Racial Hatred: A Comparative Analysis of the Hate Crime Laws of the United States and Germany
![handle is hein.journals/psilr13 and id is 249 raw text is: Racial Hatred: A Comparative Analysis of
the Hate Crime Laws of the United States
and Germany
Charles Lewis Nier III*
I. Introduction
On the night of October 29, 1993, several members of the U.S. luge
team went to a pub to celebrate a teammate's birthday.' The team was
in Oberhof, Germany, a small town about 150 miles southwest of Berlin,
to train for the World Cup tour and the 1994 Winter Olympic games.2
Shortly after arriving at the bar, Duncan Kennedy was alerted to the
possibility of trouble when two skinheads motioned to the Americans.3
Thus, Kennedy suggested to Robert Pipkins, his African-American
roommate, that they should leave the pub.4 Just as the group was
preparing to leave, a group of fifteen skinheads marched into the pub
wearing leather boots and jackets adorned with swastikas.5 The
skinheads moved behind Pipkins and began making monkey sounds while
shouting Nigger raus [get out]. Several of Pipkins' teammates hustled
him outside while Kennedy tried to facilitate the escape by blocking the
door.7 The skinheads approached Kennedy chanting Sieg Heil, Heil
Hitler and drove him out to the pub's parking lot.8 After being
surrounded by the skinheads, Kennedy was punched and kicked several
* Associate, Barbin & Barbin, P.C., Harrisburg, Pa. B.A. 1990 Ohio University; J.D. 1993 The
Dickinson School of Law; LL.M. (International and Comparative Law) 1994 Georgetown University
Law Center.
1. Richard Hoffer, Get Up, Stand Up: U.S. Luger Duncan Kennedy Refused to Take a
Skinhead Attack on a Teammate Lying Down, and Now He Won't Give up the Fight, SPORTS
ILLUSTRATED, Dec. 13, 1993, at 56. A luge is a small sled on which the driver lies on his back
slidi ng down an ice chute at speeds of up to 75 m.p.h. Id. The luge is propelled down the chute
by gravity and centrifugal force. Id.
2. Id.
3. Id.
4. Hoffer, supra note 1, at 56. Duncan Kennedy is considered the best luger in the United
States and among the top three in the world. Id. Robert Pipkins won the 1992 world junior title.
Id. At the XVII Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway, Kennedy on his fourth and final run
crashed on the thirteenth of sixteen turns and failed to medal. Leigh Montville, Hitting the Wall:
Speeding After a Medal, U.S. Hopeful Duncan Kennedy Slid Out of Control and Crashed, SPORTS
ILLUSTRATED, Feb. 21, 1994, at 30.
5. Hoffer, supra note I, at 56.
6. Id.
7. Id.
8. Id.](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/psilr13&div=15&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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Racial Hatred: A Comparative Analysis of the Hate Crime Laws of the United States and Germany
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