But I think we should be careful about pushing the cops/prosecutors to pursue crimes like this as ‘hate crimes.’ While slapping the term ‘hate crime’ onto these incidents can be helpful in terms of getting increased media attention, in New York and many states, it can also result in extended prison sentences for those convicted. Sending people to prison for longer periods of time is not the solution, and we as a community must do what we can to make sure that punishment does not replace prevention and education.

sadly true. A good percentage of the attackers of the Indian Students in Australia are other immigrants – Lebane / Africans. The Australia government had its head buried in the sand – and still has.

There’s no question that the pendulum needed to swing towards bias in favor of the minority but it’s swung so far that the gravitational force is bound to lead to a backlash. Beating people up is a horrific thing, whatever its reason and in a fair country all such cases should be treated the same.

These cases are isolated but always there. Even if we are born in the west, we must never forget, that as long as our skins are brown, our religions and customs different, the worst in the indiginous, will always see us as the alien…that said, I can buy that disgusting arguement from a Brit, but in the USA unless you are amerindian, all are from somewhere else, so all have equal rights..I have just been reading Maggie Gee’s The White Family, in which it is clear that the least educated of the white population will always blame the Nigger or Paki for their own shortcomings…

9/11 is so seeped in US that this is going to happen again and again, especially of you are a Muslim

I am surprised you have not used this case to wonder why Indian Christians, Indian Muslims, Pakistanis and Bangladeshis have not spoken out to defend your fellow co-religionists.