Lonesome EJ, you don't have to be an attorney to know the definition
of assault (or to look it up). All you have to be able to do is read.

Nor do you have to be an attorney to know that hanging a noose in
a tree as an action directed to an African-American, or painting
a swastika on a synagogue, or burning a cross on an African-American
family's lawn are all defined as 'hate crimes' in these United States.

For very good reasons, rooted in both the present and the past.

None of the above are 'free speech.' Not in any sense of the word.

And you don't have be a genius to understand what the above actions
mean in our society, and what the results are likely to be now that
certain groups have decided that they're not going to have their
necks stood on (or stretched) any more. You just have to have a lick
of common sense.

So what's YOUR problem in understanding it?