Hate crime punished

The messages were frightening, and of concern. Even more disturbing was when I was informed by the investigating law enforcement officers that the perpetrator worked at the State Department. More troubling still was the fact that after DOS officials were notified of his behaviour, they did nothing and allowed the individual to remain at his job for another nine months until he was able to retire with full pension.
Perhaps worst of all was the fact, revealed in court, that the convicted foreign service officer had engaged in other anti-Arab behaviour earlier in his career, and that nothing was done by the DOS to censure or stop him. That the Department did nothing to correct this bigoted and criminal behaviour is unacceptable, for many reasons - not least of which is that it compromises the work of so many fine career foreign service officers, dedicated public servants who both serve America well and respect the people of the Arab world.
Finally, a word about hate crimes. There are some who argue that obscene, hateful and threatening language should not be punished, since to do so would be a violation of free speech. (This, in fact, was the initial defence raised by the individual in this case, before he ultimately pled guilty to the charges against him.)
They are wrong. Such behaviour is a crime, and individuals who commit these crimes do so precisely because they seek to violate the free speech of others. And though their targets are individuals, the intended victims are entire communities who the hate criminals seek to intimidate into silence.
Hate crimes are an extension of bigotry and political exclusion. Blacks, Jews, gays, and others have been repeatedly targeted by these crimes, and so, too, have Arab Americans and American Muslims. There were those who discriminated against and defamed Arab Americans (as terrorist supporters), and pressed political leaders to exclude Arab Americans from the mainstream - all of this contributing to the climate that would incite some to threaten or commit acts of violence.
My friend Alex Odeh, California Director of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, was murdered in 1985. He had been threatened on a number of occasions by phone and by mail. I personally brought Alex’s complaints to the FBI. Tragically, at the time, they did not respond. And to this day, no one has been indicted for Alex’s murder.
Over the past 38 years, I have, on many occasions, been a target. I have been threatened, attacked, and - at one point - my office was firebombed. And for most of this time, law enforcement did little to intervene. Thankfully, this has changed. While the number of these threats and acts of violence may have increased since September 11, 2001, because of the work of the Civil Rights unit at DOJ, and FBI agents working on hate crimes, the number of convictions has gone up even more.
The vigorous work of law enforcement and, in particular, the sentence meted out in this case, sends a clear message that these crimes will not be tolerated. For that I and my staff, and my community, are thankful.
The writer is a president of the Arab American Institute, Washington DC