of their race, religion, ethnicity, Office, all spoke of a wave of hate they 2009, expands the 1969 law to include cult nationality, gender, disability or sexual see stirring across America. Among crimes motivated by a victim’s gender, • The impact of the Internet on spread- orientation. their findings and concerns: sexual orientation, gender identity or ing hate Last June, a hate crime got interna- • Hate crimes and hate incidents disability. The bill also: • Efforts to bust hate in America tional attention when an 88-year-old are woefully underreported. Some • removes the requirement that the • The landscape of hate violence in white supremacist and anti-Semite states don’t report them at all. victim be involved in a federally pro- America today entered the front door of the U.S. • Most hate crimes are not com- tected activity such as voting. • The impact of a hate crime at a local Holocaust Memorial Museum in mitted by members of organized hate • allows federal authorities to investi- synagogue that occurred more than Washington, D.C. fired his rifle and killed groups. gate hate crimes that local authorities three decades ago an African-American security guard. The • Jews comprise nearly two-thirds choose not to pursue; • Frequently asked questions about hate shooter, James von Brunn, who had of all the victims within religious • provides $5 million a year through crimes grown up in St. Louis, died earlier this groups targeted by hate. 2012 to help state and local agencies • Profiles of hate offenders year while in the medical wing of a North • The number of hate crimes com- prosecute hate crimes; • An overview of anti-Semitism in Carolina prison. mitted against Hispanics (and those • requires the F.B.I. to keep statistics on America since the beginning of the 20th No one knows exactly what drives a perceived to be immigrants) has hate crimes against transgender peo- century person to murder a virtual stranger increased each of the past four years. ple. • An interview with Anti-Defamation because of race, religion or sexual orien- • Blacks comprise nearly three- League President Abraham Foxman dis- tation, but the bottom line is that bias quarters of all reported race-base cussing the ADL’s battles against anti- continues to play a destructive role in crimes. What is the Hate Crimes Semitism and hate modern American society, and it’s not • Hate crimes committed against • Hate crime on college campuses going away anytime soon. Since statis- individuals because of their sexual Statistics Act? tics began being kept two decades ago, orientation has increased to its high- Enacted in 1990, this law requires the U.S. Department of Justice to collect Online you will also find: hate crimes have been committed at an est level in five years. data on hate crimes from law enforce- • Exclusive video of St. Louisan Rick average rate of almost one an hour, • While hate crimes against ment across the country. Since then, Kalina talking about the hate crime that according to “Confronting the New Muslims declined slightly in 2008, it the FBI has published an annual sum- occurred at his bar mitzvah Faces of Hate: Hate Crimes in America,” is still four times the number report- mary (http://www.fbi.gov/hq/cid/civil- • Online video interviews with two St. an analysis released in late 2009 by the ed in 2000. rights/hate.htm). Louis men who allege they were Leadership Conference on Civil Rights • Hate crimes are especially hei- attacked because they are gay Education Fund (LCCREF), the nation’s oldest, most diverse civil and human overview | PAGE 12

‘The State of Hate’ is a Jewish Light special report — with funding from a Press Club of Metropolitan St. Louis enterprise reporting grant 2 | May/June 2010 | ST. LOUIS JEWISH LIGHT | Visit WWW. STLJEWISHLIGHT.COM

LONG-TERM IMPACT OF A HATE CRIME Revisiting a local hate crime more than three decades later

by ELLEN FUTTERMAN • EDITOR cell phones. I remember running to the without friends or relatives by his side. “It office of the temple but it was locked. We was as if he had sucked all the life out of t was supposed to be one of the most memorable days of his needed to find someone to unlock it so the room. He has the type of charisma we could call an ambulance. I remember that is just dead. It reeks of death.” young life. And in fact Richard “Ricky” Kalina’s bar mitzvah people trying to get out of the synagogue In 1994, Franklin was incarcerated at certainly was that, but not in the way he, or his parents, or as fast as they could.” the Marion, Ill. federal penitentiary I Ambulances arrived quickly and where he first told FBI, and later any of the guests had envisioned. rushed Gordon, 42, to the old St. Louis Richmond Heights police, that he was the On the day that in the Jewish religion signifies Ricky’s passage County Hospital where he died in an one who had murdered Gerald Gordon operating room about two hours after he at BSKI. He said a dream told him to con- from boyhood to manhood, the 13-year-old was forced to deal was shot. A bullet had pierced his left fess and he always listens to his dreams. with a tragedy of life-changing proportion. It left one family arm and lodged in his chest, destroying At the time, he was serving six con- friend dead, two others wounded and a neo-Nazi serial killer on his internal organs. secutive life sentences – two federal and Another guest, William Lee Ash, 30, of four state, for four murders – the killing the loose. Akron, Ohio, lost his left pinkie finger, of an interracial couple in Wisconsin in “It was the day that I lost my innocence,” says Kalina, now 45, which got embedded in his hip when he 1977 and the killing of two black men in was struck. He was treated and released Salt Lake City in 1980 as they jogged married and the father of two. “My whole life changed in a matter from County Hospital. with white women. He has been impli- of seconds.” In all, five shots were fired in fast suc- cated in roughly 20 violent crimes, cession. One of the bullets passed including the 1978 shooting of Hustler roud parents Maxine and Merwyn him grab his stomach. At first I thought through Goldman’s suit coat, though he magazine publisher Larry Flynt, which PKalina had invited about 200 guests he was joking because that’s what he did. was not injured. “I hadn’t even realized left him paralyzed, as well as the shoot- to their eldest son Ricky’s bar mitzvah at But then his wife came running over to that I had been hit until a police officer ing of then-Urban League President Brith Sholom Kneseth Israel (BSKI) in me in tears saying Gerry’s been shot, noticed a hole in my jacket,” says Vernon Jordan, though Franklin was Richmond Heights on October 8, 1977. A help me. She had blood all over her Goldman. acquitted in 1982. reception at Le Chateau in Frontenac dress.” It took the jury 39 minutes to convict was planned for the evening and a Steve Goldman had been standing on * * * Franklin of the sniper killing of Gerald brunch at the Kalina’s home in Town & the synagogue parking lot talking to Gordon and 65 minutes the next day to Country would take place the next day. A Gordon, who had one of his three young n 1997, roughly 20 years after the mur- agree that Franklin should die of lethal separate kid’s party was to occur later daughters in tow. Gordon’s wife and Ider at his bar mitzvah, Rick Kalina injection. that Sunday. other daughters were nearby. Goldman found himself inside a St. Louis County Franklin, who was quoted in the St. “I felt good about the bar mitzvah ser- heard a popping noise then felt what he courtroom listening to Joseph Paul Louis Post-Dispatch after the trial, said vice,” says Rick Kalina, recently recalling thought was some sort of bug bite his Franklin tell how he wanted to kill as his only regret was that “killing Jews is the sunny autumn day more than 32 shoulder. Like Ricky, Goldman thought many Jews as possible and had traveled not legal.” years ago. “I read my Haftorah without Gordon was joking when he grabbed from state to state to do so. messing up, recited the prayers and gave himself. But then he was lying on the Kalina listened as prosecutors told * * * my speech. It all went very well.” pavement, bleeding from his chest. how Franklin had chosen BSKI random- Around 1 p.m., as the kiddish lun- Goldman swooped up Gordon’s little girl ly from the Yellow Pages and decided on ick Kalina remembers feeling tre- cheon following the three-hour service and held her tight as they ducked it after visiting some other synagogues in Rmendously guilty and afraid in the was winding down, guests began to between parked cars to avoid more bul- the St. Louis area. He figured the high aftermath of his bar mitzvah. “I felt there leave. As Ricky was saying goodbye to lets. “She was yelling for her daddy,” grass behind a telephone pole in view of were a lot of kids who pulled back from them outside the synagogue and showing Goldman, now 62, remembers. BSKI’s parking lot was a good place for me. Friends I had (before the shootings) a friend his brand new digital watch, he Ricky ran inside to find his parents. He him to stage an ambush. no longer wanted to be my friend,” he heard what sounded like firecrackers told them Gerry Gordon had been shot. Before the shooting, he purchased says. “The anti-Semitism really came to being shot. The Gordons, who had recently moved to some 10-inch nails, a bicycle and a guitar the surface. Our house was vandalized “I had just said goodbye to Gerry Chesterfield from Creve Coeur, were case, which he used to carry a Remington with anti-Semitic slurs. I remember being Gordon, his wife, Sheila and their kids,” among the Kalinas’ closest friends. 700 hunting rifle to his hiding location. called a kike. Within a year of the inci- Kalina says. “Gerry was something of a “There was such disbelief and horror,” He made sure to scratch the serial num- dent, we moved from our house in jokester so when I heard the shots, I saw Rick Kalina recalls. “This was long before ber from his gun so police couldn’t trace Crystal Lake to Spoede.” it. Kalina points out that 30 years ago When he arrived that therapy was something many people, Saturday morning, he including his parents, shied away from hammered the nails into because of how it would be perceived by the pole to use as make- others. There were no grief counselors to shift gun rests. He wait- help him at school. His parents, wanting ed several hours for peo- to protect their son, didn’t allow him to ple to leave the syna- attend Gerry Gordon’s funeral. gogue before opening Essentially, he was on his own to figure fire. out a way to deal with the tragedy. At roughly 1 p.m., “The world wasn’t really equipped to after squeezing off five deal with this kind of hate crime,” he shots, he made his get- says. “The entire Jewish community in away on bicycle to a St. Louis at that point in time hid from nearby location where this. Federation didn’t take a position or a he had parked his car. stand. Today, the organization would set Then he drove south, up a scholarship for the children of the never to be caught until victim or raise money to support the fam- he eventually confessed ily. There would be counseling and help. to the crime 17 years But it was a different time back then.” later. Eventually, when he was in his mid- “When they would 20s, Kalina did go to therapy, in part to bring (Franklin) into the help deal with the bar mitzvah incident. courtroom, it was like “I have issues associated with post-trau- the atmosphere turned matic stress syndrome,” he explains. ice cold,” recalls Kalina, “There are certain times when I feel cor- Richard Kalina in May, 2010. Photo: Mike Sherwin who attended the three- nered and threatened and my reactions day murder trial alone, are not the typical reactions.”

‘The State of Hate’ is a Jewish Light special report — with funding from a Press Club of Metropolitan St. Louis enterprise reporting grant Visit WWW. STLJEWISHLIGHT.COM | ST. LOUIS JEWISH LIGHT | May/June 2010 | 3

PSYCHOLOGY

The Missouri Department of Corrections’ Inside the Revisiting a local hate crime Potosi Correctional Center (left), where Joseph mind of a Paul Franklin (shown below in a 2007 photo) is hate crime serving his death sentence. Above photo: Mike offender Sherwin; below photo courtesy By Ellen Futterman Missouri Editor Department of Corrections Here’s what we know about people who commit hate crimes, based on the most recent Federal Bureau of Investigation statistics as well as from sociologists Kalina, who now belongs to sions of hate violence, he says and criminologists who study these offenders: Shaare Zedek Synagogue, says only: “The devil had control • 61 percent are white he has a hard time picking up over my mind at the time. I was • Most are young men, under the age of 25 his older daughter from out of my mind for real. It’s • Most act alone Sunday school. Last year he been, like, 30-something years • Most are not officially affiliated with white went to BSKI to attend a bar ago. I’ve changed a lot. I wish it supremacist or other hate groups, though many iden- mitzvah – the first one he had never happened but there is no tify in some way and/or are familiar with their rhetoric been to there since his own – way you can go back and undo • 20 percent are black and found himself running to something like that.” • 37 percent intimidated their victim(s) his car when it was over. “I Franklin, who represented • 62 percent assaulted their victim(s) didn’t park in the [synagogue] himself during the BSKI trial, • 63 percent committed vandalism parking lot,” he says. “I parked waived his right to an appeal • Less than 1 percent murdered or raped their vic- in the street. There are still really crazy things (I do). and requested an execution date after he was sen- tim And yet I don’t want my kids to be affected by my tenced for the sniper killing of Gerald Gordon. Jack Levin, a professor of sociology and crimi- fears and experiences.” Franklin had urged the jury to put him to death, nology at Northeastern University who has written Kalina says that until now he has declined to be saying he would kill again if he were released. extensively on the subject of hate crimes, says that interviewed about the BSKI shootings because “one Some time later though, he filed an appeal, many hate-crime offenders feel overwhelmingly of my fears is publicity and the other is that some- which eventually made its way to the Missouri powerless growing up. “Almost always he, and it is times you don’t always get what you’re hoping for. Supreme Court and was denied in June of 2000. almost always a male committing these crimes, was It’s safer to say ‘no comment.’” But he is speaking Franklin says he had changed his mind about being seriously mistreated in childhood and been forced out, in part because he feels too many people in the executed because “that’s not what the Lord wanted to suffer,” said Levin, who has published several Jewish community still “act naively” when it comes me to do. I get signs from God about what to do. studies on hate offenders with his Northeastern to hate violence. Also, I’m into numerology and get guidance from colleague, Jack McDevitt. “There is still denial in the Jewish community the numbers.” He told me that prior to our conver- “He may feel inferior,” Levin about this,” he says. “ That in 2009 we had a Nazi sation, he had checked my numbers using my continued. “As he grows up he organization hold a rally under the Arch and we name and phone number, and they turned out to be may learn to compensate but didn’t demand to know who these people are. That’s good. often not in a socially acceptable crazy. They could be our teachers, our neighbors, Franklin says he “got into white supremacy” way. He hates out of a profound our co-workers. Freedom of speech is one thing but when he was around 18 and “became obsessed need to feel good about himself that stops when it hurts me and the people I love.” with anti-Jewish literature.” He even changed his and to feel powerful as a result Sheila Gordon, the widow of Gerry Gordon, name when he was 25 from James Clayton Vaughn of how he was treated as a politely declined to be interviewed for this article Jr. to Joseph Paul Franklin as a tribute to neo- child.” because, she says, it is still too painful for her to Nazism; Joseph Paul came from Joseph Paul These hate offenders, says Jack Levin speak publically about her husband’s murder. Her Goebbels, Hitler’s minister of propaganda. Levin, often look for any minor- three daughters, now married with children and Franklin grew up in Mobile, Ala. with two sisters ity to harm so that they can feel each still living in the St. Louis area, also declined to and two brothers. He says his father was an alco- better about themselves. “If they can’t find some- be interviewed. holic and his mother was extremely abusive. “My one Jewish, they would be glad to bash someone brother and I would sleep together in the same bed who is black or Muslim or gay or disabled or home- * * * when we were little. My mother would think of less,” said Levin. something we had done wrong during the day and Levin adds that hate is learned from an early ne person who is very eager to talk is Joseph get up in the middle of the night to beat us,” he says, age. “People learn hate and prejudice the way they OPaul Franklin. Currently serving his death sen- adding that he thinks the abuse he endured, cou- learn society’s most cherished values,” he said. tence at the Potosi Correctional Center in Mineral pled with his alcoholism led him to become violent. “There is learned hate, but then there is another Point, Mo., about 90 miles southeast of St. Louis, He says he no longer hates Jews or blacks, add- kind of hate that is pathological. These people Franklin spends days and nights alone in a cell ing, “in fact, just the opposite.” Meditation as well as make hate their life’s mission.” Often, these “mis- waiting to be executed. According to the Missouri learning about Hinduism, Buddhism and even sion haters” are members of organized hate groups Department of Corrections, he remains in “admin- Judaism, he says, has made him tolerant. or at least identify with these groups and have flirt- istrative/disciplinary segregation for poor institu- In late January, Missouri Attorney General Chris ed with becoming members, he explained. tional behavior” and is no Koster asked the state “We’re talking about individuals who are longer allowed in person Supreme Court to set an exe- extremely paranoid, and delusional, blaming every interviews with the media. I More online cution date for Franklin after a problem they have on Jews or blacks or other went to the prison earlier this federal appeals court cleared groups they dislike. It destroys their lives. year and spoke to Franklin the way for Missouri to “They are consumed with hatred and a desire to by phone. resume scheduling executions annihilate an entire community of people. Often, Now 60 years old, by rejecting a lawsuit from they will commit a hideous act or acts against Franklin is ready to discuss eight inmates over the training members of a group and spend the rest of their life in everything from his interest and competence of the state’s prison.” in Eastern religions to how execution team. As of meditation turned his life Tuesday, no execution date for Abuse alone is not enough around to what he says was Watch Richard Kalina talk about his Franklin had been set. an abusive childhood to a Is he fearful about being While Levin indicates the “mission hater” is a rarity, experiences that day and in the years desire for female compan- executed? the description would certainly fit the facts involving ionship. When it comes to since, in a video interview. “No, not really,” he says. “I serial racist Joseph Paul Franklin, who is awaiting reflecting about his deadly, Visit www.stljewishlight.com/hate just figure may the will of God execution at the Potosi Correctional Center for the four-year crime spree in the to view this series and the video. be done.” 1977 sniper attack at Brith Sholom Kneseth Israel late 1970s and the repercus- MINDSET | PAGE 13 4 | May/June 2010 | ST. LOUIS JEWISH LIGHT | Visit WWW. STLJEWISHLIGHT.COM

HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE Jews feel pain of hate in America

By David Baugher American Jewry that in this “There was an anti-Semitic dimension Special to the Jewish Light promised land not everything to the 1993 attack on the World Trade was as promised,” said Center,” Brackman said. “The master- Ask about the granddaddy of anti- Abraham Foxman, executive mind Ramzi Yousef said that the center Semitic acts in America and the answer director of the national ADL. was a nest of Zionist officials.” comes in two words: Leo Frank. Frank was posthumously Rabbi Ze’ev Smason of Nusach Hari “I would say that was the most signifi- pardoned of the crime – 70 B’nai Zion said that the 1993 attack also cant hate crime against Jews in the years later. Jews still had had other interesting connections. One of United States,” said Aaron Breitbart, many years of anti-Semitic those was El Sayyid Nosair, an Egyptian senior researcher with the Los Angeles- attitudes and actions to militant convicted in both the first World based Simon Wiesenthal Center. “There endure. Trade Center bombing and the earlier were incidents after that of course. You murder of controversial Rabbi Meir had synagogue fire bombings but in this Anti-Semitism in Kahane whose strident rhetoric made country I don’t think there is anything him a target of religious extremists. that gets more attention among people America during the Alan Berg. Photo: Denver Post “Given that he was assassinated by who studied the issue than the Leo Frank World War years Islamic fundamentalists, it was a great case.” According to Breitbart, anti-Jewish neo-Nazis showed that hate crime laws foreshadowing of the tragedies that Frank, a Jewish pencil factory man- sentiment ran rampant through the were a legitimate response to criminal America and the world has come to expe- ager accused in the rape and murder of a decade preceding World War II, with the behavior directed at individuals specifi- rience since his demise,” Smason said. teenage girl in Atlanta, was convicted of advent of Father Charles Coughlin’s pop- cally due to their race or religion. Like Smason, Foxman also noted the the crime but later his death sentence ular radio program, which often vilified “In the case of Berg, this man had the growing tide of Muslim extremism that was commuted by Gov. John Slaton who Jews. Coughlin was anything but alone. misfortune to annoy some people on the has colored anti-Semitism, especially reviewed thousands of documents and Breitbart said a 1939 poll found that extreme right and he was machine since the beginning of the 1990s. In 1994, concluded Frank was innocent. “Two more than half of respondents felt Jews gunned to death in his own driveway,” Rashid Baz opened fire on a vanload of thousand years ago another Governor should be placed under more restrictive said Mark Potok director of the Southern yeshiva students in New York City, killing washed his hands of a case and turned a laws than other citizens. About a tenth of Poverty Law Center’s one and wounding three others while in Jew over to a mob,” wrote Slaton in his the public believed Jewish-Americans (SPLC) Intelligence 2002, Hasham Mohamed Hadayet was 1915 commutation order explaining the should be deported. Project. “I can’t think of shot to death by security officers after he unpopular decision. “For two thousand “In the 1930s there was a tremendous a case like that before used a .45-caliber handgun to kill a tick- years that Governor’s name has been surge of anti-Semitism in this country then where you had a eting agent and a bystander at the El Al accursed. If today another Jew were and it was based to a large extent on the guy assassinated who at Airlines counter in Los Angeles lying in his grave because I had failed to downturn in the economy,” Breitbart the end of the day was International Airport. Hadayet chose July do my duty I would all through life find said. “The fact of the matter is that when- just doing his job. He 4, his birthday, for the attack. Overseas, his blood on my hands and would con- ever there is a downturn in the economy, was just an in-your-face El Al has been targeted for even worse sider myself an assassin through coward- the bigots come out of the woodwork like radio talk show host.” Potok attacks. In 1985, terrorists used grenades ice.” roaches.” Potok said that the and semiautomatic weapons to murder Slaton, whose term ended days later, “People often ask why the American Berg killing was only one aspect of a gen- 17 people at the airline’s counter in had to call out the National Guard to dis- Jewish community didn’t do more during eral transference of blame to Jews for Rome. perse riotous mobs outside the gover- the Holocaust,” he added. “The main rea- many of the nation’s ills as the far right nor’s mansion. Under police protection, son is that they were running scared became more “Nazified” and began to Jews remain a target the governor boarded a train headed out themselves.” see both blacks and Jews as the enemy. of state. He never held elective office Harold Brackman, a historian who “For most of their history, these guys Still, 1999, termed the “summer of again. often works with the Wiesenthal Center, have really been restorationists trying to hate” by Foxman, witnessed a spate of Frank fared even worse. He was taken agreed. He said that Jewish shop keepers bring back the halcyon era when black anti-Semitic incidents from a more tradi- from jail and lynched. The gruesome act were a particular target during the people knew their place and that kind of tional source. In early June, three culminated in gleeful participants posing Harlem riots of 1935 and 1943, noting thing,” he said. “They want to go back to Sacramento synagogues were set ablaze for pictures next to the young man’s dan- that Coughlin’s Christian Front organiza- a society where people of color don’t causing $1 millon in damages, according gling corpse. The original Frank trial, a tion and others in New York and Boston exist or are very definitely subordinate. to the ADL’s website. Independence Day national spectacle that captured the often created trouble for Jews. That changed very clearly during the 70s weekend saw a bizarre two-state shoot- attention of Jews and Gentiles alike, is “It really wasn’t safe for individual and 80s. That change really culminates ing spree across the Midwest by outspo- credited by some with being the impetus Jewish children to walk on the streets, or with McVeigh.” ken white supremacist Benjamin Smith, behind the creation of the Anti- go to school, a synagogue or play- The crime of Timothy McVeigh, who which claimed the life of an African- Defamation League (ADL). ground,” he said. “It was really patholog- was executed for the deadly bombing of American basketball coach and a Korean The Frank case was neither the first ical and systematic. The Jewish commu- the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in university student. Smith, who began his chapter nor the last in the continuing nity in Boston felt under siege.” Oklahoma City that killed 168 people rampage by opening fire on a group of story of anti-Semitism in the United The post-war years also saw rampant including many children, was not an anti- Chicago-area Orthodox Jews, wounding States. It did however mark a true turn- anti-Semitism. This had special signifi- Semitic act but Potok feels it did repre- six of them, would end it by killing him- ing point in the timeline of violent intoler- cance in the American South, where the sent a shift toward a more traditional self when cornered by police. The sum- ance. struggle for civil rights was moving front form of domestic terrorism that targeted mer was capped off by the actions of “It was the first wake up call to and center and Jews were increasingly institutions rather than individuals. Buford Furrow, who peppered a Los finding common cause with Martin “Certainly people were killed for ideo- Angeles Jewish community center with Luther King and those backing social jus- logical reasons but the difference is that 70 rounds from an Uzi wounding five tice. The firebombing of a prominent before Oklahoma City, the people who people, three of them children, before Atlanta Jewish temple in 1958 solidified were targeted would be directly seen as leaving the scene. An hour later he killed that relationship for some. enemies,” he said. “You kill the guy regis- a Filipino postal worker. “On the other hand it made Jews tering black voters or the white woman Today, unfortunately, whether from extremely fearful throughout the South going out with black men or if you are neo-Nazis or Islamic jihadists, anti-Semit- that if they spoke up they would poten- the Weathermen on the left you kill a cop ic hatred remains a force to be reckoned tially pay a terrible price,” Brackman or blow up a bank. With McVeigh, it’s with. In December, a jury sentenced said. “It was a moment of conscience totally different. Nobody in that building Naveed Haq, a radical of Pakistani where lines were drawn and people had had anything to do with Waco or Ruby descent, to 141 years in prison for a 2006 to decide if they were going to take risks Ridge. It’s a completely symbolic act.” shooting spree at the Seattle Jewish for their moral beliefs or run for cover.” Federation, which left one dead and five World Trade attacks reek others, including a pregnant woman, Murder of a Jewish radio host wounded. Last year also saw the murder of anti-Semitism of security guard Stephen Johns at the Hate crimes legislation began to gath- It was an echo that Potok said would U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in er steam in the 1970s, first at the local be heard again from a different source in Washington, D.C. by James von Brunn, and state levels and, by the 1990s in fed- attacks on the World Trade Center in an elderly neo-Nazi. Anti-Semitic writ- eral law. For some, well-publicized crimes 1993 and 2001. Both attacks were direct- ings were found in the 88-year-old sus- like the 1984 murder of controversial ed against the United States but both had Lucille and Leo Frank at his Jewish media personality Alan Berg by anti-Jewish overtones. ANTI-SEMITISM | PAGE 13 trial.

MINORITY COMMUNITIES TARGETED hate on campus The Invisible Crime Teaching Hate often goes untold because victims are fearful to report moments

By ELIA POWERS Minorities often the target illegal immigration. What students can St. LOUIS BEACON of hate crimes Riopedre agrees. “Missouri, com- learn from hate pared to many other states, has a rela- im Hacking tells a story about a About half of the 7,783 hate crime tively small (Hispanic) immigrant popu- incidents at schools small Shia Muslim mosque in cases reported in 2008, the last year for lation, so people aren’t often exposed (to St. Louis not far from Macklind which data is available, involved racially Hispanic residents). Anti-immigrant leg- By Elia Powers & Ellen Futterman Avenue, which, to use his motivated crimes, according to Federal islation sends a message. You have St. LOUIS BEACON & jewish light words, is nondescript in almost Bureau of Investigation (FBI) data. Of immigrant populations that feel unwant- Jevery way. “It looks like a storefront, the incidents in this category, nearly ed, and unscrupulous people feel like Earlier this year at the University and there are no outward signs that dis- three-fourths were motivated by anti- they are on a mission and are sanc- of Missouri-Columbia, two Mizzou tinguish it as a mosque,” he says. black bias. Sixty-one percent of offend- tioned to act on their hate.” students allegedly threw cotton balls But that hasn’t stopped it from being ers overall were white, and roughly 20 Gilberto Pinela, a local television talk- across the lawn of a black culture vandalized over the last few years. percent were black. show host who deals regularly with center. The students, who were “It’s really sad,” says Hacking, an The other half of cases involved issues affecting area Hispanics, said ste- male and white, were arrested on attorney in St. Louis who is also the crimes that were deemed motivated by reotypes lead to a culture of intolerance. suspicion of tampering in the sec- chairman of the American Civil Liberties bias against people based on their reli- “There’s a lot of misinformation and ond degree, a felony that’s enhanced Union’s Muslim Rights Task Force. gion, sexual orientation, ethnicity or dis- ignorance out there — some people because of the classification as a “Obviously these people came here ability. Of the offenses committed tend to assume that all Hispanics here hate crime. But the charges were because they were an oppressed minor- because of the victims’ perceived ethnic- are illegal day laborers,” he said. “With later downgraded to littering misde- ity in Iraq. They are the ones who ity or national origin, 64 percent were the economy as it is you hear more peo- meanors, though both students should benefit from due to anti-Hispanic bias, the FBI report ple being confrontational about were suspended. religious freedom in shows. That’s a marked increase from Hispanics taking away their jobs and Still, Nathan Stephens, director America. Then to come 2004, when the figure was 50 percent. not paying taxes.” of the Gaines/Oldham Black Culture here and have some- In the 2008 FBI report, 32 Missouri Pinela is bolstered by a recent New Center, said there’s no doubt about one do this — it’s truly agencies submitted 99 incidents of hate York Times article that reported that the their intentions. a shame.” crimes. The number was down from majority of working immigrants in the “It was an act that was deliber- What’s also a shame 2007 but up from 2006 and 2005. Of the St. Louis metropolitan area were found ately done on the basis of race,” and frustrating, says hate crimes reported in 2008, 70 were to hold “higher-paying white-collar jobs Stephens said. “If that qualifies for a Hacking and others deemed racially motivated, 14 based on – as professionals, technicians, or hate crime, so be it. I will not allow who represent immi- Jim sexual orientation, nine on religion and administrators – rather than lower-pay- anyone to say this wasn’t done on grant and minority Hacking six on ethnicity. In St. Louis, 11 of the 13 ing blue-collar and service jobs.” the basis of race due to the fact that groups, is that when reported cases were racially motivated. Karen Aroesty, regional director of the Gaines Culture Center was the they hear about cases of violence or The St. Louis County Police the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) of only place that received the cotton.” vandalism that seem to be fueled by Department’s only reported case Missouri and Southern Illinois, said she The cotton-ball incident is an hate, often the victims won’t come for- involved ethnicity. agrees that the immigration debate has almost archetypical: It uses highly ward to police. And these cases aren’t Through the Missouri Uniform Crime “kicked off enormous bias against charged imagery; it’s linked to racial only confined to immigrants and minor- Reporting program, law enforcement immigrants and those who are per- stereotype (the majority of hate inci- ities living in urban areas – officials and agencies share data. A spreadsheet from ceived as undocumented.” dents and hate crimes are motivated student leaders at college campuses say the Missouri Highway Patrol shows Most hate incidents she is aware of by racial bias); and it targets an there seems to be an uptick in bias-moti- roughly 175 victims reported hate locally involve anti-Hispanic and anti- institution but in a way that makes vated incidents, many of which go unre- crimes in 2008, and 140 victims in 2009. gay bias. She said she hears anecdotally individual students feel like the tar- ported. That’s not a count of the number of inci- about hate crimes directed at Hispanics get. Other recent incidents on col- Jim Buford, president of the Urban dents because multiple as being on the rise but is awaiting the lege campuses that seem to target a League of Metropolitan St. Louis, said victims can be associ- FBI data from 2009 (due out in late minority or minorities include: crimes committed against black resi- ated with the same 2010) to gauge the recent trend. • A white fraternity’s “ghetto- dents often go unreported because the incident. Blacks were “Money says that the number of inci- themed” Compton cookout during victims don’t want to talk about the inci- the most likely group dents against Hispanics goes up, but Black History Month at the dents. to be victimized, with there are questions of course about the University of California-San Diego Jorge Riopedre, Hispanics far down on accuracy of those numbers and with the • A swastika carved on a wall president of the the list, according to difficulty in keeping truly accurate near a Jewish studies center at the Hispanic Chamber of the reported data. audits around hate crimes,” said University of Miami and several C o m m e r c e o f Buford said hate Aroesty, who staffs the work of the U.S. swastikas found on the walls of a Metropolitan St. Louis, crimes against black Jim Buford Attorney’s Hate Crimes Task Force for student housing building at said he’s often stymied residents have long Eastern Missouri and Southern University of California-Berkeley in his efforts to kick- been on his radar and continue to be a Illinois. The group, which is made up of • An alleged attack on a trans- start a criminal investi- problem. law enforcement officials, community gender student in a campus rest- gation because “We see cases all the time – graffiti, leaders and elected officials, meet sev- room at California State University Hispanic victims are Jorge racial epithets painted on churches,” he eral times a year in St. Louis to discuss at Long Beach unwilling to report key Riopedre said. “These are incidents where people bias-motivated violence in the area. “At least anecdotally, it seems as if pieces of information. weren’t personally attacked but institu- we are seeing an increase of hate- “This happens with documented citi- tions were attacked.” Why hate crimes go unreported motivated violence on college cam- zens, so you can only imagine the trou- He said a combination of factors, puses across the country. Students ble getting undocumented citizens to among them a struggling economy and Aroesty said it’s easy to understand don’t always see one another as speak up,” Riopedre said. the ascendancy of black politicians such why Hispanics don’t come forward — allies,” said Jack Levin, a professor The same is often true for immigrant as President Barack Obama, helps fears about immigration status, not to of sociology and criminology at groups like African refugees, according explain what he sees as increasing hos- mention distrust in government and Northeastern University who has to Gedlu Metaferia, executive director of tility toward minorities. unfamiliarity with the American legal studied hate crimes for more than the African Mutual Assistance While blacks are still more often vic- process. three decades. “Students may view Association of Missouri. tims of hate crimes than Hispanics, a “Frankly, who wants to report if their classmates as opponents vying “Immigrants face harassment and 2009 report, “Confronting the New you’re a victim? It’s not just an attack for scarce resources such as popu- have racial epithets directed toward Faces of Hate: Hate Crimes in America,” against you but against everyone you larity, financial aid and jobs when them, but they don’t come forward,” from the Leadership Conference on represent, and it’s hard for a community they graduate. This kind of fierce Metaferia said. “I say, ‘Go report it. You Civil and Human Rights, mentioned the to come to grips with that reality,” she competition has grown at the same can’t sit here pretending everything is rise in hate crimes committed against said. “Hate-crime victims have to come time as diversity on campus has well.’ But they are silent. It really pains Hispanics and those perceived to be forward at the right time, but that grown, with virtually every minority me.” immigrants as being “of particular con- doesn’t happen very often.” group having its own campus orga- cern.” The report says the spike in violence is likely due to controversy over MINORITIES | PAGE 11 schools | PAGE 14 6 | May/June 2010 | ST. LOUIS JEWISH LIGHT | Visit WWW. STLJEWISHLIGHT.COM

LESBIAN, GAY, Bisexual, TRANSGENDER Myriad factors inhibit prosecution of hate crimes against LGBT community

By Nancy Fowler Larson Crimes Task Force for would increase the poten- Special to the jewish Light Eastern Missouri and tial penalty to four years Southern Illinois and is a Under the Missouri hate crimes statute, in prison. The FBI is also ix months after they were member of Central looking into the incident. attacked coming out of a St. Reform Congregation. offenses including assault can be bumped “We have talked with SLouis gay nightclub, Jacob “Throwing bottles, up to a greater charge if bias is the motiva- local law enforcement,” Piwowarczyk and Mitch Perry have beating people up, being said special agent Tim healed nicely from injuries that includ- robbed, having stuff tion. A regular assault charge would come Feeney of the St. Louis ed Piwowarczyk’s bloodied eye and thrown at us in front of FBI office. “The Complex dislocated ribs, and Perry’s broken our bars, that stuff I’ve with a maximum sentence of one year in the case could very well be a nose. But inside, they’re still hurting. seen less of,” Deitch hate crime.” At 2 a.m. on Saturday, Nov. 28, 2009, said. “On the other hand, county jail. Enhancing it under the hate The federal govern- they left the Complex near Lafayette coming out has generat- crimes law would increase the potential ment gets involved when Square to take home a friend who’d ed more attention, but I its assistance is requested had too much to drink. While escorting don’t think coming out penalty to four years in prison. or after they see a need. him to the car, some men in the park- generates hate crimes. But there are a few hitch- ing lot began yelling and calling them But any time a commu- es when it comes to pros- disparaging names. nity is in the news, it can ecuting hate crimes “We were like, just leave us the f--- become more of a tar- regarding sexual orienta- alone,” Perry remembered. get.” one about it—many offenders do,” St. tion and gender identity under the six- According to the police report, Louis Police Department public rela- month-old federal Matthew Shepard Piwowarczyk, Perry and others New federal law places stricter tions director Erica Van Ross said. “We and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes “attempted to walk away when the six need those persons to come forward.” Prevention Act. For one thing, the subjects began to punch them.” Waking requirements on LGBT Under the Missouri hate crimes stat- offense must involve violence or up on the ground with blood running community ute, offenses including assault can be attempted violence. out of his nose is Perry’s next memory. While no charges have been filed in bumped up to a greater charge if bias Hate crimes committed with other Piwowarczyk will never forget what the attack on Piwowarczyk and Perry, is the motivation. A regular assault biases are also easier to prosecute happened next. St. Louis police are investigating. charge would come with a maximum because of the 15th amendment of the “The police kept saying, ‘How do “It is very possible that the suspects sentence of one year in the county jail. U.S. Constitution guaranteeing the you know this is a hate crime?’” who committed this offense told some- Enhancing it under the hate crimes law rights of people regardless of race or Piwowarczyk said. “When someone color, and the 1964 Civil Rights Act, screams ‘faggot’ in your face and you which prohibits discrimination based clearly know they’re straight, I don’t on race, color, religion, sex, and nation- know how you could paint the picture al origin. Still, the new hate crimes any better.” statute does offer at least one important benefit to the LGBT population, Local hate crime incidence according to Rich Callahan, U.S. Attorney for Missouri’s Eastern holds steady District. Piwowarczyk and Perry are just two “The one big advantage of the new of thousands of victims nationwide law, and of the 1964 Act, is that it every year whose attacks involve anti- allows the federal government to con- gay bias. In 2008, the latest year for duct the investigation because of the which statistics are available, the possibility of federal jurisdiction,” Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Callahan said. reported 7,783 hate crime incidents, As Piwowarczyk and Perry await nearly 17 percent of which entailed bias developments in their case, they strug- against someone’s sexual orientation. gle with the aftermath of the beating. Attacks against gay men outnumber Their initial, opposite coping mecha- those on lesbians by nearly four to one. nisms—Piwowarczyk threw himself Statistics for Missouri are incom- ABOVE: The LGBT community into prosecuting and publicizing the plete, as the state does not require its and supporters held a candle- attack, Perry became depressed and police departments to report hate light vigil down Manchester withdrawn—caused them to break up, crimes data. Of those 2008 crimes Road in St. Louis after Mitch though they remain friends. reported in Missouri, 14 attacks had Perry and Jacob Piwowarczyk Piwowarczyk’s depression came sexual orientation as an element, with (shown in left photo) were later; he’s now in counseling. Both one of those reported in St. Louis city attacked outside of a gay night- carry mace wherever they go, are care- and none in St. Louis County. The club near Lafayette Square. ful about where they park and watch highest number—three—took place in BELOW: A placard shows some their backs. Springfield. The St. Louis area has of the injuries Piwowarczyk “I live my life differently, but I still go reported from one to three such crimes and Perry sustained in the out with my friends,” Perry said. “I’m every year following the 1999 inclusion attack. Photos: Philip Deitch not going to let [the attackers] win like of sexual orientation and gender iden- that.” tity in the Missouri hate crimes statute. In the 11 years since, society has What’s in a word? Plenty. shifted significantly, with more lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) Not long after moving to rural Silex, mainstream acceptance of culture. Mo. in Lincoln County in 2007, life That visibility is a double-edge sword, partners David Daugherty and Michael which can bring out hidden hatred Grahn heard the rumors: Some dis- even as it fosters acceptance, accord- gruntled residents were “out to get the ing to St. Louisan Philip Deitch, who two new gay guys” in town. chairs the community education com- On September 12, 2009, as they mittee of the U.S. Attorney’s Hate were leaving local watering hole

David Daugherty them to pay for our medical bills.” publicly or to their families,” Aroesty and Michael said. “That’s the nature of hate crime Grahn (shown in The one that got away anyway. When you’re targeted as vic- photo at left) tim of hate crime, there’s a lot of incli- were attacked in Calling it a “proud day for Missouri,” nation to retreat inward and not come September, 2009, advocates cheered when then-Gover- out blazing because of the personal in what they say nor Mel Carnahan signed the hate level of the attack.” was a hate crimes bill that included sexual orien- Being closeted can be a big issue in crime. Below are tation and gender identity in 1999. But the transgender community as well, photos of a little over a decade later, the clapping according to Robyn Carolyn Montague, Grahn's (left) has given way to silence: Not one state cofounder and co-chair of advocacy and Daugherty's or local official interviewed for this organization Transhaven Missouri. It’s injuries. article could think of a single crime a concern for transsexuals (those with against a lesbian, gay, bisexual or a different gender identity than their transgender (LGBT) person that has physical sex) and others who fall under been successfully prosecuted using the the transgender or genderqueer statute. umbrella and are not “out.” “I’m not aware of any, personally,” “Many are cross-dressers that may said Jason Lamb, director of the be married to females that want to Missouri Office of Prosecution reach out to their feminine side. They’ll Services. get dressed up and go out on the town,” In August 2008, Cape Girardeau Montague said. “They work in respect- County prosecuting attorney Morley able jobs and if anything got out, they’d Swingle had a case that came close. All be afraid of being humiliated and los- the elements seemed to be in place ing their jobs.” after two men were charged in the There are no hard figures on attacks attack of a 20-year-old man in an apart- against people who are transgender. ment belonging to the victims’ friend. Tracking in Missouri is made difficult Barney T’s, Daugherty and Grahn were Neither the Silex police department, “They called him ‘fag’ and ‘faggot.’ because the transgender category is approached by two men, asking them the Lincoln County sheriff’s depart- Some witnesses who did not know him included in the overarching definition to ride horses at their place down the ment nor the County prosecutor’s said he was gay,” Swingle said. “He of sexual orientation, and police forms road. After Daugherty and Grahn office returned phone calls inquiring was an effeminate-looking fellow.” list only two genders: male and female. declined, they said the two men backed about the incident. into their car. “Come on over to our While documented use of a slur is house and we’ll settle up on the dam- valuable in the prosecution of a hate age,” Daugherty and Grahn remember crime, it’s not the deciding factor, the men saying. But after the couple according to Feeney, who has talked “There are still people who don’t want to come out of got there, an argument broke out, and with Silex police and the victims. Daugherty called for help. Feeney would say nothing else about the closet either publicly or to their families...That’s “When I was calling the police, my the Silex case but he did generalize the nature of hate crime anyway. When you’re targeted phone was knocked out of my hand,” about hate crimes investigations over- Daugherty recalled. all. as victim of hate crime, there’s a lot of inclination to “I heard crunching sounds on Dave. “We would look at, ‘Why did this That’s the last I remember,” Grahn person commit this crime toward that retreat inward and not come out blazing because of the said. person, what was it based on?’” Feeney personal level of the attack.” Still reeling from being knocked said.” That’s what you have to prove in over the head, punched in the face and a hate crime. If somebody is using lan- — Karen Aroesty, kicked all over, Daugherty and Grahn guage that’s hateful, that’s going to drove back to Barney T’s and asked help the case but it doesn’t make the ADL regional director someone there to call the police. Later, case.” they sought hospital treatment and After consulting an attorney on pain medication for Grahn’s black eye April 5, Daugherty and Grahn found and Daugherty’s fractured ribs, along out that if they filed a lawsuit, it would Under the hate crimes statute, the The federal law should soon produce with an assortment of painful cuts and likely be heard in Lincoln County, a third-degree misdemeanor assault was better documentation. But the National bruises. location that they believe would not raised to a class-D felony, meaning the Center for Transgender Equality has Daugherty and Grahn believe they produce a gay-friendly jury. Citing attackers could serve up to four years pulled already some figures from a sur- were victims of a hate crime. But they health reasons, the couple decided to behind bars. vey of more than 6,000 people in the say they were told the chances of pros- drop the matter. A month later, after But when the victim took the stand, nationwide transgender community. ecuting the assault as a hate crime are reports that the sheriff’s department is he told the jury, “I’m not gay.” A hate According to that research, completed slim to none. again looking into the case, Daugherty crime no more, the case ended with in 2009, 19 percent have been physi- “They told me, ‘We don’t consider it feels encouraged. one of the suspects being found guilty cally attacked and nine percent have a hate crime because you didn’t hear “What I would like to see is them of burglary and the other, of burglary been sexually assaulted. them calling you ‘queers’ or ‘fags,’” charged with assault and property and assault. They received five years’ Fear of being publicly identified may Grahn said. “When you’re knocked out damage,” Daugherty said. “That’s the probation and six months in jail, make the inclusion of transgender peo- you don’t hear what people are saying.” only thing I ask for. I didn’t even ask respectively. ple in hate crimes laws somewhat sym- Even though the Missouri law pro- bolic. Still, it’s a monumental develop- tects those who have characteristics of ment, humanizing a population that’s More online the opposite sex—gay or not—that is a subject to ridicule and marginalization, gray area, according to Swingle, and a shift that may ultimately curb attacks not worth pursuing in that case. against the community. “Gray areas go in favor of the defen- “One important aspect of the dant,” Swingle said. Matthew Shepard law is that it is the first federal law that recognizes trans- Closets hamper prosecution gender people,” Montague said. “Yes, we are very pleased with the hate Many LGBT victims are afraid to be crimes part of it, but from a transgen- identified as such—an inherent der activist’s standpoint, it is also requirement for using the hate crimes important is that it’s the springboard law, said Karen Aroesty, regional direc- now for other things where we are tor of the American Defamation identified and recognized properly as Visit www.stljewishlight.com/hate to watch Jacob Piwowarczyk and Mitch Perry League for Missouri and Southern federally protected U.S. citizens.” talk about their experiences in video interviews online. Illinois. “There are still people who don’t want to come out of the closet either 8 | May/June 2010 | ST. LOUIS JEWISH LIGHT | Visit WWW. STLJEWISHLIGHT.COM

21st CENTURY HATE Internet offers spawning ground for hate

By David Baugher Special to the Jewish Light

Mark Potok paints an interesting picture of the face of hate. “Twenty-five years ago, the classic white supremacist was a lonely man standing in his living room shaking his fist at the ceiling,” said Potok, director of the Southern Poverty Law Center’s (SPLC) Intelligence Project, which chronicles bias-motivated crimes and incidents in the United States. “He couldn’t very well go down to the corner bar and talk to the guy next to him about it because he’d end up as likely as not with a broken nose.” Today, however, corner bars need no longer be a part of the equation. Aided by the electronic connectivity of a much smaller world, a single racist can now reach – or hear from – an audience of millions worldwide. “Now, it’s a very different feeling,” Potok said. “The same person who used to be very isolated feels he is part of a movement that is happening, one that is moving forward every day.” That democratizing ethos has been a technological hallmark of the Internet. It also exemplifies the promise -- and the threat --of an electronic age that has seen an explosion in hate group activity driven by an anonymous World Wide Web. When it began gathering momentum in the 1990s, many thought this communications revolution would mark a rebirth for race-based organizations and the ide- ABOVE: A sampling of websites that promote racial supremacy, separatism, nationalism, or similar ological universe they inhabit. concepts on the Internet. Now, almost two decades after reciting URLs has become second nature to a generation of Americans, has that happened? interactive portions of the medium, language is seen in MySpace policies, That’s because policing on social net- The short answer, said Potok, is no. which were barely imagined at the net- which ban material that “is patently working sites is largely driven by user “In the beginning, the radical right as a work’s beginnings, which have turned offensive or promotes or otherwise complaints, which can lead to sporadic whole thought the Internet was going to out to be the biggest bonus for those traf- incites racism, bigotry, hatred or physical enforcement and a time-consuming be their savior,” he said. “Their feeling ficking in racist ideas. harm of any kind against any group or effort that all too often yields disappoint- had been for decades that it was the evil individual.” ing results. editors at the New York Times and the Bringing hatred together “With the various Internet technolo- “We don’t spend our time calling ser- CBS Evening News that prevented them gies, you are not going to be able to elim- vice providers to try to get people kicked from getting their message out. If only Sites like Facebook and MySpace have inate hate or racism or the message,” off of Facebook or get their Web page the white masses could hear them they allowed people from all over the planet to Cooper said. “The main goal in the case unhosted,” said SPLC’s Potok. “I’m not would rise up in anger, the race war connect and share ideas, events and pic- of hate groups is to marginalize them. suggesting it’s the wrong thing but while would come and all would be well.” tures with a growing audience of friends, Yes, it is a problem to have them any- we list groups but we don’t try to get any- Undeniably, some aspects of the elec- acquaintances – and sometimes total where but if they are forced to go into one thrown off the Internet as a general tronic age are a boon to white suprema- strangers – worldwide. Not all of those their own milieu that could mean that matter.” cy. The anonymity of the Internet opened ideas are socially acceptable ones. The their reach is not where they want it to He notes that even when guidelines up a new world of prejudice to those who networking sites do manage content and be.” are enforced on social networking sites, normally might have felt too embar- most have guidelines that ban activities He pointed out that in neo-Nazi cir- individuals might simply re-register with rassed or frightened to search for others that promote hatred towards groups or cles, some sites have already dispensed a new user name. Attempts to remove with similar views. Still, the reality of the individuals. Still, the sheer size of the vir- with the idea of organization, believing it racially inflammatory sites from service Web turned out to be sharply different tual world makes effective policing to be too weak, too public and too open providers can prove similarly frustrating than its promise. White supremacy saw efforts of these sites an imposing – if not to monitoring and infiltration by law and circuitous. some increase in membership but what it impossible – task. enforcement. Instead of using the “You had a pattern where a particular mainly got was a lesson in marketing. “Facebook has an excellent policy on Internet to consolidate groups by build- site would show up on a server some- “They found out what everyone else paper,” said Rabbi Abraham Cooper, ing membership, some have taken a where,” Potok said. “Someone would who operates on the Internet found out associate dean of the Simon Wiesenthal more frightening decentralized email whoever was providing server which is that if you’ve got a static Web Center in Los Angeles, which fights anti- approach, while maintaining an arms- space and eventually get them kicked off. page, no one is coming back after a visit Semitism. “Their problem is that they are length level of plausible deniability for Quite frequently, the site would be kicked or two,” he said. “You’ve got to have a so huge and in so many different lan- themselves. off one server, then another a week later, page that changes all the time.” guages. It’s the vastness of it.” “They changed tactics, talking about then a third a week after that.” The result, Potok said, was that after Cooper said that his organization has leaderless resistance,” he said. “Be a lone Instead, Potok suggests that such sites explosive growth in the 1990s, the rate of been working with Facebook, the largest wolf. Don’t join any organized group. If can actually be employed as an educa- expansion for such sites fell to about the of the social networking sites, to improve you’re a true believer, click here and you tional tool. Older children can be shown same level as the rest of the growth of the its ability to shield users from hateful can learn from another site in a terroris- white supremacist content and told about Internet. In 2009, SPLC counted 670 postings. The site’s official policy prohib- tic fashion.” the dangers of Nazi beliefs and Holocaust active Internet hate sites, which include its the bullying, intimidation or harass- denial. not just white supremacy sites but also ment of any individual user as well as A teaching moment “As a general matter, I think it is a hatred directed at whites or other races “content that is hateful, threatening, por- much better thing for parents to use or groups. nographic, or that contains nudity or Combating Internet hate may be a Rather than the Web itself, it was the graphic or gratuitous violence.” Similar noble aspiration, but futile in reality. INTERNET | PAGE 15

PROSECUTION Strategy is key to prosecuting hate crimes

By Nancy Fowler Larson leaving work, a white Missouri State not always immediately apparent that an enhanced and includes seven protected SPecial to the Jewish Light Penitentiary prison guard stopped off for attack is a hate crime, so details are classes: race, color, religion, national ori- a beer at a restaurant, crossing paths important. gin, gender, disability and sexual orienta- When hate crimes laws first started with a young African-American man “Hate crimes training, which was not tion, which includes criteria that also making their way onto the books 30 to picking up a pizza, “What’s a nigger existent 20 years ago, is much more sig- apply to transgender persons, are cov- 40 years ago, they generated dire pre- doing with a nice car like this?” the guard nificant now,” Aroesty said. “If police offi- ered categories. dictions of log-jammed legal dockets. was heard to say before bashing in the cers write a report and say racial epithets Crimes of assault, harassment, prop- “There was this fear there would be young man’s vehicle with a baseball bat. were uttered, that’s not going to do it. erty damage, trespassing and rioting an opening of the floodgates, and hun- What would have been a misdemean- Police officers need to report that certain, are misdemeanors that can be changed dreds and hundreds of them would or property damage charge was specific words were said, and said in this to felonies. clog the system,” remembered Karen increased to a class C felony because of particular context.” Some felonies such as carrying a Aroesty, regional director of the the hate crimes enhancement law, called An even stronger case can be made if concealed weapon can be increased American Defamation League (ADL) an “ethnic intimidation” a perpetrator has a propensity for white from class D to class of Missouri and Southern Illinois. statute at that time. The supremacy or xenophobic websites, for C, elevating the But the reality hardly matched the jury found the guard example, in his or her browser history. maximum four-year prophesy. “Very, very few are prosecut- guilty. The elevated “Now you have police departments prison sentence to ed,” Aroesty said. charge allowed the jury doing things they used to not do, getting seven years. Every year, fewer than five such to consider a larger fine search warrants and going to people’s There is a “lot of prosecutions take place in the ADL than the $1,000 that homes and looking on their computers to strategy involved” region, which includes the state of came with the misde- see whether what they’re doing online is when considering Missouri, Eastern Kansas and meanor. a reflection of their state of mind at the whether to use hate Southern Illinois. Reasons for their “The jury went with time they decided to do the crime,” crimes enhance- rarity include limits on which crimes the enhancement. Aroesty said. ments, according to Ed Postawko are affected by such laws and the dif- Because it was felony Rich Postawko. Often, ficulty of confirming motivation then, they imposed a Callahan Enhancements don’t always the existing crime is beyond a reasonable doubt. Name- $2,000 fine,” Callahan already a greater calling alone isn’t enough. said. work or make sense offense than those covered under the “It’s context, context, context,” said The punishment was no small hit to Under Missouri law, there is really no statute. Rich Callahan, U.S. Attorney for the wallet, considering prison guards such thing as “a hate crime,” according “My experience is that most of the Missouri’s Eastern District. only made $14,000 a year at the time. Ed Postawko, chief warrant officer for time, the underlying crime already has Several criteria helped prosecutors nail the city of St. Louis circuit attorney’s a more serious punishment than the An ideal first case the case: the guard was of a different office. The state statute doesn’t give any enhancements,” Postawko said. race than the victim, and he used a racial offense that particular name. It only Proving motivation can be difficult, Only a few months after Missouri’s epithet against him in a way that made allows prosecutors to bump a charge up a challenge that’s especially tough out- first hate crime law was enacted in the guard’s motivation clear. Discovery to a higher level when hate is the motiva- side of a major city. Prosecutors don’t August 1988, a Jefferson City incident and documentation of such factors dur- tion. want to increase the charge, only to gave Callahan, then Cole County’s pros- ing the immediate aftermath of a crime is Components of Missouri’s hate crimes ecuting attorney, a perfect test case. After critical to a successful prosecution. It’s law specify which charges can be prosecution | PAGE 15

CHANGING THE LAW Fighting for hate crime legislation

By David Baugher Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. ered only violations committed during the jump to federal law. According to Special to the Jewish Light Hate Crimes Prevention Act, had been certain protected activities, such as vot- Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) attached as a rider to unrelated defense ing. training materials, the first true recogni- Last October, when Abraham Foxman spending legislation, largely because it “Hate crimes is a particular legal for- tion by U.S. government authorities came attended the enactment of landmark fed- was thought to be the only way to get the mulation that doesn’t emerge until about in 1990 with the passage of the Hate eral hate crimes legislation, it was the cul- controversial bill through a recalcitrant the 1970s,” said Valerie Jenness, a profes- Crimes Statistics Act. The act wasn’t so mination of a generation of work and federal legislature. sor at the University of California at much an enforcement mechanism as a advocacy by his organization. Moments “Part of it was politics,” Foxman said. Irvine. “Prior to that it would be assault, it record-keeping mandate which directed don’t get much more historic. A battle “Part of it was opposition to what it would would be trespassing, it would be vandal- the FBI to classify certain crimes ranging over social justice that had defined much include. Once that ism, it would be murder. Only when you from vandalism and arson to assault, of the latter half of the 20th century was obstacle was overcome, have a law saying it’s going to be catego- rape and murder, as being motivated by drawing to a close as long decades of we were able to pass it.” rized this way do we talk about hate race, religion, sexual orientation or eth- frustration and disappointment punctu- That obstacle was crimes.” nicity in their Uniform Crime Reports. By ated with brief respites of slow progress sexual orientation, Understanding that hate crimes are a 1994, the categories had been expanded from city councils and state legislatures which, in addition to matter of terminology as much as of the to include physical and mental disabili- right up to the halls of Congress had gender, was among sev- action itself is a key to understanding ties. come down to one definitive stroke of the eral new protected cat- their history. Jenness, who has written According to the FBI’s website, in 2008 presidential pen. Still, he couldn’t help egories for hate crimes two books on the topic, said that hate more 13,000 participating American law but take note of a strange scene at the under the bill. The law’s Abraham crimes emerged as part of an unusual enforcement agencies reported nearly signing ceremony. other main effect was to Foxman alliance between liberal civil rights advo- 7,800 hate crime incidents against 9,700 “It was a very interesting coming extend federal hate cates and conservative victims’ rights victims. More than half were racially together because when the White House crime prosecutorial powers beyond the campaigners. biased. Less than one-fifth were based on has a formal signing it invites people of narrower scope of the 1969 civil rights “The argument I lay out is that it comes religion, however of that group almost interest,” said Foxman, the Anti- legislation it modified. on the tail end of the institutionalization two-thirds — just over 1,000 incidents — Defamation League’s (ADL) national Ironically, the two people the measure of a lot of social movements,” she said. “It were anti-Semitic, close to five times the executive director. “Half the room was was named for were officially not victims was an odd moment when you had Orrin number of the next largest group. military brass and half the room were of hate crimes. Neither Wyoming, where Hatch and Ted Kennedy promoting the It was state laws that had provided the human rights professionals.” Shepard was tortured and killed for same piece of legislation but for very dif- training ground for eventual federal rec- The odd blend of activists and army being gay, nor Texas where Byrd was ferent reasons.” ognition of such behavior. folk bespoke much about the bill’s meth- dragged behind a truck before being Jenness said there is still some debate “Where the Jewish community od of passage – and perhaps even more decapitated because of his race, had laws over where the first hate crimes laws becomes incredibly central is that the about whether the fight it represented designating their murders with the term. were passed but they largely began to was truly over. The measure, called the Federal hate crimes laws at the time cov- percolate at the state level before making LEGISLATION | PAGE 15 10 | May/June 2010 | ST. LOUIS JEWISH LIGHT | Visit WWW. STLJEWISHLIGHT.COM

HATEBUSTERS Education in all forms is key to battling hate

By David Baugher Special to the Jewish Light

If you talk to professionals on the front lines in the fight against hate, three things become clear: Success is vitally important, endlessly rewarding — and largely impossible to measure. “It’s not like when you have a physical ailment and you can say, ‘Do these exercises and over six weeks you’ll see a 65 percent increase in your flexibili- ty,’” said Karen Aroesty, regional director of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) of Missouri and Southern Illinois. “You can’t do that with anti-bias work as cleanly.” While it may not be quantifiable, Aroesty, like other anti-bias advocates, knows it’s a job that has to be done. While programs abound to fight hate, the best methods are not always clear. Instead, most “hate busters” seem to coalesce around one theme: education.

Making a world of difference The ADL runs a variety of programs to combat prejudice and misinformation. One of the longest-running is the aptly named A World of Difference Institute, an educational program targeting classrooms. Started in 1985 after race riots in Boston, the initiative quick- The high school students participating in Cultural Leadership — largely African-American and ly moved into other areas of the coun- Jewish — discuss their experiences after a 23-day trip visiting sites across the East Coast and South try, arriving in St. Louis two years later in July, 2009 at Temple Emanuel. The program, started by Karen Kalish, brings together a group of with support from the Danforth students for a year of programs designed to promote mutual understanding of African-American Foundation. and Jewish history, culture and religion. File photo: Dennis Caldwell Aroesty explains that the institute consists of “a large number of three- teach one group of teachers and the the program to so many we may break targets. ring binders that contain activities potential to impact those students is sig- 500 officers this year.” “What I’ve come to believe is that designed to help people begin to nificant,” she said. Partnerships with law enforcement across the board we need to work to address personal issues around bias and other official agencies are vital for understand the need for equality and and stereotypes. Some of these activi- Connecting with the law battling prejudice, especially in the area justice and respect for everybody,” said ties can be done in a few minutes, some of hate crimes. Philip Deitch is commu- Deitch. “Too many people, groups and take longer to discuss and process.” Not all educational efforts are geared nity education chairperson for the U.S. organizations make a distinction and She says the activities are very toward children nor is A World of Attorney’s Hate Crimes Task Force of say ‘Yeah, I believe in American values “hands-on” and the curricula can be tai- Difference the only local ADL program. Eastern Missouri and Southern Illinois, except for this group because they don’t lored to fit all age groups, from pre- In 2004, the organization adopted a pro- which meets several times a year. The really deserve it.’” school to college campuses to work gram first piloted in Washington, D.C., Clinton Administration-era effort grew places and beyond. “We’re starting to for police. The initiative, Law out of an earlier group co-founded by Finding leaders design special programs on racial pro- Enforcement in Society, done in con- Deitch, and now acts as a nexus filing and bias issues for police officers junction with the St. Louis Holocaust between law enforcement, judicial offi- Increasingly, schools are a major that grew out of our expertise with the Museum and Learning Center, reinforc- cials, civic leaders and civil rights focus for anti-prejudice programs, both institute,” she added. es its message about the dangers of bias groups to exchange information about because tolerance advocates feel it is Yet Aroesty stresses that A World of by examining the history of Germany in bias-motivated crimes and incidents good to address bias topics early and, Difference, which now operates under the opening stages of the Holocaust, and build trust. At the moment, the task more disturbingly, because schools are the aegis of a larger No Place for Hate with a particular focus on the actions of force is working on training authorities fast becoming hotbeds for such behav- initiative started in 2007, is still more a police officers. Participants hear from on enforcement of provisions related to ior. Troubling issues like cyberbullying departure point than a destination. historians on the Weimar Republic and the passage of last fall’s federal hate are finding their way into classrooms, “It’s the process of beginning bias receive a tour of the museum. crimes bill. Confusion, even within the principal’s offices, and even newspa- reduction,” Aroesty said. “It’s not the Last month, the ADL and the ranks of the judiciary over new law is per headlines across the country. kind of thing that’s going to hit you over Holocaust Museum trained nearly the not uncommon, though it becomes an “Schools are a microcosm of society the head after an hour or two. You are entire police forces of Clayton, Olivette even bigger issue when dealing with the and often a very intense one,” said not going to say, ‘Eureka, I’ve figured and Washington University. Aroesty general public, who frequently think Maureen Costello of the Southern out how racist I am.’ It doesn’t work said the program, which is often geared hate crimes and other anti-discrimina- Poverty Law Center (SPLC). “We often that way. Our programs tend to start the towards cadets or recent graduates of tion measures cover more territory than get reports of things happening in process of engaging people in a discus- police academies, has been well they really do. schools and we advise people on how sion and awareness of their own bias.” received. Her most recent batch of com- “People often don’t understand a lot to deal with this.” The original Danforth funding meant ment cards showed that 19 of the 32 of the legislation out there,” Deitch said. “We prefer not to be called in at the that the institute could be offered on a participants would recommend the pro- “Many people think that’s it’s illegal to point at which [an incident has] wider basis in the years just after its gram and all but one of the group found fire someone because they are gay or already happened,” she adds. introduction than it is today, but Aroesty it relevant. Officers left assessments lesbian or to refuse them service at a Costello heads the SPLC’s Teaching said about 2,000 children a year still such as: “It raised my awareness of how restaurant or hotel. It’s actually legal in Tolerance project, a nationwide effort participate in the program. She esti- police powers can get out of control” Missouri to do that. Most people think by the organization to fight exclusion- mates that as many as 130,000 area stu- and “If it’s wrong, don’t do it no matter it’s wrong, but they also think it’s legally ary attitudes at their embryonic stage. dents have been exposed to the mes- who ordered it.” protected.” The program was in 3,000 schools last sage since its inception. “Right now, I think we’re the only In Deitch’s view the problem is one of year and hopes to hit 5,000 this year. It “That may not seem like a lot, but the region in the country doing this besides divisive attitudes in which people single carries a message of acceptance of oth- reality is that you take one school, you D.C.,” Aroesty said. “We are presenting out various minority communities as ers through “Mix It Up at Lunch Day”

MINORITIES in which children are encouraged to continued from page 5 mingle during the midday meal. “It might be jocks vs. nerds. It Jennifer Rafanan, head of the might be racial issues, but every Missouri Immigrant and Refugee school has barriers,” Costello said. Advocates group, agrees that immi- “The basics of our approach are that grants fear reporting a hate crime will anti-bias education starts out with trigger an investigation into a person’s empathy and an understanding that immigration status. For those with the person on the other side is an documentation, it’s often a fear about individual just like you.” how law enforcement officials will The nine-year-old program encour- respond. ages some schools to go even further, “[The victims] may come from a becoming “model” institutions that country where the police aren’t incorporate the “mix it up” philoso- responsive,” Rafanan said. “They phy all year long. Costello believes might have a fear about public offi- that this type of program helps pre- cials treating them poorly.” vent problems, but its benefits go That’s also a common fear among even further than that. African immigrants, according to “We also feel that schools that do Metaferia. He said victims of verbal that are better prepared when some- attacks and car vandalism, the major- thing does happen,” she said. “You Javed Qasim, Steve Skrainka and Harvey Schneider take part ity of whom tend to be women, are want to build leadership in the in a Muslim-Jewish dialogue group organized by the Jewish hesitant to get police involved in part schools among students who can step Community Relations Council. The JCRC organizes a variety because they are used to police cor- up to the plate, whether it’s bullying of dialogue groups, including a teen Muslim-Jewish group. ruption. or targeting groups, they can say ‘no, File photo: Chris Caldwell “There’s a feeling that coming for- this isn’t right.’ That’s the key to fight- ward will only exacerbate the prob- ing hate, if you can get those bystand- cide and hopes to return to her native aims to promote pluralism and diver- lem,” he said. “They tell me, ‘So if I ers to step up and say no.” land to improve conditions there. sity by organizing and supporting speak up, someone will come inter- That’s just the kind of person Another example was a Palestinian- educational and other programs to view me, and what proof do I have? I’ll Karen Kalish is looking for. In 1994, American Christian who spoke of her that end. end up getting in trouble.’” she founded Cultural Leadership, a experience of being spat upon by a The first official initiative will be a Edgar Ramirez, pastoral associate Washington D.C. program that friend after 9/11. She now works with program with internationally known for the Hispanic Ministry at St. brought black and Jewish high school groups that include Americans, speakers on Christian-Jewish rela- Cecelia’s, a predominantly Hispanic children together. Kalish brought the Palestinians and Jews. tions. It will be co-sponsored with the parish, said he isn’t aware of hate concept to St. Louis in 2004. The “One man we interviewed in San Aquinas Institute and Eden crimes that have gone unreported. He, yearlong initiative, which has trained Francisco underneath his long sleeve Theological Seminary. Abramson- however, can see why the emotionally 148 area sophomores and juniors shirt still has his prison tattoos of Goldstein calls it “a high-impact pro- charged atmosphere surrounding since its inception swastikas and thun- gram, one of many to immigration would have a chilling here, kicks off with a derbolts,” Balk said, come that the insti- effect on immigrants coming forth get-to -know-you “but he has come to tute will be involved with information about crimes. retreat on Martin the other side now in.” Aroesty said she’s noticed that over Luther King Day and explains in very In any event, there the past decade, police have become weekend. That’s fol- clear detail what led is little doubt where more responsive to hate-crime cases. lowed by education- him to the streets and the council and “Yet the trust in those folks hasn’t a l p r o g r a m s prison and how gang Newmark Institute grow in communities they serve,” throughout the life led him to white place their bets when Aroesty said. The challenge is in edu- spring on Jewish supremacy.” dealing with the prob- Susan cating people to speak up. and black history, Philip Balk said it’s all Karen lem of combating Margolis Trust is an issue for black residents, culture and religion. Deitch about real-world Kalish hatred. It’s all about Balk according to Buford. “It’s a matter of Then there’s the examples of snapping talking. not believing in the system and not highlight, a 23-day summer trip to the pattern of hatred and vengeance “We believe in the time and effica- trusting that police will do anything New York, Washington, D.C., and his- that so often becomes a self-reinforc- cy of people learning about each about it [when they are made aware of torical sights across the South. ing cycle. She hopes that by looking other and building bridges of under- attacks]. There’s also a certain level of Kalish stresses that this is no vaca- at how people escape from the dis- standing,” Abramson-Goldstein said. embarrassment for the victim. No one tion. ease of hatred, Hatebrakers can find “Lack of contact leads almost invari- wants to be in the news for an attack.” “There’s no shopping. There is no a cure for the illness. ably to lack of understanding.” Buford said one problem is a linger- Empire State Building. There is no ing suspicion that law enforcement Graceland,” she said. “It is all people doesn’t have time to see through hate- and places that have to do with civil crime cases, which often involve lots rights and social justice.” The power of dialogue of paperwork and judgment calls. He The program continues with ses- Education is one solution, but it’s said the larger police departments sions on prejudice, ethics and leader- one that can take many forms. One of have long been overtaxed, and police ship. Finally, it concludes in those is breaking down barriers, or in in smaller municipalities often don’t December when students meet with the case of the Jewish Community have the resources to look into these local civil rights leaders, such as Relations Council (JCRC) of St. Louis, complex cases. activist Percy Green and Central exposing students who might other- Now that federal authorities have Reform Rabbi Susan Talve. wise never meet a Jew to peers from more leeway to investigate cases that “We teach the kids how to go into the Jewish community who can teach local agencies don’t pursue, Buford groups of people and facilitate con- them about the religion. It’s a way to says that blacks are beginning to feel versations on all of these issues, personalize experiences with individ- if they report such crimes, the govern- including hate, so they can get people uals from other groups. ment is better equipped to respond. talking about all (what) divides us,” “A human face is a wonderful anti- Rafanan’s group recently developed she said, adding that the program dote to prejudice and stereotyping,” a form that it hopes will encourage was expanded last year to include said Batya Abramson-Goldstein, recent immigrant victims to come for- teens of other races and religions. “If executive director of the JCRC. “In ward. It asks them to write down their we don’t talk about them, they’ll general, the more person-to-person contact information and describe the never get solved.” contact we can engender the more we incident, but the form promises confi- St. Louisan Susan Margolis Winter can reach that goal of preventing dentiality until the person signs off Balk couldn’t agree more. A journalist prejudice.” that the information can be shared. and author, Balk is currently working The council also directs other face- Even if most people don’t agree to on a project called Hatebrakers. The to-face dialogue groups. Some have go public right away, Rafanan said, “it program spotlights potential leaders now been subsumed by another ini- Batya Abramson-Goldstein is gives us a better sense of the kind of who have been victims, bystanders or tiative under the organization’s aegis. executive director of the Jewish incidents we’re dealing with.” even perpetrators of hate. The initia- The Michael and Barbara Newmark Community Relations Council. tive recently showcased a Rwandan Institute for Human Relations, which File photo: Kristi Foster law student who survived the geno- came into existence just this month, 12 | May/June 2010 | ST. LOUIS JEWISH LIGHT | Visit WWW. STLJEWISHLIGHT.COM

OVERVIEW Hate Crimes FAQ continued from page 1 Has the number of hate nous and impactful because they are designed to intimidate not only the victim crimes increased in the past or victims, but others in the targeted decade? community who may feel victimized and Since the federal government started vulnerable. keeping track in 1990, the number of • The Internet and social networking hate crimes reported has been consis- sites have been a boon to white tent —around 7,500 a year or nearly one supremacy and the growth of racism hate crime every hour. But many people and organized hate groups. who are familiar with the issue believe • Few hate crimes are ultimately that this number is too low. Attorney prosec uted as hate crimes. General Eric Holder told the Anti- These facts and trends don’t occur in a Defamation League last October: “Many vacuum, but rather in the context of a police agencies in the country, including broader social milieu that feeds into what in major cities, do not participate in the some call the marketing of hate. Michael FBI’s reporting system, and many victims Lieberman, Washington Counsel of the do not report the hate crimes perpetuat- ADL, listed recent events and develop- Karen Aroesty is regional director of the Anti-Defamation ed against them. In fact, the U.S. Bureau ments that he believes exacerbates hate of Justice Statistics puts the actual annual League for Missouri and Southern Illinois. Photo: Kristi Foster and extremism, including: number of hate crimes in the tens of • The election of the first African- thousands.” American President; police. FBI statistics show that of more like the neo-Nazi clad in jackboots and • the worst economic crisis since the than 13,000 reporting law enforcement covered with swastika tattoos. “Some of Is a hate crime a federal Great Depression that ebbs and flows agencies in 2008, the vast majority – great- the more rancorous statements that are in its recovery; er than 9,000 – reported no hate crimes at made in the mainstream actually reach offense? • a broken and battered immigration all. more people and are probably more The federal government can investigate system; “Some of the most likely targets of hate problematic than the Klansman handing hate crimes as civil rights violations. But • the divisiveness of the health care violence are also the least likely to report out a flyer at a rally that hardly anyone state and local police handle most cases reform these crimes to the police,” Lieberman will read,” he said. “That has more of a because they tend to involve a “tradition- • and better means of communica- said, pointing out that in some cases, law deleterious effect on impressionable al offense like murder, arson, or vandal- tion among like-minded individuals. enforcement doesn’t want to bother much young people who will sometimes view it ism with an added element of bias,” Add in vitriolic media commentary on with these crimes because they are often as a green light.” according to the FBI. issues such as gay marriage, immigration hard to prosecute. and health care, which might breed intol- The fringe erance, and a burgeoning number of New face of hate Do local police have to report websites dedicated specifically to hate The SPLC reports that the number of targets – and anyone seeking confirma- When hate crimes go unreported, law hate groups in the U.S. has grown by hate crimes or incidents to tion and support for radical views can enforcement may not realize that attri- more than half over the past decade, with the FBI? find it. butes less obvious than race, religion and 932 operating in 2009. Missouri is home No, it is voluntary. That is one reason sexual orientation can make a group a to 31 of these groups while Illinois has 28 many people believe the FBI summary Numbers don’t tell all target as well. operating in the state. may substantially understate the prob- “There are more homeless people But some believe hate groups only rep- lem. here’s an old adage that goes: killed in bias-type attacks than all the resent part of the problem. They contend T”Numbers don’t lie.” Since the enact- other hate crime categories that are tradi- that more mainstream organizations are How are hate crimes different ment of the Hate Crimes Statistics Act in tionally kept combined,” said Brian creating a general atmosphere of malaise 1990, the number of hate crimes reported Levin, a professor of criminology at and anger. In fact, the introduction of from other crimes? to the FBI has consistently ranged around California State University in San vehemence and absolutism into the polit- Hate crimes tend to be motivated by 7,500 or more annually – ical bloodstream is an issue animosity toward the victims for the again, about one an hour. with which the ADL finds minority they represent. That’s why vic- Contrary to the adage, relying itself increasingly concerned. tims often feel a profound personal viola- solely on these numbers to tell FBI statistics show that of more than In 2009, the organization tion. Hate crimes are also meant to target the story is futile because they released “Rage Grows in a victim’s entire community. As a result, assume reporting is accurate 13,000 reporting law enforcement America: Anti-Government they can have a severe psychological and consistent, something agencies in 2008, the vast majority — Conspiracies,” a report that impact on communities. most groups that study hate- examined “birthers,” tea par- related violence believe is greater than 9,000 — reported no hate tiers and militia movement How many hate groups are in almost certainly not the case. participants and the role they In 2008, the most recent crimes at all. may play in the increasingly the United States? year current statistics are avail- strident ideological discourse. In 2009, the Southern Poverty Law able for hate crimes, Georgia, “We have to be terribly Center in Birmingham, Ala., which battles which is one of 10 states with concerned about the level of racial and social injustice, counted 932 the highest percentage of African- Bernardino. “Over the last 10 years anger and finger pointing that goes on active hate groups in the U.S. Missouri is American populations and has an 8 per- there’s almost 2 ½ times more homicides among very anti-government groups of home to 31 of these groups, Illinois has cent Hispanic population, reported nine against homeless people, like thrill people who think they have all the 28. The state with the largest number is hate crimes. Louisiana, which according attacks, for instance, or attacks by neo- answers for exactly how the country is Texas with 66. to 2008 Census Bureau numbers has Nazis, because (homeless people) are a supposed to be run and anybody who about the same percentage of African- safer target.” disagrees with them is somehow targeted Americans, far less Hispanics and about Earlier this month, Florida passed a in a negative way,” said Karen Aroesty, half the total population of Georgia, bill that makes violence against homeless regional director of the ADL for Missouri issues as cyber-bullying, an increasing reported 124. Missouri had 99 and Illinois, people a hate crime, and similar mea- and Southern Illinois. problem that’s fast becoming a concern 120. sures exist in Maine, Maryland, and Like Levin and other tolerance advo- for schools and parents of teens for “We encourage all jurisdictions to Washington, D.C. cates, Aroesty is searching for the whom social media and email are a report,” says Tim Feeney of the FBI’s St. Levin, who heads the Center for the moment at which troubling language, be way of life. While the context of such Louis Division, noting that hate crime Study of Hate and Extremism, said many it political, racial, social or otherwise, electronic encounters may be different, reporting can vary significantly from state people might also be surprised to discov- may turn to illegal action. the challenge – as well as some of the to state and that many counties don’t er who commits hate crimes. “The question is whether the rhetoric legal questions it raises – remain the report at all. “It is estimated that approxi- “The most important thing to know is around all of that will develop to a point same. mately 50 percent of hate crimes nation- that most of these crimes are not commit- where people are potentially harmed “When you say something online wide are reported.” ted by hard-core hatemongers or mem- because of it,” she said. “That’s the key that results in harm to somebody, it A 2005 survey by the U.S. Department bers of organized hate groups but rather thing to watch in all of this. Is any harm doesn’t mean you get away with being of Justice Bureau of Justice Statistics by young people seeking peer validation that comes out of this something physi- able to do it just because you typed it found an average of 191,000 hate crime or excitement,” he said. “That’s disturb- cal, violent and intentional because of into a computer,” Aroesty said. “If your incidents were occurring annually during ing because the depth of their prejudice this assumption that I’m right, you’re words were hateful enough that they a three-and-a-half year period beginning isn’t necessarily that significant but the wrong and therefore you’ve got to be incited somebody to commit a violent in July 2000, far more than the FBI’s aver- combination of impulse control, peer moved out of the picture?” act against somebody because they are age of 7,500 (of course, not all hate inci- validation and the desire for excitement To some degree this has moved the in one of these protected groups then dents turn out to be crimes). The Justice often results in violence.” debate over hate into new, often unex- you will be liable. It’s going to take us Bureau study also found that less than Further, Levin said it’s important not to plored areas that have brought ADL awhile to get there but I think that’s the half of the incidents were even reported to focus on easily identifiable stereotypes, into the vanguard on such nascent next progression.”

Shawcross, who strangled the group and being rejected MINDSET about a dozen prostitutes in by their friends.” continued from page 3 the late 1980s, and John Allen “Abuse alone in childhood is not He adds that often juveniles Muhammad, the so-called enough...Sure, there are exceptions, but if who initiate hate acts do so (BSKI) synagogue, which left “Beltway Sniper.” And she because they are want to expe- one man dead and two others examined Joseph Paul you scratch the surface with these offend- rience a quick thrill or brag wounded. Franklin. about what they have done to Although it’s been 14 years She was the subject of a ers, you’ll find a very serious mental illness their friends. “Sometimes they since she has had any contact 1997 New Yorker article by or illnesses.” see the opportunity and seize with him, Dr. Dorothy Otnow Malcolm Gladwell and she is it,” he said. “In other cases, it Lewis remembers Franklin well. about as expert as you get in — Dr. Dorothy Otnow Lewis may be pre-mediated.” Lewis is a psychiatrist and a pro- knowing how childhood vio- Another, smaller group of fessor in the Child Study Center lence, injuries, illnesses and offenders fall into the “defen- at Yale University. She testified disorders effect the human sive” category, says Levin, in St. Louis in 1996 about brain. But she’s the first to explaining that they are moti- Franklin’s competency to stand admits that even with all the Franklin in prison and finding a vated by a need to protect their trial for the BSKI attack. Lewis, hands-on interviewing, studying lot out about his mother that Thrill-seekers and way of life. “Something or some- who at the time was a psychia- and analyzing she and her col- confirmed a highly abusive one sets them off and they feel trist at Bellevue Hospital in New laborators have done, she still childhood. What Lewis does feel defensive offenders the need to retaliate or defend York, said she told the court that doesn’t have a clear enough pic- very strongly about is that some Levin, the criminologist, says themselves,” said Levin. “They based on her examinations, ture when it comes to under- combination of abusive child- the majority of people who com- tend to be people, usually mid- Franklin was a paranoid schizo- standing why certain particu- hood, brain dysfunction or inju- mit bias-motivated crimes are dle-aged white men, who do not phrenic, delusional and in no larly vicious criminals commit ries and psychosis work togeth- bored or idle teenagers and respond well to change.” mental shape to stand trial. multiple murders. er to create notorious violent young adults. Because of peer Still, says Levin, since most Eventually, the judge rejected “One of the reasons I haven’t criminal behavior. pressure and pact mentality, hate crimes are committed by Lewis’ arguments and the trial written on serial killers is that “Abuse alone in childhood is they find themselves part of a young men, teaching them to went ahead, with Franklin rep- though I’ve seen 22 of them, in not enough,” she said. “Sure, larger group and get caught up rely on one another could resenting himself. looking at our data and trying to there are exceptions, but if you in committing a hate crime. change things. “We cannot Lewis has spent a career figure out how they are or are scratch the surface with these “Friendship means every- afford to leave opportunities for examining hundreds of murder- not different, we still don’t offenders, you’ll find a very seri- thing to them. Many have self- cooperation to chance,” he said. ers, including 22 serial killers, know,” she said in an interview ous mental illness or illnesses.” esteem issues,” said Levin. “We need structured opportuni- and trying to figure out what last week. “A lot of killers we see She added: “We do know that “There may be four or five of ties to bring young people accounts for their criminal could be serial killers had they stressors change the anatomy of them in a group where only one, together from different groups behavior. She’s interviewed not been caught before there the brain. Abused children pour usually the leader, is a sadist, in the spirit of cooperation and Mark David Chapman, who were able to kill again and out cortisol, secreted by the and he will inspire the others. harmony. They need to see shot John Lennon; serial killers again.” adrenal glands, which damage They are not haters but they each other as allies rather than Ted Bundy and Arthur Lewis recalls talking to the brain.” don’t want to risk going against opponents.”

LEFT: ANTI-SEMITISM continued from page 4 Bullet holes in the entrance to the pect’s car. Von Brunn, a native St. United States Louisan, was wounded by museum secu- Holocaust rity during the attack. He died months Memorial Museum later while awaiting trial. in Washington, “His ability to kill one person really had D.C. after the a profound impact and it was intended to shooting there intimidate a larger group of people,” June 10, 2009. recalled Jean Cavender, director of the St. Photo: Eric Fingerhut/ Louis Holocaust Museum and Learning JTA Center.

Combating the face of hate That defines well the mission of most who convert hatred into violence. And now, close to a century after the Frank trial, many are still at a loss as to the best way to combat those who would intimidate, harm or kill to express their anger at those of another race, religion or ethnicity. Perhaps there is no one right answer, although opinions are not in short supply. Rabbi Persistence is one Smason option. Cavender is the United States is still a secure place States. Still, he said that while it can’t be celebrations that are available to us as quick to point out that Von Brunn’s ram- for Jewish life. He calls the overall level ignored, it shouldn’t be the defining Jews as opposed to continued focus on page didn’t stop her institution or others of anti-Jewish sentiment in the nation aspect of Jewish distinctiveness. Bennett anti-Semitism.” from continuing the mission they exist to “stable.” said he feels that Jews should avoid the In the end, perhaps the best defense fulfill. “I’ll add a caveat to that in saying that temptation to see themselves as merely for hate can be found in the simple appli- “We could not give in to those who if there is anything that we as Jews can perennial victims of those who harbor cation of moral conviction by men and sow the seeds of violence and fear,” she learn from history it’s that we cannot say hatred. women of good conscious. And here said. “Museums kept operating all over that it can’t happen here,” he said. “We’re “Anti-Semitism has been a part of the again, the Frank case provides guidance. the United States teaching about how we very fortunate and grateful for the kind- Jewish historical experience and the “I can endure misconstruction, abuse need to take action when injustices ness of the American people and the American Jewish experience,” he said. and condemnation,” wrote Gov. Slaton occur. That was our continuous message American society in which we live. It’s “My personal Jewish identity has not 95 years ago in the commutation docu- during that critical time.” given us a relatively safe haven from the been shaped primarily by experiences of ment largely believed to have ended his Optimism with a strong dose of vigi- anti-Semitism that we’ve seen historical- anti-Semitism either of my own or of political career, “but I cannot stand the lance is another choice. Smason’s ly.” events during my lifetime. I believe that constant companionship of an accusing thoughts on the topic have a geopolitical Rabbi James Bennett of Congregation the Jewish community would be far bet- conscience, which would remind me in flavor. Given the increase in anti-Semi- Shaare Emeth said anti-Semitism has a ter served by focusing our energies on every thought that I … failed to do what tism worldwide, the rabbi believes that long and bloody history in the United the joys and the opportunities and the I thought to be right.” 14 | May/June 2010 | EWISH ST. LOUIS J LIGHT | Visit WWW. STLJEWISHLIGHT.COM

or incidents on campus are motivated by like this are often far ranging. “I’ve had have spoken out, you can see a different SCHOOLS racial bias, according to the FBI. one student say that he’s often promoted atmosphere on campus,” he said. “You co ntinued from page 5 The Clery Act, established in 1990, the university to students in his home catch glances coming at you. I’m not requires all colleges and universities that town, but that now he’s having a hard going to say I’m afraid of getting participate in federal financial aid pro- time selling minority students on the attacked, but I don’t feel as safe in gen- nization. Diversity and competition are grams report information about crime on institution.” eral as I had before.” a dangerous mix.” campus, including hate crimes. Melissa In the wake of some incidents at St. Still, Holland acknowledges that stu- Brian Levin (no relation), who runs the Lucchesi, outreach education coordina- Louis University, including racial slurs on dent response to these incidents have Center for Hate Violence in California, tor of Security on Campus Inc., the non- walls and a photo of student government varied widely. In the case of the noose says hate crimes on campus tend to be profit that championed passage of the officials posing with a noose, a group picture, for instance, “some people were cyclical. An uncertain economy, varying Clery Act, said that while hate violence called SLU Students for Social Justice outraged, others thought it was no big opinions over issues such as immigration on campus seems to have increased in has organized to combat hate on cam- deal and still others didn’t understand and health care reform and political the last year, definitive numbers won’t be pus. Several hundred people attended an why the images were upsetting,” she squabbling certainly can contribute to an available until October. anti-hate vigil earlier this year, and a large said. uptick, he said. Still, if the numbers are “Even if the number is higher that isn’t group gathered in mid-April at the clock Educating students about these kinds up, it should come as no great surprise. necessarily a terrible thing,” she said. “It tower at the center of campus as a show of incidents is exactly what Stop the “Young men 22 and under are the biggest may mean students are recognizing (hate of solidarity for the victims of hate-relat- Hate, a national program begun in 2001, group of hate crime perpetrators. So it’s violence) is a problem and reporting it ed incidents. does. The organization, whose purpose is not unexpected that we would see a larg- more so that something can be done.” Sarah Holland, a SLU graduate stu- to help counter bias-motivated violence er number of these crimes on campuses,” Stephens said he knows several dent and lead organizer for Students for on college campuses, has geared up its he said. Mizzou students who have previously Social Justice, said the student victims three-day training, now offering up to six He notes that certain controversial been targets of hate-fueled attacks, and tell her that they no longer feel safe on sessions a year for students, faculty and speakers on campuses may also exploit he said it’s likely that many incidents campus. administrators. Shane Windmeyer, exec- issues in public debate purposely to rile have gone unreported. Even though the “I hear that over and over again, that utive director of Campus Pride, which students. “Whether it’s the situation in most recent incident involves students there’s a sense of trauma among students runs Stop the Hate, says even if much of the Middle East situation or immigration who targeted an institution rather than a who have been attacked and students what is happening on campus is name- or affirmative action, these issues get person, plenty of people feel like victims. who are a part of these groups that have calling protected by free speech, “that exploited for bigoted purposes and that “The entire campus was a victim of been targeted,” Holland said. “For us stu- doesn’t mean the victim couldn’t still can incite some students into acting out,” this incident,” he said. “It may have dents who haven’t been directly attacked, report it.” he said. impacted us more significantly than we share a sense that what’s been hap- “We’ve been training teams at cam- According to the most recent FBI sta- other subgroup, but it impacted the entire pening on campus is not OK, and we’re puses to deal with these incidents so that tistics, 12 percent of hate crimes occur on campus. Students feel hurt and betrayed. trying to raise awareness that there’s a victims have a place to go for encourage- college or school campuses, though Now many of them are frustrated and problem.” ment and support and to know that bias- experts say many more go unreported tired of talking about it and want to move Added Omari Holt, a SLU undergradu- motivated acts are not OK,” he said. because they are sometimes viewed as past it.” ate who is treasurer of the Black Student pranks, even by the victims they are tar- But that won’t be easy. As Stephens Alliance: “Since all these things have geting. More than half of the hate crimes explains, the repercussions of incidents been coming out and students like me Visit WWW. STLJEWISHLIGHT.COM | ST. LOUIS JEWISH LIGHT | May/June 2010 | 15 PROSECUTION INTERNET continued from page 9 ...Proving anti-gay or any other such moti- continued from page 8 lose the case. vation can be tricky. Even when a perpe- these Web sites to inoculate their children than it is “With a rural jury, you’re going to simply hide them from the kids,” Potok said. “If to have less diversity and you’re trator uses an epithet during an attack, the what a parent does, especially as the kid gets older, going to have more concern as a is just to say that if I ever catch you on one of these prosecutor about your ability to incident can miss the mark for a hate Web sites I’ll tan your hide, that’s not the most use- make the case,” Aroesty said. “It’s crimes enhancement. If the primary moti- ful approach. It’s fairly obvious that it makes the going to be a lot easier for the site more attractive to a kid of 16 or 17 years old prosecutors to stick with the vation seems to stem from greed, lust, per- than using it as teaching moment.” underlying crime. I think a lot of Karen Aroesty, regional director of the Anti- cases don’t get prosecuted as hate sonal vendetta or some other impulse, no Defamation League of Missouri and Southern Illinois, crimes for that reason.” slur is enough to make it a hate crime... agrees that knowledge can be power. When local police aren’t giving “There’s really nothing new about that,” she said. a case enough attention, the “Education is the oldest story in the book and frankly Federal Bureau of Investigation it’s not terribly sexy but it’s the most effective way.” (FBI) will sometimes step in. vendetta or some other impulse, The courts tend to be very inquis- Meanwhile, some individuals who run white “Local law enforcement has the no slur is enough to make it a itive as to aggravating and miti- power websites have stopped battling to become a primary responsibility for investi- hate crime, according to Feeney. gating factors,” Postawko said. part of the mainstream social networks and have gating a hate crime,” said special “A lot of times we investigate a Even when hate crime laws are begun to create their own mainstream instead. agent Tim Feeney of the St. Louis matter and find out it may be a not used in prosecution, their NewSaxon.org, which bills itself as “an online com- FBI office. “Usually the FBI will hate incident and not a hate very existence has value. Beyond munity for whites by whites,” is an example of this get involved if they ask for our crime,” Feeney said. their ability to elevate charges approach. assistance or if we have informa- and produce stiffer penalties, they “There are online social networking sites for white tion the locals are not pursing Statutes, evidence of hate serve to educate the public about supremacy similar to MySpace or Facebook,” Aroesty something as we think they crimes committed because of a said. “As the Internet has grown and become more should.” have other merits victim’s identity. That public sophisticated, the ability of folks in white supremacy In October 2009, the 1969 If a prosecutor can show that awareness has convinced former to benefit from that has grown. There is much more Federal Hate Crimes Law was bias against a particular race, reli- hate crimes skeptic Callahan that recruiting online. There is fundraising online.” expanded to include sexual orien- gion, or other factor was involved the statues are important. The launch of sites like New Saxon is part of a tation and gender identity. But in a crime, the issue can be used “My initial reaction as a prose- larger movement to form that “cultural milieu” just as is the case with the state in sentencing even if the hates cutor was that I wasn’t sure why Cooper spoke about. Another example is Podblanc. statute, proving anti-gay or any crimes statute wasn’t used in we needed the extra complexity com, a video site founded in 2007. Describing itself as other such motivation can be prosecution. A harsher sentence because in trials it [the hate “a media outlet specifically tailored to White Interests, tricky. Even when a perpetrator may result if hate was a factor, in motive] comes out anyway,” White Culture and White Politics,” it seems largely uses an epithet during an attack, much the same way that assault- Callahan said. “But now I think it meant as an alternative to YouTube, Google’s popular the incident can miss the mark ing an elderly or child victim fig- is a good development because it video sharing site, which bans hate speech as part of for a hate crimes enhancement. If ures into a punishment. focuses public attention on these its terms of use. the primary motivation seems to “The judges want to have as special kinds of assaults.” According to Rick Eaton, a senior researcher at the stem from greed, lust, personal much information as possible. Wiesenthal Center, other sites like American Renaissance (amren.com), and Nationalist Coalition (ncoal.com) have come up with new tactics creating “family-oriented” sites that shed some of the harder edged tactics seen with more traditional white nationalist URLs. Regardless of where people choose to get their als and I think the greatest diffi- people can cooperate and live in white supremacist fix, Eaton notes that sites are LEGISLATION culty was regarding the gay com- unity not only recognizing differ- becoming increasingly integrated and versatile often continued from page 9 munity,” said Aaron Breitbart, ences but accepting uniqueness,” including everything from downloads of Internet senior researcher at the Simon he said. “I think such legislation radio programming to opportunities to purchase Wiesenthal Center in Los does and should serve a preventa- white power music and other paraphernalia. ADL drew up legislation that had Angeles. “There was significant tive role because hate crimes are “One thing we find with those who do join is they certain language and provisions opposition to giving them special directed against specific groups get really hooked and live, breathe, eat and sleep the and they promoted it across the legal protection because society of individuals. If such acts can be movement 24/7,” he said. country,” Jenness said. “Their still holds a certain prejudice discouraged by more intense regional offices were very persua- against gays.” prosecution and punishment to What’s true and what’s not? sive. If you had an ADL regional There are also lingering doubts create deterrence that would be a office in your state the probably about the laws’ real effect. On positive thing.” Aroesty believes the Internet has provided an ideal of enacting a hate crimes law this point Breitbart is dubious. Rabbi Randy Fleisher of environment for the spread of paranoia, allowing for went up. They were good lobby- “It provides enhanced punish- Central Reform Congregation the dissemination of not just conspiracy theories but ists, good activists.” ments and penal- said he feels that a wide variety of rumor. Ironically, this isn’t just a Foxman placed work on hate ties for those either way the problem among hate groups, radical Muslim ele- crimes among ADL’s greatest who are guilty of effect is a good ments or anti-government activists. Tolerance advo- achievements second only to the hate crimes,” he one. cates often fall victim to the confusion. Aroesty said anti-mask laws that forced Ku said. “The ques- “For me, I it’s not uncommon for her to receive emails from Klux Klansmen to leave their tion is does that think that if a enraged friends alleging that a company or group is faces uncovered during events. in any way stop crime is desig- involved in some type of anti-Semitic activity. She Though he says hate crimes laws or deter them? nated a hate said most people don’t take the time to explore the had been passed in all but four It’s an interesting crime, there is a veracity of forwarded messages at fact-checking sites states it still had value to pass it at question. My Rabbi public service Rabbi like snopes.com or whatreallyhappened.com, before the federal level. guess is that it Kaplansky that is done,” he Fleisher propagating inaccurate information to others like a “Public attitude is reflected in really doesn’t but said. “I’m glad virus. the law and the law then reinforc- that it provides more of a social that the legal orientation of our “What happens is they see it and say ‘that’s es the attitude,” he said. “That’s catharsis for people. It shows the country has more and more extraordinary’ or ‘that’s terrible’ let me send that to its impact. It says that the way that society wants to go.” embraced such a concept.” 45 of my closest friends and they’ll send it to a hun- American people both locally and Locally, support for hate crimes For Foxman, who watched the dred of their friends and all of the sudden everybody federally say that hate crimes are legislation is blended with senti- unusual gathering at the White thinks that something is the case when it’s not,” she something contrary to American ments about whether such laws House signing ceremony, the said. “We’ve seen some emails circulate for years, spirit, traditions and values.” are more a statement of purpose result was a bittersweet lesson in because that’s the nature of the Internet.” Still, its attachment to the mili- or a true deterrent. Rabbi Howard mixed feelings. In the end, however, the biggest advantage that the tary spending bill also showed Kaplansky of United Hebrew “The good news is that it hap- Internet age may provide for hate groups isn’t social that cracks were increasingly evi- Congregation said he thinks that pened,” he said. “The bad news is networking, better communications or new way to dent in the progressive-conserva- singling out bias-based criminali- that we weren’t able to pass it as spread misinformation. It’s secrecy – the anonymity tive partnership that had helped ty for special sanction is very standalone legislation. Congress of being one person publically while being someone spawn such laws in the first much in line with Judaic teach- was not yet ready for this country else behind closed doors. place. ings. to stand up and say we will enact “In the privacy of your own home you can do all “It has to do with which groups “From a Jewish perspective, hate crimes legislation.” the things that anyone would do on the Internet but of people were to be included in the fabric of Jewish law is to help keep yourself protected,” she said. “Your outside face the protected classes of individu- us to live in a society in which is potentially very benign.” 16 | May/June 2010 | ST. LOUIS JEWISH LIGHT | Visit WWW. STLJEWISHLIGHT.COM 1947-2010 • 5708-5770

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