Providing different sentences for "hate crimes" was always a 1st amendment violation. I don't understand how "hate crimes" have held up as constitutional in our court system. I think many people looked the other way because previously hate crimes were only accompanied by violent crimes. However, if you commit a crime, the charge and potential sentencing should be the same regardless of motive, otherwise you are policing someone's thought (and in many cases assuming their thought process). Thought is never illegal though, as it is intertwined with free speech.
The couple below painted over a "Black Lives Matter" mural, and they were charged with a "hate crime." Their only real crime might be "vandalism," which isn't exactly in short supply these days. This is grossly unconstitutional, but that is the world we live in today:
https://www.theblaze.com/news/marti...qfOlfB8Z_OtkKmcWMrb0q53XAdbQZJMBdOdRiD_LomfJU