Bias-motivated letter to the editor

Good grief. It isn't all that often that I feel the need to fire off a letter to a publication. Up until now, I've never done it. Today, I wrote a citizen protest to the Fort Collins Coloradoan.

Here are the motivation-related reasons I wrote the letter:

• Man arrested for bias-motivated assault (9 News website)
• Police arrest assault suspect (Fort Collins Coloradoan)

I'd really like you to read at least one of those articles before moving on to my shaking-fists-in-the-air letter to the editor.

Okay. Moving on.

Here is what I wrote to the editor of the Fort Collins Coloradoan:

“Bias-motivated assault” is a whitewash of political correctness

I was motivated with bias-related curiosity to read the article that was print-related in your paper and online. I doubt it would have been possible for you to find a less descriptive euphemism to describe this malicious crime. Perhaps describing it as a “jolly good romp where two fellows boxed the ears of another gentleman” may have substituted just as well.

Perhaps the writer and editors are trying to avoid having Fort Collins smeared as being full of mongrels who wander about looking to beat up 50-year-old black men on bicycles. Since this is probably a rare occurrence, you have some right to feel that way. However, whitewashing a crime like this by calling it a “bias-motivated assault,” where two kids “used slurs related to both race and sexual orientation” while beating up the older man, is a disgrace to your town. Is it 1952 in Fort Collins? I really thought we had entered a new century.

Call it what it was: a hate crime. A racially-motivated hate crime. It happens everywhere, and Colorado is not immune to it. It happens in Boulder. It happens in Denver. Guess what, Fort Collins? It happens in Fort Collins. Why not do something positive to change it instead of sweeping it under the rug with colorful word substitutions?

Sincerely,

Sarah Porter

Denver

+++++++++++++++++++++

Update: I just received this letter back from the fellow that reposted the article on 9News. I think I will follow his advice.

Thanks for your e-mail. You make a good point. The press release we received 
from police about this story referred to it as a "bias-motivated" crime, which 
I'm sure is why the writer of this story chose that terminology.

I would suggest directing your thoughts to the Fort Collins Police department's 
public information officer for a better answer as to why they chose to call this 
a "bias-motivated" crime and not a "hate crime."