Hate crimes are considered violent or hostile acts against people as a consequence of personal hate towards a specific person based on who they are or who someone perceives they are. Hate crime is a more complex form of hate incident that is characterized by criminal offenses. I did not encounter any hate crime directed at me, however, current media is abundant in severe examples of hate crimes that occur daily and lead to adverse outcomes. For instance, one issue of the particular matter is the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement, which faces a significant number of haters and related actions. As such, the hate crime section in The New York Times posted the story about two white people from California who vandalized the BLM mural as a protest against the peaceful and powerful approach expression of the importance of Black lives.
Such situations occur because of hostility or unethical and disrespectful prejudice regarding the victim’s disability, race, religion, transgender identity, or even sexual orientation oneself. From the sociological perspective, I believe that the mentioned crime was an entirely rational and well-thought decision to conduct crime. Therefore, this action might refer to one of the psychological theories of deviance, such as crime as individual choice. According to the theory, criminal behavior is based on individual behavior, which results in rational choice, and that social factors define the levels of crime (Carr, Giddens, Duneier & Appelbaum, 2018). Furthermore, following the ideas of the authors, the reactionary social movement incorporates the aims of the past and return society to former values. The BLM movement was primarily caused by the major hate crime by the police officer and, in contrast to this statement, asserts the values that were always ignored. To conclude, African Americans are, in most cases, the victims of race-motivated hate crimes determined by the social and political climate of the society. Hence, it is of the utmost importance to reflect on the harmful and incorrect prejudgments against minorities that result in fatal hate crimes.
References
Carr, D., Giddens, A., Duneier, M., & Appelbaum, R. P. (2018). Introduction to Sociology (11th ed.). W. W. Norton & Company.
Paybarah, A. (2020). Two people charged with hate crime after Black Lives Matter mural is vandalized. The New York Times. Web.