We are not doing enough in our own communities to counter xenophobia and anti-Muslim hatred that is perpetuated, particularly through our media, when I see reports like this, and I hope more Jewish groups join in denouncing these acts of violence:

Five Jewish teenagers, Yitzi Horowitz, 15, David Brach, 15, Yossi Friedman, 17, Shulomi Bitton, 16, and Benjamin Wasserman, 16, all from Brooklyn, are expected to appear in court Friday in connection with the beating of a Muslim man in Brooklyn.

The suspects were arrested Sunday after police say they shouted racial slurs before punching Shahid Amber, a man of Pakistani-descent, with brass knuckles and breaking his nose outside an area Dunkin’ Donuts.

According to a court document obtained by NY1, the teens also shouted “…terrorist mother-[expletive,] you [expletive] our country. Why are you here? Go back to your country and never [expletive] with the Jews.”

The District Attorney classified the assault as a hate crime, and three of the five suspects are being tried as adults.

“The man was attacked by these people who identified him as a Muslim and claimed that was the reason they attacked him and that’s of tremendous concern to us because he wasn’t attacked just as an individual, but as a member of the Muslim community,” said Joel Levy of the Anti-Defamation League.

In reading the ADL’s, release on their condemnation of the attacks, I was particularly struck by this part: “Hate crime statutes have been adopted by 45 states, including New York State. Many of those laws are based on a model statute crafted by ADL, which has long been in the forefront of national and state efforts to deter and counteract hate-motivated criminal activity.”

What struck me in particular about ADL’s statement, and what adds another level of sadness, questioning, probing and wanting more from our communities, was this last paragraph about hate-crime legislation being modeled from the ADL.

Hate-crime legislation has raised red flags for many of us within the advocacy world, (and I’ve had this conversation a fair amount in LGBT advocacy groups)—that hate-crime legislation relies upon a criminal justice system that is far from just, in which people of color and low-income people are profiled, arrested and convicted at massively higher rates–and no, it is not because they commit more crimes, (which has been documented particularly in drug law policy).

Many of us want to demonstrate or find means to highlight when an act of violence is predicated upon hate that is reflective of deeper oppression and hatred of entire communities, but don’t want this by feeding into the idea that longer prison sentences or increase in rates of incarceration will lead to a more just or humane world.

There is little that is restorative or redemptive about our prison system. These are questions that are still being weighted through, and questions some advocacy groups are still wrestling with in figuring out how to address crimes and the severity and seriousness of acts of hate, and at the same time, attempting to offer a different model of addressing this hate so as to not have it continue to cycle and build and replicate. This does not mean ignoring or excusing or saying that this violence is OK, but it is saying and acknowledging that to begin to address systemic violence it means acknowledging that there are generations and histories of pain and violence involved, and how do we begin to heal that, rather than thinking that if we add more years onto a prison sentence that this will “prove the point” and lead to a more just world.

So, I would love to hear if others have had conversations about different models of addressing hate-crimes in the work that they do, or any resources that people might find useful to share.

crossposted from jewschool