In Racially Charged Political Climate, Fairfax County’s Light Touch on Hate Crimes

Vandals caused $60,000 worth of damage to a mosque under construction in the Washington, D.C. suburb of Chantilly, VA but the Fairfax County Police Department doesn’t think it was a hate crime.

They can’t be serious. Amid all the vitriolic speech occurring in the media and on the campaign trail, how could FCPD officials have possibly thought this was a sound conclusion? 

The Fairfax County website defines bias crimes as “Any unlawful action committed against a person or their property because of his or her race, religious conviction, ethnic or national origin, disability, or sexual orientation.” The website further states that “locations of events (i.e.: cultural/religious centers)” are an indicator that a “crime is bias motivated.”

Did I miss something?

If this is an indication of how Fairfax County is going to handle hate crimes during the 2012 election cycle, Fairfax County residents are in real trouble. It is practically guaranteed that this election will stoke unprecedented levels of hate crimes from people who see the re-election of a black man as president as an assault on their core values. But law enforcement officials who look the other way when hate crimes are committed are assaulting the core values of most Americans.

The racially-charged atmosphere can’t be denied. We have all been privy to both explicit and “coded” hate speech and vitriol in our national media and from elected officials, candidates and broadcasters. There have been many examples of blatant hate speech. In October of 2010 Rush Limbaugh said, “But there is no equality. You cannot guarantee that any two people will end up the same and you can’t legislate it, and you can’t make it happen … [S]ome people are born victims, some people are just born to be slaves.” In an article in The Hill this past Monday, Fox News’ contributor Juan Williams noted:

Race is always a trigger in politics, but now a third of the nation are people of color — and their numbers are growing. With those minorities solidly in the Democratic camp and behind the first black president, the scene is set for a bonanza of racial politics.

The language of GOP racial politics is heavy on euphemisms that allow the speaker to deny any responsibility for the racial content of his message. The code words in this game are “entitlement society” — as used by Mitt Romney — and “poor work ethic” and “food stamp president” — as used by Newt Gingrich. References to a lack of respect for the “Founding Fathers” and the “Constitution” also make certain ears perk up by demonizing anyone supposedly threatening core “old-fashioned American values.”

The code also extends to attacks on legal immigrants, always carefully lumped in with illegal immigrants, as people seeking “amnesty” and taking jobs from Americans.

Just as advertisers rely on spots and endorsements to drive sales, hate speech promotes real world effects, including hate crimes. Advertisers are so confident their advertisements will generate sales, they are willing to pay $3.5 million for a 30-second spot in the Super Bowl. Speech, especially nationally-disseminated speech by syndicated talk show hosts with high ratings and politicians on the campaign trail, can be expected to have the same effect on human behavior. In fact, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, 1,002 hate groups including neo-Nazis, the Ku Klux Klan, neo-Confederates, racist skinheads, black separates, border vigilantes and others have cropped up around the nation. Forty-one such hate groups have established themselves in Virginia and the District of Columbia.

It’s up to local officials to take hate crimes seriously. This recent episode in Fairfax County is a poor example of responsible governance.