In 1990 on this date on the Arthur Kill beach on Staten Island, New York, an openly gay, disabled Vietnam War veteran living in the Charleston section of Staten Island—former U.S. Navy seaman, James Patrick Zappalorti, 44—was fatally stabbed four times in the chest and stomach because of his sexual orientation by two white Staten Island men both with prior criminal histories, Michael Taylor, 20, of the Charleston section, and Philip Sarlo, 26, who lived near the College of Staten Island in the Willowbrook section. Taylor and Sarlo—both of whom had hurled anti-gay slurs at Jimmy Zappalorti on previous occasions—accosted their victim and tried to rob him of his wallet as he walked home from a store in the South Beach area. After Mr. Zappalorti was fatally stabbed and had the keys to his home stolen, the two men entered Mr. Zappalorti's beach home and stole his rosary beads. On January 23, 1990, Mr. Zappalorti's body was discovered by his brother, and the following day Taylor was arrested on Staten Island. However, Philip Sarlo fled and was apprehended on February 18, 1990, in Ocala, Florida. On December 5, 1990, Taylor and Sarlo each pled guilty to second-degree murder. Taylor was given 23 years to life in prison, and Sarlo was sentenced to 18 years to life (they each could have received 25 years to life in prison). Before pleading guilty the two men said they killed "only a gay." On May 30, 1997, Philip Sarlo—who, prior to Mr. Zappalorti's hate-crime slaying, had been charged with attempted murder, forcible theft, kidnapping and possession of a knife in a separate case, and who eventually pled guilty to robbery in that case—died at the age of 33 at the Wende Correctional Facility near Buffalo, New York. Michael Taylor—who was convicted as a juvenile offender after he pled guilty in the same previous case that involved Sarlo—is serving his prison sentence at the Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, New York. Taylor will be eligible for parole on February 18, 2013.

On this date in 2007, in a federal courtroom in Los Angeles, California, Porfirio Avila, 31, a member of the Avenues gang, a Latino street gang in Los Angeles, was sentenced to life without parole for his role in the race-based hate crime murders of two African-American men, Christopher Bowser, who was shot while waiting at a bus stop in the Highland Park area of Los Angeles on December 11, 2000, and Kenneth Kurry Wilson, who was shot while looking for a parking place in Highland Park on April 18, 1999. Sentenced also were Gilbert Saldana, 27 (who murdered Mr. Wilson), Alejandro Martinez, 28, and Fernando Cazares, 25. In addition to his federal prison sentence, Avila had already been given a life sentence in a state court for killing Mr. Bowser and Mr. Wilson. A fifth defendant, Merced Cambero, Jr., who was 27 years old on this date in 2006, is alleged to have been a part of the murders, and is a wanted fugitive. His street name is “Shadow.”

In Baton Rouge, Louisiana, on this date in 2009, someone placed a noose on a supervisor's desk at the Governor's Office of Homeland Security & Emergency Preparedness (GOHSEP), and the act was treated as a hate crime.

On this date in 2009 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, a 32-year-old lesbian of color, Kristen Boyne, was punched and kicked in the head, face, and stomach until she lost consciousness by two men who used lesbian slurs immediately before the attack which took place in the Uptown section of the city at Lake Street and Dupont Avenue as Ms. Boyne was walking to the Rainbow Foods grocery store. Robbery was clearly not a motive as Ms. Boyne said she offered her two attackers her wallet and her mobile phone but they did not want either of them. She was hospitalized at the Hennepin County Medical Center with a severe concussion. Call the Minneapolis police if you have information about this crime at (612) 692-TIPS (8477), or contact Minneapolis police Sergeant Bruce Kohn at (612) 673-2941.

In Chrisfield, Maryland, on this date in 2011, two black men, both convicted felons, Michael Eugene Tilghman, 44, of Chrisfield, and William Jones, 46, who is homeless, allegedly brutally beat and stabbed a white man while hurling racial slurs at their victim, including allegedly stating to the victim prior to the assault, "We don't like white people or crackers." Michael Tilghman and Willian Jones were each charged with attempted murder, assault, reckless endangerment and a hate crime. The victim—who suffered serious head wounds, a broken nose, and facial fractures—was taken to McCready Memorial Hospital following the attack which took place at Somers Cove Apartments. He was later transferred to Peninsula Regional Medical Center in Salisbury, Maryland, where he was listed in stable condition.

In Madison, Wisconsin, on this date in 2011, a white man with a substance abuse problem, Ashton J. Debord, of Coloma, Wisconsin, was arrested for allegedly hurling racist anti-Latino slurs while attacking a 20-year-old Native American man whose apartment door Debord had banged on. Deborg is said to have pushed the man's apartment door open after the man opened it, and then Debord allegedly punched the victim in the head and slammed a hand into a door. Police officer Joel DeSpain said, "The suspect was making derogatory slurs toward the victim and a 19-year-old female resident of the same apartment, slurs about Latinos. The male victim found this strange since they are Native Americans." Immediately prior to that incident Ashton Debord allegedly threatened a 27-year-old man and a 24-year-old woman who were hosting at a party on Harrington Drive. According to the police report, Ashton Debord was arrested on charges of: Battery-Hate Crime Enhancer; Battery; Criminal Damage to Property-Hate Crime Enhancer; Criminal Damage to Property; Disorderly Conduct-Hate Crime Enhancer-2 counts; Disorderly Conduct-3 counts; Resisting; Tresspassing; Underage Person Possess/Consume Alcohol-3rd offense; and, Person Making Unreasonable Noise. It is not uncommon for residents of nearly all-white towns to be charged with hate crimes (regardless of the bias motivation for the hate crime) or to be involved in bias-motivated violence; and, as of the 2000 U.S. Census, Coloma, Wisconsin, was 99.35% White, 3.04% Hispanic or Latino of any race, and only 0.22% Pacific Islander, 0.22% from other races, and 0.22% from two or more races.

In the Dorchester section of Boston, Massachusetts on this date in 2012, it was discovered that someone vandalized a statue of Jesus Christ in front of the Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta Catholic church located on Columbia Road at Dorchester Avenue by knocking the head from the rest of the statue in what appears to have been a hate crime.