Suburban, hate crime laws don't criminalize thought; what they do is add another variety of motive to affect sentencing (consider manslaughter vs murder, or pre-meditated murder resulting in higher penalties). An hate crime of assault is more than the assault of an individual, it targets an entire group.

Note that these sorts of laws do not penalize hate speech -- that is still protected by the first amendment. (Oh, and IANAL and all that)