MU students accused of hate crime

Last night, police in Columbia arrested two Mizzou students for allegedly putting cotton balls outside a black cultural center there. (An anonymous tip led to the arrest, the Missourian reports.) The actual charge is tampering, but it's being pursued as a hate crime, which means it'll also be treated as a felony case. The incident, which happened Friday, has led to public meetings and promises from school officials to find the people responsible.

BTW, the mugshots are worth a look. The guy on the left is actually sneering for the camera.

Comments

[cripjak]

Racially insensitive? Yes. Hate crime? That's real iffy. Intent is hard to prove. From a practical joke standpoint I think it's funny as hell.

[Drasil]

Cotton balls? I don't get it. It's not like they hung a rope or set a cross on fire. Oh, but let's make them felons for a prank.

[Dan]

Drasil, it's the "picking cotton" reference that these two found amusing.

[Drasil]

Ahh, now I see. I seriously didn't understand what the complaint was at first. But, still, to charge them with a felony?

[cripjak]

Does this make Walgreens felons?

[Chuck McRizzo]

This is rediculous. This kind of sh!t is the exact reason I'm not for Hate Crime bills. They put cotton balls in front of a community center, they didn't set the damn thing on fire or anything.

[FanDanGo]

The alleged act is really stupid.

But by prosecuting this as a hate crime minimizes the statute. Any time a person is charged with hate crimes in the future, he'll be able to dismiss it as a "cotton ball crime" and not really important.

Hate crimes are serious. They can undermine a community with fear and suspicion and ruin the quality of life. And those kinds of acts -- cross burnings, threats, intimidations -- were what legislators were targeting when this was signed into law.

When we charge hate crimes for offenses like this, we copmmunicate that there isn't much in the way of racial insensitivity, racism, hatred or malice in our communities. I think we all know better than to drink that Kool Aid.

[Searching]

Cripjak... you crack me up.

[Jebbers]

lol crip!

[letsgetreal]

so saltine crackers thrown about in front of a known prodominantly caucasian area or building would be considered what? besides funny.

[Derp]

I agree; insensitive? Yes. Felonious Hate Crime? Not so much.
These boys need to be relatively punished, as that was just not cool, but putting a Felony on their record seems much to harsh.

Great pic Crip!

[cripjak]

so saltine crackers thrown about in front of a known prodominantly caucasian area or building would be considered what? besides funny.

Posted by: letsgetreal

Birdfood.

[Joe White]

So if some black kids show up in a white neighborhood and starting jumping, is that a hate crime?

[Drasil]

So if some black kids show up in a white neighborhood and starting jumping, is that a hate crime?

Posted by: Joe White | Wednesday, March 03, 2010 at 12:19 PM

Only if he doesn't jump very high.

[MU_HOMER]

I like the chancellors quote...

'for their rapid and effective response during this difficult time.'

A difficult time is what is happening in Haiti and Chile right now, not a bunch of cotton balls in the grass.

Its amazing how the black PC activists can send white officials into total fear and panic

[kpop]

uh oh, some college kids got drunk thought it would be funny to do something really stupid and are now facing felony hate crime charges. Our system at it finest. I don't know all the details, but .....

[KC Cicero]

This goes to the essence of the unconstitutionality of "hate crimes" -- effectively trying to criminalize what is protected (albeit dumb or offensive)expression. Not every dumb expression of beer-fueled racism is or should be a crime.

Just like burning a flag in protest, folks. And if you want to have a free society, you have to accept that some idiots will be free to be stupid.

Criminalizing stupid expressions of offensive opinions is anathema to a free society. One wonders what kind of society MU is advocating: Free or inoffensive and correct? You simply cannot have both.

[Marvin]

I can understand if they burned a cross, but cotton balls? WTF does that even mean?

[WhoCares.]

Hate Crime Laws really do serve a purpose--but (as I think was stated above) to treat an insensitive prank as a hate crime diminishes the effectiveness of such laws--and offers fodder to people who see them as objectionable.

[Chuck McRizzo]

I thought the same thing like 10 time Marvin. I didn't understand the undercurrent of racism involving cotton balls.

Next we'll have a hate crime when someone throws out a toca bell burrito because they think it's gross. It will be considered something like desicration of someone's heritige or some crap.

[Anarchanon]

An act should have to cause harm before being criminal.

An act should have to be criminal before being considered a hate crime.

While what they did may have been hateful (or may have simply been in poor taste), I don't see a crime here, despite what the authorities would alledge.

Course, prosecutors will do anything to add "felony" to a charge these days.

[Again]

Yeah, Anarchanon--I think I'm missing the 'crime' part here.

[AresXIV]

Just another indication that the government and the people writing these laws are completely out of control. Here we are, a majority White country and our government cares more for the constant whims of minorities every time they feel 'offended' than it does for the American people who actually pay the taxes for the government to exist. As I said, the government is completely out of control and it must be brought under the power of the people once again, or it has to be destroyed. First it will be 'hate crimes' then it will be gulags for Americans. This is how it always begins.

[KCtoSeabound]

why not ask the students who frequent the area in which the assailants put the cotton balls then see if it is a crime. That is the problem ones actions has no Idea how this affects the black community of Columbia. Ask those students and then draw your opinions. The more everyone says that its not a hate crime are not seeing the full picture. Would you also say a swastika t drawn on a Jewish community center is not a hate crime? I think not. Its the exact same thing!

[dfbarnes]

Tampering 2nd isn't going to stick.

Let along the hate crime that the thought police are charging them with.

Because tossing around some cotton balls for no reason is littering.

BUT, if you do it because you don't like black people... it's a felony.

Because black people are THAT much better and receive THAT much more protection under the law.

[Chuck McRizzo]

Well then no one better bring Saltine Crackers NEAR an all white (I don't think college campuses allow these) or mostly white event otherwise it needs to be deemed a hate crime per KCtoSeabound. Because that person doesn't know the effect those saltines are going to have on the White Community in Columbia.

[Oldtimer]

I hope someone in the judiciary reads these comments before registering this as a felony. If these morons spend time in jail over something as petty as this, what do we do if something really offensive occurs? Blacks should be just as outraged about this excessive response. We are always going to have people who are bigoted and hateful. Having said that, don't we still need to draw a line between what is classlessness and what is criminal?

[KC Cicero]

Do black students have a right to be offended by this poor taste BS? Of course.

Does charging this as a "hate crime" -- let alone a felony -- undermine the need to work against the racial divide of this country by creating a backlash against perceived "privilege" of minorities? Just see above.

BUT the most important evil of this kind of abuse of the crimihnal justice system -- and, frankly, of MU's knee-jerk suspensions -- is to diminish the respect for the First Amendment -- which includes the right to be stupidly offensive.

It does not matter if you are black, white or brown or polka-dot -- if you ain't free.

Of course, it might be fun to watch that pair attempting to explain their actions -- in private, as it were -- to a select few of MU's scholar athletes.

[Ralfred]

I'm glad they were caught, but charging them with a hate crime is over the top.

I say plaster their photos and names everywhere. They will receive plenty of punishment for their dimwitted actions.

[sly]

I've never been so disappointed in this board. Its one thing for some of you to not to understand racism, but some of you seem like you can't even comprehend it.

The reason you prosecute this BS as a hate crime, McRizzo, is because you don't want these frat boy thugs to feel emboldened to hang nooses, or burn crosses. I'm not saying they need to do 10 years hard labor, but this kinda BS can't be tolerated. That's what happened in Jenna. They let the white kids hang nooses without penalty, and then when blacks retaliated someone got hurt.

Walking to elementary school I used to be harassed by white high school kids I didn't even know. They would drive by, throw snowballs, rocks, etc at us & yell "Niggr". I was like 10, these punks were 17, 18 years old.

I just wrote a post defending some college bigot's right to call black people "ungrateful nggrs" on his campus, but if you move beyond free speech to actual acts expect to face consequences.

[Chuck McRizzo]

Why did I get singled out? Even your friends Marvin and KCC don't think it's a big deal.

[cripjak]

Why did I get singled out? Even your friends Marvin and KCC don't think it's a big deal.

Posted by: Chuck McRizz

That's discriminating against you.

[sly]

Chuck--Please don't get me wrong, I'm not calling you a racist by any stretch. You got called out because: 1) you seriously consider the issues; and 2) you take law & order seriously...As for Marvin & KCC, they're entitled to their opinion. From my post you can see why I feel the way I do. When my father was supervising a community service center he would go out of his way to protect the handful of white guys playing ball there, much more than he would blacks because he didn't want racially tinged rough housing to become a racial fist fight. I think we're better off nipping this sht in the bud.

I'm not accusing anyone on here of being racist, but I am disappointed that no one seems familiar, or understanding, of what its like to be on the receiving end of this kind of stuff.

[Ralfred]

But Sly, the Supremes have held that actions can be protected as free speech.

Obviously these two are bigots and morons, but felons? Do you really believe spreading cotton balls on a lawn is what hate crime legislation intended to address?

You even suggest that they should be prosecuted for hate crimes to keep them from hanging nooses or burning crosses. I would agree that hanging nooses and burning crosses are hate crimes. But since when do we prosecute someone for a crime they didn't commit, to keep them from graduating to committing that crime? That's like charging a shoplifter with armed robbery.

I understand this is an emotional issue and one that hits close to home for you. However, I believe these two morons are being overcharged.

[Oldtimer]

Sly,

Everyone, outside of the toothless cretins who still run around in white sheets, can understand about the injustices blacks have faced at the hands of whites throughout much of our history. The reaction to events, such as this, is abhorred by nearly as large a percentage of whites as blacks. (A very few years ago it wouldn't have.) Many of us are concerned that by so many blacks taking such a grave stance against something like this, as things stand today, makes a lot of us think that you still believe we are all bigots. Nothing could be further from the truth.

I, personally, try very hard to treat every man in the manner in which he treats me. I don't give a crap what color you are. Once the black segment of our society can look at an action, like this one, and say "what a bunch of ignorant fascists" like most of us do, you will truly feel the equality you should have had all along. Believe me when I say the kinship I feel toward an honest and honorable person will always be my sole reason for giving my respect. Allowing a person's color to influence that issue is wrong whether you are black or white.

[Porter]

Are you FUCKING kidding me? Felony charges for dropping cotton balls? Whites better soon wake up to what is being done to them. If you can go up for dropping cotton balls then we are now slaves to our black overlords.

[sly]

Ralfred-- Some actions are the equivalent of speech. I think most people would consider this vandalism of some sort tho, and they should be prosecuted for vandalism. I'm not saying they should treat shoplifting like armed robbery, but if the 'hate crime enhancement' adds time to their vandalism sentence then they've earned it. To be perfectly honest part of the problem in our criminal justice system today is that we slap people on the wrist for their 1st offense. I don't believe in that. That's how car thieves graduate to bank robbers...If these guys had elected to picket the center with signs that said, "Nigr go home" I would've totally supported their free speech right to do so and would object if anyone tried to stop them.

Oldtimer-- I don't think most white people are bigots. In fact the vast majority of white people I've known have been anything but. I know these kind of pranks don't have broad support among whites (no one here agreed with it) but kids have a right to study without being harassed by frat boy thugs...its hard enough to get through college without looking over your shoulder.

[scott]

all i can say is if they go to jail for this shit, they will be some pissed off mother fuckers when they get out. cotton balls give me a break. hate crime laws are not goin' to stop hate crimes. murder is against the law and yet people are murdered every day.

[Jimbo-bob]

Just post their pictures in the campus paper and show how stupid they are then let it be.

Felony?....I'm really starting to hate our government, when are we going to overthrow it? Let's practice that right before they take all our rights away.

[doggydaddy]

Civil discourse, different viewpoints explained, attempts at understanding each other, all without namecalling or taking it personally! Damn I'm proud of y'all! This thread has probably done more good than 40 years of bussing and school desegregation and the billions of dollars that it cost. Folks, this is how we're going to move past racism, if it can be done on a big enough scale. Thanks, all!

[Thomas]

sly: Do you also feel it is ok to put a black man in jail for 8 years because he stole a pack of gum? Just so that he won't be emboldened to steal 4.5 million later on?

Be sensible. Our jails are crowded enough already with victimless crime. Posting their pictures all over the place and making the pick up litter for a week is punishment enough. You can't give people harsh sentences for crimes you think they'll commit later on.

[Thomas]

I'm tempted to email the prosecuting attorney and tell him that while I don't like what those two kids did, he is going overboard by labeling it a hate crime.

DKnight@boonecountymo.org

[woody]

Somebody famous once said,
"Nothing is more certainly written in the book of fate than that these people (the Blacks) are to be free, nor is it less certain that the two races, equally free, cannot live in the same government."

Thomas Jefferson (Letter to George Washington, Jan. 4, 1786)

[esqEB]

Racism is Big Business, black leaders have to keep the notion alive and cry racism as loud and as often as possible. Other wise, what would Farrakhan, Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, etc do for a living?

[Chuck McRizzo]

I can agree with you there Sly. I don't think these boys should go unpunished. But I feel that slapping them with a hate crime felony is over the top. I'd feel the same if they tried to give someone going 15mph over the speed limit a felony menacing charge.

But You're right they shouldn't get nothing.

[KCtoSeabound]

All those complaining are learning what its like to be a minority in America! Sucks doesn't it! And as far as an all white cultural center try you local fraternity or sorority house! Kind of like a black man getting lynched because he looked in the direction of a white woman. This is part of American History that wasn't taught in schools why do you think that is? Racism is real and occurs more than is actually talked about. Try everyday of life for most minorities! You have no way of knowing unless you are one! No matter how much you talk you just don't know!

[Drasil]

KCtoSeabound - I agree. Racism is very real is this country; however, certain people tend to blame the whites for all the racism. For example, look at todays Whitlock article on the Step competition that was won by a "gasp" white team. After the (almost all black judges) declared them the winners they were booed because they were white. How is that NOT racism? Because the contest is typically won by black competitors? What was the end result - the black losing team was declared co-winners. Yay for racial equality.

And yes, I'm real familiar with racism, I grew up in a black neighborhood (37th and Park) and used to have to fight my way home from school every friggin day because I am white. Don't give me your whites are only racists shit.

[scott]

racism against blacks is sooooooooo over rated.

[Chuck McRizzo]

KCtoSeabound I learned all about the terrible things that African Americans went through. Also learned about the things that ethnically different Africans go through IN AFRICA on a daily basis. So don't blame one group for Racism, since the dawn of man there has been racism. It's funny when someone who's "educated" only feels that Racism is something that is perpetuated on blacks by whites. Heck I've had white friends in Spain get yelled at by Spaniards to "Get the hell out of my country gypsies." So please take your high horse and park it else where.

[Color blind justice?]

Two black men target, rob and execute a white female honor student and the University of North Carolina, no hate crime charged. A black man targets, beats,rapes and kills a white female news reported in Arkansas, no hate crime charged. Two black males in Kansas city shotgun joy kill a white male riding his bicycle home from his job at Price choppers, no hate crime charge. Two white students throw cotton balls on the lawn of a black culture society, hate crime charged. Sure seems justice is clearly color blind.