Shame on me. I've never considered any murder a run-of-the-mill, humdrum event. Then again, I consider the whole concept of "special victims" to be pernicious and vile. Dead is dead. Whether it's over a pair of sneakers or due to racial hatred, murder is just as evil and reprehensible.
Originally Posted by: Nonstopdrivel
I would describe this argument as: monosyllabic and requires an unmitigated ignorance of US history and the law.
Your logic ridiculously requires these "murders" as follows to be the same: (1) A White guy in a road rage incident kills the other driver that happens to be Black; and (2) A Black guy enrages a White driver, who follows the Black guy home. He then gets 5 or 6 buddies, 2 of which are local police and they don their hooded sheets and light a cross on the lawn at midnight; toss rocks threw the windows and drag the driver, his wife and kids on front lawn. His penis is cut off stuffed in his mouth and he's beaten, several bones are broken is hung doused with gas and sparked-up. His family is forced to watch; the wife is gang raped and the kids are terrorized further and allowed to live to spread the message.
There are also jurisdictional concerns. A white guy murdering a Black guy is a state crime; if the murder was motivated by racial hate; it is also a federal one. This is a thing called "the law" and there can be 2 complete trials.
Some history:
The KKK was a clandestine and mostly southern phenomenon after the Civil War and it was profoundly eradicated by 1885. In 1915 he KKK's revival was memorialized with a ceremony on Stone Mountain; In 1925, it shed its clandestine nature when and more than 50K marched on Washington in their silly gowns. And the Klan's largest memberships were not in southern states; but in northern ones. Pence's Indiana, had an admitted membership of 33% and many state officials openly pronounced their fealty for the KKK. In 1938 in Indiana 2 jailed Black kids were savagely beaten and lynched in the courthouse square and left dangling 'til morning to send a message. The word went out days in advance; 2-5000 people stormed the jail and attended the "festivities." Several of these blood thirsty savage hick "Hoosiers" posed for pictures smiling, holding hands, just having a gay ole' time with the bodies dangling in the background. They didn't fear prosecution at all; and their lack of fear was justified, no one was ever charged or prosecuted AND THERE WERE PICTURES.
A second revival of the KKK is underway partially cloaked by a movement called Alt-right. This KKK movement has the ability to become even more open and murderous and hateful. My god, POTUS just pardoned an absolute racist criminal and publicly supported their actions in Charlottesvillel! I believe the response by the patriotic White, Brown and Black Americans this time around will end the KKK for ever. In the end, it'll be guys like the little elfan racist AG that'll be prosecuted and metaphorically dangling from the end of a rope. I think your argument is ignorant but I wouldn't consider it "dog-whistling." But, remember to be prosecuted as a co-conspirator, you only have to know about the crime and advance it in some way; the advancing act doesn't even have to be illegal in its own right.
The law because of past historical events and tendencies recognizes certain vulnerable groups and tries to deter/punish crime committed against those vulnerable groups w/ special or enhanced penalties. Examples include: frauds committed against the elderly; consensual sex w/ minors; and things called hate crimes. This is the way the law has developed; and it clearly makes sense to me. The idea that all crimes of the same ilk are the same is just ridiculous and cant be supported with any rational argument that I can see.