Black Lives Matter… But White Lives Don’t

• A woman from Canada was assaulted after a women shouted “I hate white people!” and then punched her in the face.
• The judge on Tuesday, however, ruled that the assault was, in fact, not a hate crime.
• There was not sufficient enough evidence to prove that the assault was done out of racial hate.
• The assaulter spent six months in prison, while waiting for trial, then was let off the hook with probation.

Last November Lydia White, a woman from Canada, was assaulted by an aboriginal woman, Tamara Crowchief. The assault was not one of passion or a drunken brawl that got out of hand, it was an assault of hate and race. Crowchief yelled, “I hate white people!” then punched White in the face knocking out one of her teeth.

However, putting all that evidence aside, a judge, on Tuesday, ruled that Crowchief was not motivated by hate.

Apparently, on November 1st, White was outside of a pub in Calgary, Alberta with a male friend of hers. At that point, a friend of Crowchief went up to White and her friend and asked for a cigarette. According to the Calgary Herald, White and her friend struck up a conversation with the women and that is when Crowchief approached and out of nowhere yelled “I hate white people!”, and then punched White in the face.

Yet again, remember this was not an assault of hate.

After the assault occurred Crowchief and her friend walked away, while White and her friend followed behind, calling the police. Shortly after, the police arrived and arrested Crowchief. During her arrest, Crowchief repeatedly told the officers that “the white man was out to get her.”

Again, remember, this was not an assault of hate.

The prosecutor for the case, Karuna Ramakrishnan, was seeking a 12 to 15-month sentence and argued that the label of “hate crime” should be used for the unprovoked attack, according to the Heralds report.

Yet, on Tuesday the Provincial Court Judge, Harry Van Harten, ended up siding with the defense. The defense counsel, Adriano Iovinelli, claimed that there was insufficient evidence to prove that the assault was, in fact, a “hate crime.”

Judge Van Harten, in his ruling, said, “The offender said, ‘I hate white people,’ and threw a punch. There is no evidence either way about what the offender meant or whether … she holds or promotes an ideology which would explain why this assault was aimed at this victim. I am not satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt that this offense was, even in part, motivated by racial bias.”

The judge eventually ruled that the six months that she had already spent in prison was sufficient punishment for her crime. He did, however, place Crowchief on 12 months of probation, as well as having her undergo psychological,psychiatric, and substance abuse counseling.

Crowchief was also ordered to refrain from alcohol or other kinds of altering substances.

The biggest lesson to get out of this is, just because someone shouts out that they hate your race and then assaults you, doesn’t mean it was a hate crime.