From the Jena 6 incident to the latest display of hatred at Columbia University in which a… From the Jena 6 incident to the latest display of hatred at Columbia University in which a swastika was found painted on a Jewish professor’s office door, incidents of hatred have unfortunately been cropping up across the country. And the Philadelphia City Council has decided, that’s enough.

The Philadelphia City Council introduced a bill Wednesday that would make such displays of hatred crimes punishable by jail time or fines. The bill states that people responsible for displaying symbols of hatred would be penalized with up to 90 days in jail and it would increase the maximum fine from $300 to $1,500.

Displaying nooses, swastikas or burning crosses would be illegal in “any place of employment, public facility or public right of way,” according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.

The bill is a response to a recent incident at a Philadelphia construction site when a white worker allegedly shook a noose at an African American hoist operator and said he “wanted to kill someone.”

Initially, this bill seems like an adequate response to what sadly seems to be growing trend across the nation. Our society does not agree with intolerance and racism, so perhaps racist and intolerant symbols should be outlawed.

But the bill also seems like a very attractive political response for lawmakers to take at this time. Nooses? Swastikas? Just issue a bill and make it seem as though something is being done.

However, the problem is that this bill will not really accomplish much. The bill addresses incidents of hatred in places of work and public areas. It aims to protect people from being exposed to such acts.

But in that respect, it is unnecessary because there are already laws in place to address hatred in public places. If someone expresses racism at work, they are likely to get fired. If someone displays a burning cross at a city park, they are sure to be stopped by a police officer.

Usually, however, displays of hatred are secretive and anonymous, as we’ve seen in recent months. It is difficult to catch the perpetrator of an incident of hatred.

So while the bill may help to solidify the fact that displays of hatred are deplorable, it will not make these displays disappear. As long as there are ignorant people, there will be hatred and racism.

Furthermore, when it comes to penalizing the display of symbols, how do we know where to draw the line? Many symbols have different meanings for different people. The Confederate flag is, for some, a symbol of Southern pride. For others, it’s a blatant display of racism.

Nooses, swastikas and burning crosses are clearly not the only displays of hatred out there.

So is this bill just the beginning of a long list of laws that will ban any symbols that can be deemed hateful?

Making these symbols more punishable by law is not necessarily the answer to the problem. Forbidding people to express themselves through hate symbols is much like moving the couch to cover the stains on the carpet – it does not address the problem directly.

Perhaps people should be allowed to express themselves so that we know that these displays are wrong, so that we’re not ignorantly blind to the fact that intolerance and racism exist and so that we can better combat hate in the future.