ABSTRACT
The twentieth century appeared to close much as it had opened-with sprees of violence directed against the Other. The murder of Matthew Shepard, the dragging death of James Byrd, the dozens of school shootings, and the murderous rampage of Benjamin Smith all stand as reminders that the bigotry that kills is much more than an unfortunate chapter in United States history. Racial, gender, ethnic, and religious violence persist as mechanisms of oppression. It is a sad commentary on the cultural and social life of the United States that a book such as this remains timely as we enter the twentyfirst century. The dramatic cases cited above are but extreme illustrations of widespread, daily acts of aggression directed toward an array of minority communities. I use the term communities purposefully here, since these acts are less about any one victim than about the cultural group they represent. Hate crime is, in fact, an assault against all members of stigmatized and marginalized communities.
