re: A white couple who burned a cross in their yard facing Black neighbors’ home....

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don't support hate crime laws. I do think rulings/statutes explicitly stating that stuff like this, when directed at someone in reasonable proximity, amounts to harassment, terroristic threat, etc. And perhaps that's already the case, I'm not sure.

I do think burning a cross in an open area as part of a protest/rally/etc. should be protected speech. It perhaps should get your arse kicked, but not by the state.

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You apparently didn't read before commenting. An explanation for the basis of these charges was provided in the OP. I underlined the specific part of importance for you.

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Cross burnings in the U.S. are “symbols of hate” that are “inextricably intertwined with the history of the Ku Klux Klan,” according to a 2003 U.S. Supreme Court decision written by the late Justice Sandra Day O’Connor. The justices ruled that the First Amendment allows bans on cross burnings only when they are intended to intimidate because the action “is a particularly virulent form of intimidation.”

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