ADC's Abdrabboh column in the Detroit News

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Attorney Fatina Abdrabboh

Wayne county prosecutor Kim Worthy





In the Detroit News, American-Arab anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) Michigan office regional director wrote a column entitled "Yes hate crimes happen here." The column's genesis is in the Kroger case that ADC took but the Wayne County prosecutor Kim Worthy declined to prosecute as a hate crime. [This is the same Kim Worthy that charged an Arab immigrant gas station clerk with first degree murder for shooting a customer in the back, once, with the customer dying later from complications]

The picture that attorney Abdrabboh describes as to the prosecution of hate crimes is accurate. Many times meeting the burden of proof is a great challenge and going the civil route with its lower evidentiary standard is the only avenue of relief. Arab Americans need organizations such as the Arab American anti- Discrimination Committee (ADC) to defend their civil rights and civil liberties and the Kroger case shows that while our society is admirably tolerant and inclusive, there are individuals who hate Arab Americans and are willing to act on this hate.  Hating Arabs as a people is immoral, acting on this hate is illegal.
Ms Abdrabboh’s column, however, should not be perceived as an invitation to revisit the issue whether our society should criminalize “hate crime” as such.  The case is settled and the law will not be changed in the foreseeable future.
 'In Wisconsin v. Mitchell, Chief Justice Rehnquist said: "a defendant's abstract beliefs, however obnoxious to most people, may not be taken into consideration by a sentencing judge." However, "the belief is no longer abstract once it provides the motive for discriminatory action.'
In Wisconsin v. Mitchell, 9/9 Justices approved enhanced punishment for hate crimes and 49 states filed amicus briefs in support of harsher sentences for hate crimes. "Hate crimes" exist and state governments, the federal government and the Supreme Court support hate crime legislation.

Link to column: http://www.detroitnews.com/story/opinion/2015/05/05/hate-crimes-happen/26885183/


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