January 21

In New Hyde Park, New York, on Long Island, on this date in 2008, Brooklyn resident and Panamanian national, Victor Jordan, 37, of Cortelyou Road in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn, is alleged to have punched a Latino employee of LA Fitness multiple times in the face while shouting anti-immigrant slurs at the Marcus Avenue fitness club's custodian, who unlike Jordan, is actually a United States citizen. Jordan, who at the time of his arrest was applying for U.S. citizenship, was arrested and charged on this date with third-degree assault as a hate crime. His case is to be heard out of the First District Court, Nassau County.

In Pullman, Washington, on this date in 2008, Washington State University student, Kyle Descher, who is Korean-American, was sucker-punched at Mike’s Bar after three men made a racist comment to him as he passed them on his way into the bar to watch a basketball game. Mr. Descher’s jaw was broken in the unprovoked attack and it was initially reported that Pullman police believed the crime was a hate crime and contacted the FBI, although the police later reported that there is insufficient evidence that the racial comment about Asians made immediately prior to the attack was connected to the assault. A $6,000 reward is being offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of Mr. Descher’s assailant. Three titanium plates were needed to reconstruct his jaw.

On this date in 2009, in Washington, D.C., just one day after taking the oath of office, President Barack Obama posted on the official president's website whitehouse.gov that one of the civil rights goals of his administration is to: "Expand Hate Crimes Statutes: President Obama and Vice President Biden will strengthen federal hate crimes legislation, expand hate crimes protection by passing the Matthew Shepard Act, and reinvigorate enforcement at the Department of Justice's Criminal Section." In addition to including sexual orientation and gender identity and expression, we hope that President Obama will also include disability and homelessness status as protected categories in any federal hate crimes legislation that he proposes.

On this date in 2009 in Brockton, Massachusetts, a six-foot tall, 310-pound white man who apparently told authorities that he was on a mission to fight the "extinction" of white people, Keith Luke, 22, of Brockton, is said to have: bound, repeatedly raped, and then shot a 22-year-old Cape Verde immigrant; murdered her sister, Selma Goncalves, 20, when Selma discovered and attempted to stop the sexual attack on her sister which took place at the sisters' apartment on Clinton Street; and, murdered a homeless man also originally from Cape Verde, Arlindo Depina Goncalves, 72. Mr. Goncalves—a father of eight who was not related to the two Goncalves sisters—was shot first in the face while walking down a street pushing a shopping cart of recyclable bottles and cans, and then in the back. Police apprehended Luke—who is said to have visited white racist internet hate websites prior to his alleged race-based crime spree—after a high-speed chase through the city of Brockton. Law enforcement investigators alleged that Luke (DOB: 3/18/1986) told them he had also planned on killing "as many Jews as possible during bingo night" at the Temple Beth Emunah, a synagogue located near where Luke lived at the time, before killing himself. Luke—who complained of a "Zionist occupation" immediately after his apprehension and who is said to have stockpiled hundreds of rounds of ammunition—pleaded Not Guilty to two counts of first-degree murder, one count of aggravated rape, and two counts of armed assault with intent to kill. Hate crime charges have not been filed against Luke by the Plymouth County District Attorney's Office. On February 2, 2009, a judge ordered Luke to the Bridgewater State Hospital for an evaluation of his competence to stand trial. On April 10, 2009, Luke was indicted on two counts of murder, six counts of armed assault with attempt to murder, armed home invasion, armed kidnapping with sexual assault, four counts of aggravated rape, indecent assault and battery, unlawful possession of a firearm, unlawful possession of ammunition, and malicious destruction of property. Keith Luke pleaded Not Guilty to a host of charges in the Plymouth County Superior Court on May 6, 2009, sporting a large swastika that he carved into his forehead. Though prosecutors have called Luke's crime spree hate-fueled, no bias-motivated charges have been filed against him.

In North Plainfield (Somerset County), New Jersey, on this date in 2009, a Columbian man, Wilter Sanchez, 33, was savagely attacked by five African-American men, including three minors, who called him a "Hispanic son of a bitch" during the attack. Mr. Sanchez was taken to the Robert Wood Johnson Hospital where he required surgery to repair his fractured cheekbones, part of his forehead, jaw and nose. The identities of the five men arrested is not known to us; and, it is unknown whether they were charged with hate crimes.