Authorities Will Not Seek Hate Crime Charge in Oregon Deer Head Case and UNITED SIKHS Sees Need for National Standards to Abate Hate Crisis

December 11, 2020
NEW YORK, NY
UNITED SIKHS stands in solidarity with the Lant family in Lake Oswego, Oregon. The Lake Oswego authorities’ decision to not charge the perpetrator with hate crimes demonstrates on a micro level how the current state-centered framework of anti-bias hate legislation fails to support hate crime charges and, therefore, how the State approach will likely continue to fail to abate the problem on a national scale.
On October 29, 2020, the Lant family found two severed deer heads on their property next to their lawn signs. The lawn signs were for Biden/Harris and the other sign read, “Black Lives Matter.” After investigation and identification of the perpetrator, the Clackamas District Attorney charged the perpetrator with two counts of “offensive littering” and two counts of “disorderly conduct.” Hate crime charges were not pursued and the authorities stated this is because the homeowner race was not at issue. Lake Oswego Police Sgt. Thomas Hamann argued, “if the severed deer heads were placed on someone’s property and investigators had some indication they were placed there because of the property owner’s race, then it would be considered a bias crime.”
In order to be an effective deterrent, hate crime legislation must protect both victims and the community. Failure to consider the menacing and potentially silencing message conveyed by the placement of severed deer heads on the Lant family lawn, or to allow a jury to determine whether it was a response to their support of BLM, (a race-related issue), is inconsistent with the purpose of anti-discrimination and Hate Crimes legislation. Failure to afford anti-hate protections to those who speak up against race, color, religion, national origin, disability, gender, or sexual orientation diminishes the deterrent force, effectiveness, and purpose of these laws. The Lant family and others who heroically stand up for their neighbors and countrymen and women who are victims of race-related violence and who are marginalized because of their race should be protected from anonymous, violent threats themselves.
Hate crimes also impact the members of the communities in which they are allowed to occur. When members of law enforcement do not have the necessary tools, in the form of uniform laws and mandates, they cannot adequately serve these communities. Conversely, when communities see no action or consequences for hateful bias acts, they are further marginalized and disempowered and the perpetrators are further emboldened to continue to inflict violence. Often, like in the case of Oregon’s hate crime statute applicable here, the State hate crime legislation must be amended to include protections for persons who are targeted because they defend another’s right to be free from discrimination and bias.
This inconsistent framework of individual State legislation also leads to an undercount of bias crime. Because no hate crime charges would be filed in this case, this incident, and others like it, will not be reported to the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting Program or reflected in the annual FBI Hate Crime statistics. Considered from this perspective and from others raised by UNITED SIKHS and other civil rights activists in the past, the FBI hate crime data promulgated annually lose their informational value to the leaders who rely on the data to fund anti-hate crime programs.
In its “2021 HATE CRIMES REPORT,” UNITED SIKHS outlines its recommendations to abate hate crimes. It argues that, while hate crimes charges should not lead to unjust massive incarcerations, they must deter the behavior by holding perpetrators accountable and responding to community concerns. UNITED SIKHS documents that fail to address the underlying reasons why these crimes continue unabated has led to a national crisis. In its letter to the Biden-Harris administration, it outlines a proposed agenda for the first 90 days in office to address this emergency on a national level.
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Practice your faith fearlessly!
By: Eva Landeo
UNITED SIKHS
Media and Development Coordinator