A thoughtless adolescent joke is being investigated by local police as a hate crime.
http://www.wvwnews.net/story.php?id=411
By Alan Scholl
If you need proof that hate crimes and state-run schools are two government projects that should never mix, look no further than Lewiston, Maine. According to the Maine Sun Journal, “On April 11, a white student placed a ham steak in a bag on a lunch table where Somali students were eating.” The Somali students were Muslim and believe pork to be unclean. The offender, who is now being investigated as the perpetrator of a hate crime — albeit a calloused and thoughtless one — was a middle school student. In other words, the young “criminal” is in either Sixth, Seventh or Eighth Grade.
Sadly, this is not a parody. In what must be the greatest overreaction of all time, “Lewiston police are investigating, and the Center for the Prevention of Hate Violence is working with the school to create a response plan.”That’s right, a “response plan” for a ham sandwich. Why doesn’t the principal just mete out an appropriate punishment commensurate with the offense?
According to Stephen Wessler of the Center for Prevention of Hate Violence, having a ham sandwich in close proximity to Muslims is “an awful thing.” “It’s extraordinarily hurtful and degrading” to Muslims, Wessler added, according to the Sun Journal. “Incidents like this that involve degrading language or conduct are often said by the perpetrator as a joke. I know that conduct is never static,” Wessler said. “It’s part of a process of escalation.”
The Lewiston ham sandwich episode even has state officials in an uproar. During his April 24 broadcast CNN’s Lou Dobbs reported that the Maine Attorney General is looking into the matter.
Clearly, administrators in the Lewiston school district, the Lewiston Police, the tolerance Gestapo at the Center for Prevention of Hate Violence and the Maine Attorney General’s office have gone off the deep end. Lou Dobbs seems to concur. “Mr. Superintendent,” the CNN anchor asked on his broadcast, “do you have any sense of proportion? These are children, you’re supposed to be educating and one would hope imparting some wisdom and discipline. This is ridiculous.” Ridiculous it may be, but the incident demonstrates the dangers of Orwellian hate crimes laws.