Update: For more information on this topic, go here

Me thinks Tony Auth is misunderstanding why some of us are aggravated about the Senate apologizing for lynching:

As I have written here and here, I think it is stupid and unproductive to apologize for things that you had no control over. Bad things happened; we can’t change it now, so let’s move on.***

Also, I found an interesting take on this from tree hugging sister over at The Coalition of the Swilling:

You mean to tell me that forcibly removing someone from his home, his barn, his street or his place of incarceration to HANG HIM wasn’t MURDER until this Senate vote? That a noose around someone’s neck by virtue of mob rule or anything other than a jury’s determination isn’t criminally EXECUTING someone?

Indeed. Read all the comments to that post. Very informative. Why did we need separate legislation?

That also brings up another pet peeve of mine, so called hate crime bills. If I kill someone, because they are gay or just because I don’t like them, what’s the difference? It is still murder. Why is one life more important than another? Isn’t murder just the ultimate expression of hate? Why have a separate set of laws for privileged minorities? I mean, if I am killed by a white ax wielding fiend yelling “Die f***er, die!” would that qualify as a hate crime? After all, I am a white male; maybe the guy did not like white males. No, it would automatically be assumed that the guy was off his rocker and just killed another person. The headline for the attack would read, “Man Killed By Ax”. Now change the rules a bit and imagine if I were a black man and the same attacker killed me… I can just see the headline now, “Deranged White Male Kills Innocent Black Man – Hate Crime Charges to Follow”. Why was one life worthy of more jail time than the other?

Just asking…

*** Just so no one gets the wrong idea, lynching was and is a terrible, terrible crime. It should have been punished before any specific law was passed, but it wasn’t.