As the fallout continues from yet another attack on Black Americans motivated by racism, some people are calling for an anti-Black hate crime bill to address racist criminal actions that specifically target Black people.
This follows news about an armed white man, police identified as Jeffrey Harris, who attempted to enter a predominantly Black church in Pennsylvania but was turned away the day after the deadly shooting at a Jacksonville Dollar Tree where three Black people were shot.
It’s believed that had Harris been welcomed inside, another racially motivated attack might have happened. Police found an explosive, crystal meth, several weapons and a handwritten note scribbled with notes and plans about a mass shooting.
In response to the news, some people on social media have called for an anti-Black crime bill and suggested that churches need armed security measures to help prevent possible attacks.
“Where is our anti-Black crime bill?” two Instagram users asked.
“This is why churches need fully armed guards, and rover patrols,” another user wrote.
“I pray our institutions and organizations continue to take proper caution, vetting these vile vermin who attempt to enter safe spaces to do harm,” another person commented.
While there is a federal hate crimes statute, there is no law on the books that addresses hate crimes exclusively against Black people. The current statute passed in 1968, is a broader measure that makes it a crime to use force or threaten to use force against any person because of their race, color, faith or national origin.
In May 2021, President Joe Biden signed the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act into law, which condemns racial harassment and violence committed against Asian Americans after they were blamed and targeted for the rising number of COVID-19 cases in the U.S. during the pandemic.
Meanwhile, the George Floyd Justice in Policing bill that was introduced that same year still sits in waiting. That measure aims to reduce racial profiling and police violence against minority communities. It passed the House but has yet to pass the Senate.
Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters made it glaringly clear that the shooter in the Jacksonville attack, Ryan Palmeter, hated Black people and detailed a “disgusting ideology of hate” in journals he left behind.
“He targeted a certain group of people, and that’s Black people. That’s what he said he wanted to kill,” Waters said. “Any member of that race, at that time, was in danger.”
As racial tensions continue to mount and escalate into all-out threats and attacks, many Black people are in fear of what’s next, including the possibility that more racially motivated attacks could occur at a higher frequency.
A Pew Research study from April 2022 revealed that approximately a third of Black American adults worry daily or almost daily that they might be threatened or attacked because of their racial identity. Only about 21 percent of Asian Americans, 14 percent of Hispanic adults, and 4 percent of white adults said they felt the same.
“It makes you think about the state we’re in. I mean, just to think I could be sitting in a car, and someone can shoot me just based on my race, there’s definitely a heightened level of concern,” Desmond Meade, president and executive director of the Orlando-based Florida Rights Restoration Coalition, told USA Today. “There has to be a courageous stand taken against this.”
“As more of these incidents come to pass, people really have to be prepared in their communities,” Renee Watson, director of the Bexar County small business and entrepreneurship program in San Antonio, also told USA Today. “It’s not just in one place. It’s not just in the supermarket. It’s everywhere.”
Arthur Reed, the founder of the Houston-based organization Stop the Killing, remarked that the rise of white supremacy ideology drastically impacts the lives of Black Americans everywhere.
“There are people in America that have a mindset that is so sick that they believe civil war is coming,” Reed said. “Blacks could care less about that. People are paying attention to their daily lives, holding down employment and keeping a roof over their head. They’re too busy trying to survive than to plot a civil war.”
