A bill has been introduced in the Kentucky House of Representatives to add law enforcement and other safety workers as a category in the state’s hate crimes statute. Given that 75 police officers were killed nationally by intentional gunfire or vehicular assault in 2016 it’s a little strange for many people to hear someone say that this bill should not become law (https://www.odmp.org/search/year/2016).

So if not, then why not?

First, the constitutional argument. Hate crimes laws were designed as a legal response to the violent history of white supremacist violence perpetrated primarily against Black folk with a nod toward the bloody history of anti-Semitism. Yet, as these laws were crafted and pushed forward it became clear that the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment made any provision for the protection of some portion of a class and not others legally untenable. Thus existing hate crimes laws are written so that they apply to entire categories of people, not just historically oppressed, disadvantaged, or minority fractions of such categories.
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