Prank or Attempted Murder?

Every April 16th, The National Day of Silence is held annually in schools across the United States to bring attention to the bullying and harassment to LGBTQ students. Cheyenne Williams is an out lesbian and attends high school in Kentucky. On The National Day of Silence, Cheyenne Williams was kidnapped by three high school students where they drove Williams to a cliff and then tried to push her off the 50 foot cliff. Kentucky police are still investigating but so far do not believe this is hate crime but a prank. "Right now, we have obtained certain facts that would indicate that might be the case, that it may have been a prank,” Sgt. Matt Feltner with the Kentucky State Police told WKYT 27. “This is not a hate crime. Right now we’re still gathering facts and still investigating.”
Lets go over some facts Sgt. Feltner. Hate crime by definition (Wikipedia): Hate crimes (also known as bias-motivated crimes) occur when a perpetrator targets a victim because of his or her perceived membership in a certain social group, usually defined by racial group, religion, sexual orientation, disability, class, ethnicity, nationality, age, gender, gender identity, or political affiliation.

"Hate crime" generally refers to criminal acts which are seen to have been motivated by hatred of one or more of the listed conditions. Incidents may involve physical assault, damage to property, bullying, harassment, verbal abuse or insults, or offensive graffiti or letters (hate mail).

Just to put on thing out of the way: kidnapping someone and then attempting to push them off a cliff is NOT a prank. It's a lot more than a simple prank. While we are at it we should Wikipedia define "prank": "A practical joke (also known as a prank or gag) is a trick to purposely make someone feel foolish or victimized, usually for humor. Practical jokes differ from confidence tricks in that the victim finds out, or is let in on, the joke rather than being fooled into handing over money or other valuables. Practical jokes or pranks are typically lighthearted and made to make people feel foolish or victimized to a certain degree, although in some practical jokes there could be an inherent strain of cruelty present."

Some people might say that it was a coincidence that Williams is a lesbian, and just because she's a lesbian, doesn't dictate that this is a hate crime. Answer: It was The National Day of Silence! An LGBTQ campaign to end discrimination, bullying and harassment in schools. This was something that was planned to happen on April 16th. And it happened to Williams because she was gay.

I hope that the Kentucky police look into the definitions of hate crimes and really think about correct punishments. And if not, I hope that Williams has a wonderful lawyer and help from the ACLU.