"They just said, ' Oh, white girl bleeds a lot!' ",  according to Shaina Perry, a young white woman who was attacked by a gang of black youths at Kilbourn Reservoir Park after fireworks  Saturday night, July 2. Perry was among several  white victims who were injured  by a mob of African-Americans,who beat them  while making racial taunts. (1)

Yet, a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel    (MJS) editorial  on July 7  asserted that  ".... we'd agree with (Police Chief Edward ) Flynn, who said  crime is colorblind." (2)   The evidence, from articles published in the same newspaper,  indicated that these crimes were not  "colorblind" at all----they were clearly motivated by  hatred of white people. 

Unlike Flynn, Mayor Tom Barrett and MJS editorial writers,  the Wisconsin legislature has ruled that some crimes are not colorblind.  In 1987  the legislature adopted  a  "Hate Crimes" bill  (at the request of the Milwaukee Jewish Council for Community Relations)  that had been drafted by the  B'nai  Brith Anti-Defamation League.   The law (3) provides enhanced penalties for anyone who "intentionally selects (the victim of a crime) because of  ...race.religion, color..."    This law was upheld by the US Supreme Court in 1993 in the case of  Wisconsin vs Mitchell. (4)  The Riverwest crimes would appear to fit the terms of this law perfectly.

I hope and pray that the thugs who committed these outrageous offenses are  caught and prosecuted.  If they are, I want them charged under the Hate Crimes Law, so that they will be kept away from  decent people for a very long time.

To ignore the racial aspect of the Riverwest attacks is not  just colorblind----it is totally blind.

Gerald S Glazer

(1) MJS, July 6, 2011, page  1A

(2) MJS, July 7, 2011, page 10A.

(3) Wis. Statutes  939.645(1)(b).

(4) 508 US  476 (1993)