The Detroit News Reno battles to end all hate crime James Byrd Jr., the black Texan dragged to his death because of his race, didn't have to die. Neither did Matthew Shepard, the gay college student whose broken body was left dangling on a Wyoming fence.
Hate crimes are preventable.
But their prevention has never been a top national priority. Now, however, Atty. Gen. Janet Reno is showing she's dedicated to making it one in every classroom and on every police force in America. Reno, the nation's top law enforcement official, wants all the good, decent people sickened by the deaths of James Byrd and Matt Shepard to realize that, powerless as we sometimes feel in the face of such horror, we can help rid our society of hate violence. Hate crimes are not inexplicable horrors that spring out of nowhere.