Hate crimes continue to fuel a surge of violence in this country. Atty. Gen. Holder wants some tougher laws. That’s not asking too much.
BY LARRY MARGASAK AND DEVLIN BARRETT
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON – Citing recent killings in Arkansas, Kansas and the nation’s capital, Attorney General Eric Holder said yesterday new hate crimes laws were needed to stop what he called “violence masquerading as political activism.”
Holder’s call for Congress to act came as a civil rights coalition said there has been a surge in white supremacist activity since the election of the first African-American president and the economic downturn.
“Over the last several weeks, we have witnessed brazen acts of violence committed in places that many would have considered unthinkable,” Holder told the Washington Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs.
He cited separate attacks over two weeks that killed a young soldier in Little Rock, an abortion provider in Wichita and a guard at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum.
Federal agents and prosecutors are involved in the local investigations of those attacks.
