Parrothead Jeff

Someone tell me how this was an illegal act. No threat was made. No person was physically harmed. Nobody has even said who owned the property in question. With all that in mind, please tell me how and why someone was charged with a “hate crime.”

Now, I’m not one to approve of “hate crimes” laws as they go directly against the equal protections clause in the Constitution in my view. If someone hates a group other than mine, why should he receive a lesser sentence if he attacks my group?

So here’s the deal - some guy was arrested and charged with a hate crime for allegedly putting a Quran in a toilet. The official charges are criminal mischief and aggravated harassment.

Think long and hard about this. Nobody was stalked. Nobody was threatened. Nobody was called in the middle of the night. No houses were burned down. Nobody was beaten. Nobody was maimed. No grafitti was scrawled, etched, or painted. Somebody put a book in a toilet. It may be a holy book to muslims, but it is still just a book.

Ask yourself if this would have happened if this was a Bible? A Book of Mormon? An ancient Hindu text? A Torah? A book about black people? A book about white people? A book about Native Americans? A book about redheads? Blondes? People who like dogs?

I don’t believe anyone would or should be prosecuted for anything other than vandalism or destruction of property for defacing this or any book they do not own. I don’t think they would be prosecuted for anything other than vandalism or destruction of property for defacing any other book. Further, who owned the second Quran? Did it belong to the defendent or to the library?

Here’s hoping the courts do the right thing and that the defendant sues the pants off someone for this!