This chapter reflects on the reactions of the communities supposedly protected by legislations against hatred crimes during inauguration of Hate Crimes Awareness Day in Alberta. Although it was meant for celebrating successes the hate crimes legislations had made over the past few decades, minority groups that included those of gays, lesbians and queers took the day to challenge them as regards safety and justice promotion towards them (Smith, and Jaffer 57).
On this concern, Crawford and Nichols established that the legislations are ineffective to protect members of these categories, as they have suffered very much while facing them. In this regard, in social and political contexts, they have been turned into tools for retaliations by various agencies in systemic oppressions against the groups (Smith, and Jaffer 58). Moreover, on political scene, in the house, there have been contests between the left and the right with the former leaning towards marginalized groups while the latter maintaining its tough stance on crime. They added that there have been no evidentiary claims that the legislations have had useful measures or deterrence on hate crimes. Nevertheless, their supporters have been imposing heavy penalties on the perceived offenders as scapegoats to the society’s complex problem (Smith, and Jaffer 57). Therefore, they recommend that the community adopt restorative justice to sentence youth as an alternative to jail term imprisonment (Smith, and Jaffer 57). Moreover, community activism that involves varieties of members from academic communities and social justice is essential for the awareness. Nonetheless, resources being horded to campaign for harsher punishments should be devoted to supporting marginalized communities (Smith, and Jaffer 58).
Work Cited
Smith, Malinda, and Fatima Jaffer. Eds. Beyond the Queer Alphabet: Conversations on Gender,
Sexuality & Intersectionality. Alberta: Creative Commons License, 2012. Print.
