No racism here...

[Pandora]

All you can do is be responsible for your life. I think that Native Americans have gotten the absolute worst treatment of anyone in this country EVER. I find it curious that the education system of this country doesn't teach us to be humble about what happened to the indigenous people, but it sure tries to make us feel bad about slavery. Mankind sucks sometimes....

There has been some real education at least here where I live and work. And you are right, they have been treated terrible, bad and wrong to take the land from them and murder some of them.

I feel like part of who we/they are was taken when the new people took away our way of life and stuck them on reservations and (civilized) them.

But the worst thing of all I think is the way the new people decided to make up for all that was done wrong in the past... by putting them on government rolls. Its just like the welfare trap. So many natives that I know and are related to just wait for the next government check... I know a few who have broke free of all that but most of them like me have to break free of the whole thing because once you do you are like a type of uncle tom to them.. Perhaps like a Jewish person who converted to Christianity?

What I find sad is they and when I say they, I don’t mean everyone of them. I cant speak for all natives... but many natives I know have clung to this new idea of what it means to be a native. It includes being on the rolls, getting your government money, holding on to anger over what happened a very long time ago by people who are dust now and feeling the white man still owes us but never admitting we owe our own self.

If you cant be part of that then well you are an uncle tom of sorts.. But we can still do Sundance

But again this is just what I have personally experienced and a few others who broke free from the cycle have told me happened with them as well.

 

[r0beph]

Uh...gosh oh golly, I do believe that in this individual's case, the targets were white, by virtue of the fact that he was pretending to be one. Nice try though.

He was pretending to be "a white?" Excuse me, I am white, and I do not fit the criteria that he was emulating. You cannot class what he was emulating as being white since it has a smaller sub group that has a more distinct classification to apply.

What he did was retarded, was it a hate crime though? I don't know, that fits squarely on intent, it wasn't a violent crime, just a stupid crime. He'll do the time, and that suffices.

As for people who with full intent, attack, beat, harass or otherwise assault anyone on the basis of race, religion, creed, sexual orientation, gender, or citizenship, should very well be charged with hate crimes, their intent is very very clear. I cannot see a valid argument against hate crime legislation on those terms.

So bdodie, do you think that if some guy beats a gay man within an inch of his life, because he was gay, should get the same time as someone who beats someone within an inch of their life because they slept with his wife?

 

[bododie]

So bdodie, do you think that if some guy beats a gay man within an inch of his life, because he was gay, should get the same time as someone who beats someone within an inch of their life because they slept with his wife?

I think that crime is crime period, but that isn't what this thread is about.

He was pretending to be "a white?"

The individual was pretending to be a white supremist. What color do you think white supremists are?

 

[GenSeneca]

So bdodie, do you think that if some guy beats a gay man within an inch of his life, because he was gay, should get the same time as someone who beats someone within an inch of their life because they slept with his wife?

While I don't pretend to speak for Bodie, I'd like to answer that question:

Absolutely they should be treated the exact same way under the law, that's what equality is all about, your treatment at the hands of government. Gays are not a special class of citizen deserving more, or less, protection from government, they should be treated equally to - in this example - the hetero who can't keep it in his pants.

Both men have rights, both should have equal rights and neither should have special rights or recieve special treatment or accomodations - just as their attackers should have equal rights and not be treated any differently for the exact same crime.

 

[r0beph]

While I don't pretend to speak for Bodie, I'd like to answer that question:

Absolutely they should be treated the exact same way under the law, that's what equality is all about, your treatment at the hands of government. Gays are not a special class of citizen deserving more, or less, protection from government, they should be treated equally to - in this example - the hetero who can't keep it in his pants.

Both men have rights, both should have equal rights and neither should have special rights or recieve special treatment or accomodations - just as their attackers should have equal rights and not be treated any differently for the exact same crime.

Except that one person is targeted due to anger, the other due to a sub group he belongs to. This person who attacks someone simply due to his sexual preference is inherently more dangerous since his attack is not against a single person but a person due to his inclusion in a subgroup. This means that any person in the subgroup is at risk from this person where as the man attacking the cuckoldee is targeting a single person and is not a danger to anyone else under this circumstance. I believe this is the sole reason for hate crime penalties, the danger that the person exhibits is not limited to a single instance nor person.