Note: The post below is from October of 2018 and refers to events that took place that year. It has been more recently shared widely on social media by third parties, in the aftermath of George Floyd's death and amid the protests that followed. The incident described in this post is not directly related to those events.

The man accused of killing Jerry Wolkowitz has since been charged with murder.

Hatred and violence against anyone because of the immutable characteristics, race or gender or appearance, is considered a hate crime technically only the violence would constitute a hate crime — just hating them but not committing violence wouldn't . Violent hate crimes usually get broad coverage in the media. This one didn't, because he's a middle-aged white male.

Jerry Wolkowitz was brutally attacked in the parking lot of his apartment complex in Freehold, according to police. He was attacked from behind, struck in the head and face and received horrendous injuries. The suspect then stole his car and ran him over with it, police said. Jamil Hubbard, 25 was later arrested at his house in Sayreville, where police found Wolkowitz' car.

Investigators determined Hubbard, who is black, attacked the victim because of his race — and only because of his race. The two didn't know each other, police say. This happened back in May and almost no attention was paid to this horrendous story. Sadly, Jerry Wolkowitz died this week from his injuries, after almost 6 months in a vegetative state.

Hate crimes of this nature would usually receive widespread and continuing coverage. This story went largely ignored by most of the media. Imagine if this hate crime were perpetrated on any other category of human being in our society — a gay person, a member of a religious group, a person of color, an immigrant or a woman of any color. And imagine the suspect was white.

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Do you think this story would have gotten broad coverage? You bet it would. We would know that person's name from hearing it repeated daily, and the name of the perpetrator. Hatred and violence is wrong no matter what direction it comes from, and who it is directed to. Jerry was a freelance journalist/photographer and a longtime volunteer EMT. He deserves to be remembered and his killer deserves to rot in jail, no matter what race he is or why he did it.

Much of the media in this country is dishonest, deceitful, cowardly and morally complicit in the deep divides in our society today. If you're going to report on stories like this, report on ALL of them. Don't cherry-pick the ones you empathize with or that will stir up the most controversy.

An attack like this is unacceptable in any circumstance, and should be given the attention it deserves. Jerry Wolkowitz would have been one of the first persons on the scene after this kind of incident. He would have been there to render assistance and rush that person to a hospital. Instead, he spent the last six months of his life in a hospital clinging to life. That's who Jerry Wolkowitz was. You should know who Jerry Wolkowitz was.

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