http://m.sltrib.com/sltrib/mobile3/56683564-219/holder-sikhs-hate-sikh.html.csp

Quote:

The Justice Department will begin keeping numbers on hate crimes committed against Sikhs, Mormons and five other groups, in connection with Monday’s one-year anniversary of the killing of six Sikh worshippers in Oak Creek, Wis.

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My thoughts on the matter: I hope you will all excuse me if I'm disturbed by the shooting of Sikhs by some dimwit who thought they were Muslim (as though it would be justified in that case?) with people getting mad at Mormons over Prop 8.

Maybe I'm confused. I have yet to see roving bands of "Gentiles" out there attacking Mormons. Could someone please enlighten me as to why this might even remotely be necessary? I'm not being facetious.

Beats me. Are there Mormons in the upper Midwest running around wearing turbans?

I get that crazy murderous bigotted fools might mistake Sikhs in turbans for Muslims, but I'm not getting how Mormons fit in.

Why are Mormons and JW's being grouped with Sikhs, Hindus, Arabs, Buddhists, and Orthodox Christians?

The only thing I can think of is that maybe Mormons and JW's, because they typically do go around to people's houses, though usually polite in their religious solicitations, can be nuisances. Maybe the Justice Department since 9/11/2001 has been tracking complaints of people setting their dogs upon or throwing beer cans at Mormon missionaries who angered them on their doorsteps by arguing about Jesus or Mitt Romney. We do get reports along those lines from time to time on RFM.

Has there been an uptick in such reports involving Mormons or JW's?

The report says that since 9/11/2001 the "Justice Department has investigated more than 800 incidents involving violence, threats, assaults, vandalism and arson targeting Arabs, Muslims, Sikhs, South Asians and those perceived to be members of these groups."

How are JW's and Mormons "perceived to be" part of these groups?

Attacks of serious vandalism and/or arson are fairly common against LDS meeting houses. I suspect it is mostly Mormon kids who have had it up to here with Mormonism, but still, these are serious property crimes.

So, if the goal is payback rather than to intimidate a group, is it still a hate crime? Inquiring minds want to know.....

Any type of crime against mormons one might argue comes from their intensive political actions such as prop 8, and other right wing madness.

One might hope that any backlash against the religion may highlight their political involvement while enjoying paying no taxes.

Here is a 'maybe'
Fed agency is Mormon infested. Morg agents get LD$ Inc on the victim list to enhance the 'persecution card.'

My own conspiracy theory!

That thought crossed my mind. Don't know how the JWs are part of that, unless they are being used as cover.

I'm also unaware of JW "Kingdom Halls" being vandalized as much as LDS chapels (or any other church's buildings) by its youth. I'm not auto-convinced that the chapel vandalism is why the LDS are on the hatelist. Do JWs get attacked more on the street, but LDS hate crimes happen more to their chapels? Or maybe the people compiling the hate list are just making things for their agency to do, e.g., bureaucratic empire building. Very typical of organizational behavior that getting on such a list of "Things Our Agency Is Responsible For" is sometimes rationalized rather superficially.

BUT, I do wonder if keeping track of hate crimes against LDS, as opposed to the other religious groups that aren't on the list, could be a step in the direction of going after anything that might be construed as "hate speech" against the LDS church. There have been some posts, on RFM and elsewhere, that might be interpreted that way, in which case, if an exmo has ever said hateful or angry things about, or fantasized openly about any sort of violence to the LDS church or its members, the exmo could find that people with black SUVs parked outside are knocking at the door with a search warrant or to make an arrest.

That's mind-blowing and sounds like conspiracy theory, but that's power, and we are seeing more of this sort of enforcement behavior today. I read recently of that very thing happening to a family because some of the family members had searched for rice cookers and a couple of other incriminating items on the web (or at least incriminating to some law enforcement agency computer program scanning the Internet, spitting out reports of suspected criminal activity to agents who have badges, guns, a mandate, and who drive black SUVs.) See "pressure cookers, backpacks and quinoa, oh my!" https://medium.com/something-like-falling/2e7d13e54724



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/05/2013 07:09PM by derrida.

I think this is why Susan et al have always wanted to keep petition kinds of things off of here. This website is for talking, not necessarily organizing action. And I could see this being the long start of a way to take down "anti" mormon pages. Hey look, hate speech against a "protected" group!
In a ...fantasizing worst case things kind of way.

Does this mean we are a hate group? Does this mean we get to dress up in camo and run around in the woods now, because I would totally do that.

This is important to prevent any Mormon boys from being brutally beaten, tied to a fence post, and then left to die.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/05/2013 07:55PM by lastofthewine.

They might mistake them for masons if they see their garments or their secret handshakes.

Hard to imagine a persecuted group walking around in shirts and ties evangelizing.

Must have gotten a reach around from well-placed Mormon insiders or paid lobbyists in Justice.