In an expression of logic that can only come from the mind of Al Sharpton – he expressed the following perspective:

“The intent to prove that Zimmerman did it because of his race, that is the legal threshold. Unless we change that legislation, we end up where we are in terms of the Trayvon Martin case”. (link)

And there you have the actual view.

Federal law defines hate crime as a crime carried out because of “race”. Sharpton wants to remove the hurdle of “racial intent”; in essence changing the definition so that any crime committed by a non-black, against a black person, can be considered a federal crime.

Think about that for a moment.