A neighbor is blaring racist slurs and monkey sounds at a Black family’s home. Why isn’t it a hate crime? [archive.today] “Whenever we would step out of our house, the monkey noises would start,” Martinez told WAVY. “It’s so racist, and it’s disgusting. … I don’t even know how else to explain it.”
Responses:
Virginia Beach PD: “As appalling and offensive as the neighbors’ behaviors are, the city attorney and Virginia magistrates have separately determined that the actions thus far did not rise to a level that Virginia law defines as criminal behavior. This means the VBPD has had no authority to intervene and warrants were not supported,” police said. “We will closely monitor the situation, investigate complaints and, within the limits of the law, help this family with this most unpleasant situation.”
Dana Schrad, Executive Director of Chiefs of Police: “You can walk a fine line and not cross over into something ‘actionable.’ This neighbor knows exactly how to walk the line, but it doesn’t make his actions any less harmful to the family.”
Legal:
FBI defines a hate crime: A hate crime is a traditional offense like murder, arson, or vandalism with an added element of bias. For the purposes of collecting statistics, the FBI has defined a hate crime as a “criminal offense against a person or property motivated in whole or in part by an offender’s bias against a race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, ethnicity, gender, or gender identity.” Hate itself is not a crime—and the FBI is mindful of protecting freedom of speech and other civil liberties.
Commonwealth of Virginia: “Hate crime” means (i) a criminal act committed against a person or his property with the specific intent of instilling fear or intimidation in the individual against whom the act is perpetrated because of race, religion, gender, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, or ethnic or national origin or that is committed for the purpose of restraining that person from exercising his rights under the Constitution or laws of the Commonwealth or of the United States; (ii) any illegal act directed against any persons or their property because of those persons’ race, religion, gender, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, or ethnic or national origin; and (iii) all other incidents, as determined by law-enforcement authorities, intended to intimidate or harass any individual or group because of race, religion, gender, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, or ethnic or national origin.”
It seems then, that according to Virginia law, not even intrusive and offensive audio like this is “determined by law-enforcement authorities, intended to intimidate or harass any individual or group because of race, religion, gender, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, or ethnic or national origin.”