I'm going to be consistent with my longtime position on hate crimes. I don't think there should be such a thing as a "hate crime." If you commit a crime against someone, it's the action you should be punished for, not for "hating" them or whatever other nefarious motive.
That said, the fact that the Chicago Police Department chose moments ago to charge Jordan Hill, Tesfaye Cooper, Brittany Covington and Tanishia Covington with a hate crime in the video attack that everyone has now seen at least shows that they're no longer pretending the attack was neither racially nor politically motivated.
