"You want my weapons - this is how you'll get them. The Holocaust is a lie," reads James Wenneker Von Brunn's notebook. The notebook is filled with angry anti-Semitic statements that reflected the beliefs of an 88-year-old white supremacist. The notebook was found inside Brunn's car.
On June 10 Von Brunn entered the Holocaust Museum with a 22-caliber rifle, and before he made it past security, shot and killed a black security guard named Stephen T. Johns. Von Brunn was then shot in the face by another museum guard. It is said that while he is in critical condition, he is expected to survive and faces a first-degree murder charge. However, it is debated on whether he should also be charged with a hate crime based on his history of hatred towards Jews and his real intensions for entering the Holocaust Museum with a gun.
However, the situation is tricky because as Eugene O'Donnell says, "Hate crimes are often hard to prosecute because the person doesn't often explicitly say why they committed the crime." That being said, the charge would most likely be based on the circumstance.
But how far can America go in charging people with something as subjective, yet as obvious, as hate? Our country faces a predicament, because with our notion of freedom of speech, it is hard to figure out where it can draw the line in interfering in someone's beliefs. There is also the debate of whether America should only interfere once someone is hurt or should the court system step in before anything can happen?
This shooting has proved that there is still denial about the Holocaust and a shocking amount of anti-Semitism existing in the world.
Maybe people have this misconception that because the Holocaust happened in the past, things have changed because so much time has passed. In reality, the Holocaust ended barely 60 years ago. Concerning what is going on with Israel, anti-Semitic views really haven't changed at all and it's not surprising to me that this shooting did happen in the first place.
Everyone has this notion for peace. Written across the ground in front of the library at Ball State University in purple chalk-like material were pleads and cries for peace in the Middle East, with pictures of doves and soothing things. It seems ideal that if one college campus starts advocating for peace, then it will spread like a wildfire to other college campuses and maybe we can all start influencing the government on ideas to get rid of this hate. It sounded great.
But the dirty truth is that hate crimes such as the Holocaust shooting are not going to disappear just because we have a new president advocating for peace and compromise. There is no such thing as this Utopia we are trying to create. How can we simply erase the past and pretend to be friends with everyone to create an illusion of peace? Hatred, bigotry, denial, disgust and loss of respect are amongst the world, and the simple solution of charging people with hate crimes or the death sentence isn't going to take that away.
I am at loss for a solution. As long as people exist, these emotions are not going to go away. That's not to say we shouldn't try to set things right, but America needs to realize that this anti-Semitism isn't going to fade in four years, especially with a president who isn't doing anything to help Israel.
Maybe the Holocaust shooting was a wake up call for people to realize that hatred still does exist and is at large. And maybe there are small things America should be preaching to stop hatred in any form. The gossiping, the rudeness, the immaturity, the sexual abuse, the pettiness, the discrimination, the ignorance and the disrespectfulness: all stupid things that are so high school need to go away. We don't have to like everyone, we don't have be fake, we don't have to force small talk; but we could recognize that people are human and we could all be polite and civil. If we did little things like that then maybe the bigger picture wouldn't be as big.
I have doubt that any of the above will happen. But maybe someday it could.
Write to Meira at mabienstock@bsu.edu
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