I just want to say that, despite all of the points and arguments I make about racial injustice still being alive and well in America, I do appreciate the fact that the American justice system is at least starting [emphasis on STARTING] to "get on the right path" in terms of prosecuting hate crimes. Between the Dylann Roof conviction earlier this year and the Torres/Norton conviction today, I see the progress. To so many people who face violent racism (be they African-American, Latin/Hispanic, Asians of all types [technically, Arabs and Indians are considered Asian, so I'm using "Asian" as a catch-all term for ALL groups from Asia, not just Chinese or Japanese Asians], Jewish, etc.), it might not seem enough. And I understand why people might not feel it's enough (and I almost always agree that it's not enough). But I just want to remind people it wasn't even a generation passed where these types of crimes might not have even gone to court in the first place, much less led to convictions befitting of the crimes committed (and in Roof's case the death penalty is, in my opinion, justified. A crime of that magnitude deserves the death penalty. I don't always agree with the death penalty, but I do believe there are certain inhumanly heinous crimes, where the perpetrators guilt is beyond question , for which it is absolutely justified. If they had caught the Pulse gunman alive, I feel he should've deserved the death penalty.. I believe that movie theater shooter who thought he was the Joker in Colorado deserves the same.. These are examples cases where the crime was beyond heinous and the guilt of the perpetrators is/was beyond question, and the death penalty is, in my opinion, warranted.).
We're starting to see these crimes prosecuted more and more (even in the Deep South!), and that's a good thing. That's a beautiful thing. Progress is never an overnight thing. Ask anybody who took part in the Civil Rights movement. But progress is still progress. Keep speaking up and speaking out. We'll get there eventually if we all keep making the effort to do the right thing for EVERYBODY, regardless of race, gender (identity), religion, or any of these other superficial differences that inspire hate in certain people.
EDIT 3/1/17: The Torres/Norton conviction (and the other convictions related to that incident) were significant, in my opinion, because the sentences were influenced by the fact that the group Torres and Norton were with was considered, in a legal sense, to be a gang. They were driving around with weapons, shouting & hollering, threatening people and waving around their "colours" (they just replaced a blue or red bandana with a bunch of racist symbols...it's still "colours", in the gang sense)That's gang activity, and I'm glad it was treated as such.
I've seen a few people argue that they (Norton, Torres, and their gang) were just practicing "free speech". This is NOT a free speech issue. Pointing a loaded gun (amongst other weapons) at a group of people at a kids birthday party and telling them you're going to kill them is NOT a free speech issue. That's intimidation with the threat of terrorist actions. If the only issue was that they had some Confederate flags, then I could (almost) agree that it should only be a"free speech" issue***. But there were loaded guns being pointed at people. There were death threats made (to adults AND children). That goes beyond far beyond a simple "free speech" issue.... very, very, VERY far beyond that. If a bunch of Crips rolled up on a white kids birthday party and got out and pointed a loaded gun at adults and kids attending the party, nobody (and I mean NOBODY) would call that a "free speech issue". I'm just saying...
***EXTRA EDIT 3/1/17: I'm going to state here and now my opinion on the Confederate flag.
I personally hate the thing. Not only is it a representation of racism and slavery, it's also a representation of TREASON of the highest order. To under-mind the Union through violent uprising, and conspiracy to commit a violent uprising against the Union, is (now and then) considered treason against the Union. You can't be "patriotic" to both the American state and the Confederate state. You choose one or the other. And if you choose the Confederacy (then and now), you've CHOSEN to align yourself with the conspiracy and methods of undermining the American Republic via violent uprising. The Confederate flag is categorically UN-AMERICAN (along with being categorically racist). Robert E. Lee is no more an American patriot than Benedict Arnold, by definition of "Conspirator in an Act of Treason Against the American Republic". In fact, Robert E. Lee is MORE of an American traitor because he was actively involved in a military campaign against the American government. So it baffles me that his name is honoured in ANY way, whether it be a day in his honour or a street named after him. Would supposed patriots want to drive down Benedict Arnold Blvd or celebrate National Benedict Arnold Day? No? Then why would you want to drive on a road or celebrate a day remembering a man who lead an Anti-American military campaign on American soil? Why would you want to celebrate a flag that honours that same military campaign? If you're an American patriot, why would you honour something created to symbolize the dissolution of America? I understand the argument that the issue is supposedly "more complicated than that", but that argument still falls apart when you consider, in the end, the South/Confederacy did NOT want to be a part of the American Union. Britain can't exit the European Union while also pledging allegiance to the charters of the European Union. You can't support Brexit AND Bremain-in-the-EU. And you can't be a member of ISIS bombing a mall in a terrorist act while also claiming to be against terrorist acts in the USA. You simply canNOT be an American patriot AND a Confederate patriot at the same time.
Having said that, I realize that no matter what I say or think, waving or owning a Confederate flag is protected by Free Speech Laws. Even the ACLU regularly fights for the rights of the Klan and the Confederate flag just as much as they do for any other group. So when I say "I could see how it's a free speech issue if it was just some people waving a flag", I'm strictly going by laws and the fact that ACLU does consider ownership of that flag a Civil Liberty. But those same freedoms of speech also means I get to say what I want about that flag and what it represents, and it also means I can question the patriotism of people who choose allegiance to the Confederacy over allegiance to America... so long as none of us resort to violence or intimidation, these are our "free speech" rights.
Also, I don't believe that the "free speech" argument for the confederate flag covers the right to fly that flag over any State or Government building. The "free speech" argument, in my mind, covers ONLY individuals rights. If you want to have a bumper sticker with the Confederate flag, that's your business. If you want to wear a shirt with it, that's your business. If you want that flag in front of your (privately owned) house, that's your business. But it shouldn't be over your state capitol or on your Government seal or anything like that. To clarify..