The vicious animosity incited by extreme partisanship that is so prevalent in the American political culture has led society to view hate crimes, whether racial, sexual, religious, or gender-related, as weapons to demonize the opposing political party.

We have so much disrespect for those who do not share our political beliefs that we are willing to adopt any means necessary to cast them as evil, even if that means diminishing the severe importance of the cause at hand by using victims as pawns.

It seems to have become a pattern that we take advantage of victims who experience hate crimes to use them to our advantage by spinning the story to portray that the other party is the enemy. This not only encourages victims to fear speaking out about their trauma but also discredits those who have experienced such horrendous trauma, because we now assume that they are lying to advance their own political agenda.

Politicizing these issues takes away from the fact that racism still exists, sexism still exists, homophobia still exists, Anti-Semitism still exists, and many other issues that should be at the forefront our agenda still exist.

We see this in the recent case with Jussie Smollett, who inspired rage among many, specifically the political left who blamed Republicans for the supposed merciless attack. A month later, Smollett has been charged with disorderly conduct for filing a false police report and hiring the brothers who attacked him.

Smollett wanted to make a statement towards racial and homophobic hatred which I understand, but he did it with dishonesty. He intended to widen the divide between the political parties rather than unite them to fight for what should and must be a common cause.

Hate crimes of any kind are not issues that should only be directed towards a specific party, or group of people who affiliate with a certain identity or belief.

These despicable acts are American issues, and they impact every single one of us because they violate the principle that we all are free to celebrate our cultures and be exactly who we want to be without shame. We should all feel a sense of anger and betrayal towards these crimes, and in times like these, we must stand together.