The Blog of P.U.R.E. and Sue Scheff

Hate crimes are criminal actions intended to harm or intimidate people because of their race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, religion, or other minority group status. They are also referred to as bias crimes. The headlines of the three Long Island teenagers who admitted to being part of a gang that targeted Hispanics for violence were sentenced to seven-year prison terms Wednesday for their roles in the 2008 killing of an Ecuadorean immigrant. A fourth teen who met the group on the night of the slaying was sentenced to a six-year prison sentence, is yet another awareness to hate crimes . In Broward County we have experience hate crimes with teens through bullying and violence .  16 year-old Wayne Treacy is being tried as an adult in the brutal beating of 15 year-old Josie Ratley .  There are 3 teen defendants being tried as adults for the near death of 15 year-old Michael Brewer.   In these cases, although we are not dealing with religious or sexual orient...

A series on ABC News, What Would You Do , explored this exact issue and the results were shocking. It is a common form of racial profiling and actually has a name, shopping while black. This type of profiling is still happening today. Watch the video and you won't believe your ears or eyes. Teaching tolerance to our teens is part of parenting. Although in some cases, it is clear our teens have to educate our parents and especially our grandparents. Thinking back to the last presidential election, there were elder white people that simple wouldn't vote for a colored man. Yes, that word came up more than we realize. It is was the generations of years past. Unfortunately there is still some racism that exists with some people. Whether it is your grandparents or parents, adults from prior generations have a harder time accepting all walks of life. Children today are more likely not to see color, race, religion. Tolerance is often taught in subtle ways. Teaching your children to t...