Then the "hate crime" laws are redundant. We were ALREADY protected under existing laws. Unless somebody wants to argue it was legal to kill, beat or assault people before those laws were put in place.
From what I can glean from a little research on the subject, they stem from what could be considered actual federal crimes, such as efforts to "discourage" (in other words, terrorize) blacks from voting or going to school during the Civil Rights Struggle era. In other words, the laws were focused NOT on the status of the victim or the supposed motives of the attacker, but on specific, federally-protected activities... such as voting.
Now, they've got more of a "thought crime" overtone to them. Which is b.s., IMO. Who cares WHY a thug beats up or kills somebody? Punish him for WHAT was done, based on the facts.