AG Lynch: DOJ Probing Whether Post-Election Attacks Are Federal Hate Crimes
Source: Talking Points Memo
Attorney General Loretta Lynch announced Friday that the Justice Department is investigating whether the dozens of incidents of intimidation and harassment reported in the days since the election qualify as federal hate crimes.
The FBI is assessing, in conjunction with federal prosecutors, whether particular incidents constitute violations of federal law, Lynch said in a videotaped statement.
The Southern Poverty Law Center has documented over 400 reports of post-election harassment, including many incidents at schools and houses of worship. Racist graffiti has been scrawled in elementary school bathrooms, commuters have been attacked for their perceived ethnicity, religion or immigration status, and churches have been defaced with swastikas. A student at the University of California at Santa Cruz reported that he was called homophobic slurs and struck in the head with a rock. A Muslim student at the University of Michigan was confronted by a man who allegedly threatened to set her on fire with a lighter unless she removed her hijab.
Civil rights groups say that minorities, including Muslim, blacks, and Latinos are being disproportionately targeted, and note that some attackers have invoked President-elect Donald Trumps name during the altercations.
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Read more: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/loretta-lynch-statement-justice-department-post-election-attacks-hate-crimes
phallon
(260 posts)still_one
(92,394 posts)really a weak AG
DonViejo
(60,536 posts)to follow her order? He refused to follow procedures in an investigation, why should he follow her orders?
wordpix
(18,652 posts)InAbLuEsTaTe
(24,122 posts)still_one
(92,394 posts)If they are concerned that an even more radical director would be appointed, the FBI has already been compromised
Dark n Stormy Knight
(9,771 posts)Hate, not great.
Behind the Aegis
(53,986 posts)The FBI, which collects data on hate crimes, takes time to compile national statistics; on Monday, the agency released 2015 data that showed a 6.7 percent increase in the number of hate crimes reported to police, led largely by a 67 percent surge in crimes against Muslims.
source
Welcome to the "new normal".