We all need to fear the "hate crime" legislation

Delmon Young, African American, is an outfielder for the Detroit Tigers. A couple of days ago, the team flew in to New York, and checked into some hotel. The plane had been delayed and so this apparently gave Young the opportunity to drink to excess.

So, apparently he's standing outside his New York hotel. A Jewish panhandler - known to be Jewish because he was wearing a yarmulke, walked up to 4 tourists who were apparently from Chicago.

The news articles don't tell us the race of these 4 tourists.

For some reason Young apparently said a racial slur to the tourists - not to the Jewish panhandler. (IN the comments section, someone said that one of the tourists had said something to Young - who then reacted. I.e. he didn't instigate the conflict.] [Indeed...a black man standing drunk on the steps of a nice hotel... did they call him a panhandler? Which then provoked him to some unfortunate words?]

Then there was a scuffle in which...gasp....one of the tourists received scratches on his elbows!

According to these very brief news articles, Young could face going to jail for a year. For what is never made clear. Because he scratched some tourist's elbows? Because he called one of these tourists a racial slur, presumably some kind of Jewish insult? Because of calling someone a name he could face going to jail for a year??? Whatever happened to sensitivity training?

Now, players have gotten in trouble before. Drunk too much and had car crashes, etc. Even gotten into fights. And if I recall correctly, their teams have always let them play until the law has taken its course.

Not so Delmon Young. He has been put on the "restricted list" and probably will never be allowed to play baseball again.

That's jut not right. It wouldn't be right if he'd said a racial slur to anybody, any more than white folks should be suspended if they utter a racial slur. That's just not a hate crime. That's a dislike crime, a typical-human-of-one-group-using-a-put-down-that-happens-to--be-racial but not a hate crime. A hate crime is when someone actually beats someone up, or subjects someone to an actual tirade of racist verbal abuse. But to just call someone a name?

But really, do people deserve to lose their jobs just because they harbor racist sentiments? As long as they don't manifest those sentiments at work - by denying raises, verbally harassing someone, etc., what they believe in private is their own business and they don't deserve to lose their livelihood because of it. (Obviously, if they are taking active steps, like joining the New Black Panthers or the Aryan Brotherhood, then steps have to be taken.)

The news articles just don't give enough information. And, as usual, Young has been convicted before all the facts are in.