Obama deserves praise for signing hate crimes law

From the LA Times  (11/3/09):

Obama deserves praise for signing hate crimes law

By Kathi Wolfe

As a legally blind lesbian, I celebrated on Oct. 28 when the president signed the Matthew Shepard and James Boyd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act...

...In 1999, Eric Krochmaluk, a man with intellectual disabilities from Middletown, N.J., was kidnapped, choked, burned with cigarettes and abandoned in a forest...

...No one will be prosecuted simply for exercising the freedom of speech. And that is how it should be, even if that speech is ugly and bigoted.

But once someone commits a violent crime against us because of who we are, that person's bigoted intentions ought to be penalized. Judges and juries, at sentencing, often take into consideration the frame of mind of the criminal. They should do so with these crimes, too. The community has a right to say that bigoted violence is especially corrosive.

The Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act won't end bias-based crimes. But it will put everyone on notice that such crimes will not be tolerated.

And for those of us who are vulnerable, it makes us a little less fearful today than we were yesterday.

That's something that all Americans should celebrate.

Comments

[Marguerite Arnold]

Well, he might have signed the legislation, but his justice department doesn't seem to have caught up with the times.

I was beaten up, as a PWD with TWO disabilities at a town hall meeting in New York City this August, by the OBAMA ORGANIZERS at a meeting that I was invited to, as a registered Democrat, and someone who had voted for Obama after I raised my hand and was selected to speak by the organizer who had less political experience than I do (and no national DC experience at all) and I have over a decade of changing national legislation in Congress, when I pointed out his blatent lies on what was going on in DC on the healthcare bill.

I was promptly beaten up, including being dragged out of the meeting, my head was slammed up against the wall (and I have TBI as well as dystonia). And the meeting organizer called the police, claiming I was a "disturbance."

Nevertheless the NYPD, who are not exactly progressive when it comes to their treatment of PWDs, did not agree, and issued a police report citing "criminal assault and battery." In addition I have a witness willing to testify.

Armed with this, I called the White House General Counsel's office, who has yet to call me back and where I have personal contacts.

The Federal Justice Department hung up on me three times.

And Nancy Pelosi's office (she is also titular head of the DLCC under which Organizing for America) also hung up on me three times.

So I would suggest that this is just another piece of BS window dressing that may look good, but Obama never intends to properly enforce.

It is absolutely appalling.

And this on top of discrimination against me at three federal agencies at the cabinet level, the IGs at all agencies not only refusing to investigate the same, but physical intimidation from the Federal Department of Labor, and the White House Legal Team even refusing to investigate THAT.

So I would suggest, respectfully that this is complete and utter BS.

And that if the disabilities community doesn't want to get completely trodden on, per Mr. Dale's stupid comments that "more study is needed" before this administration will do anything about disability rights, we need to put up a major fight.

And for a look at the proposal that I have put together to put OUR community back to work that the DOD Centers for Excellence on TBI praised as being far ahead of them as AN AGENCY in dealing with one of the most complicated disabilities there is, not to mention is applicable to both stimulating the economy, and putting both the abled and PWDs to work, take a look at my proposal that everyone seems to be ignoring at http://myblog-thatgoeswithoutspeaking.com. The site is still under construction, but look for the proposal under the tab "Work Fair." I'm still learning programming language, so apologies to all that the site is not yet completely 508 compliant. However, I am pressuring Wordpress, who's tools, which are free, to start requiring this.

And if anyone has any suggestions on a lawyer who is willing to help me get through to someone willing to redress these issues, I would much appreciate it.

I have alot of DC experience, but I can't do this on my own. Not to mention have been waiting over two years for the federal EEOC to investigate an illegal firing from a six figure Wall Street job, have been out of work for three years, do not qualify for disability per high ranking officials at HHS, because as I also agree with, I am perfectly capable of working with accommodations, which is why such language is written into both the Rehab Act AND the ADA, but of course nobody will hire me because thanks to my ex employer's illegal actions I now have a second and visible disability that gets me called retard in public (which is neurological in nature) and gives me a speaking disability. Which of course the president thinks is hysterically funny. I can guarantee you he wouldn't think so if he had to experience it on a daily basis.

Yet this administration is doing NOTHING OF SUBSTANCE ON DISABILITY ISSUES, actually worse than that, like for example opposing things like access to adaptive technology for PWDS who need it to compete in the workforce.

So I'm sorry to be such a wet blanket, but the reality, as a person with a great deal of DC experience, is that this bill means NOTHING if it is not enforced.

Which so far, and certainly in my experience, it has not been.

And certainly, having faced not only the illegal termination, discrimination at the White House, three federal agencies to date, plus outrageous discrimination at multiple state and city agencies in New York, including as I said physical threats from the Federal Department of Labor, and even threats IN WRITING from Bloomberg's top cleantech guy at the New York EDC, that so far NOBODY IS DOING ANYTHING ABOUT, I'd say we have A LONG WAY TO GO.

Any suggestions or help would be much appreciated.

[Steve]

One of the good things he has done.