People fall for hate crime hoaxes because they want to believe the narrative that America is a hateful and racist country. As such, they rush to judgement when an alleged hate crime is reported (the more sensational the better) and once it is proven to be false, there is an audible sigh of disappointment. Soon thereafter, the lesson is forgotten and the dance repeats itself when the next hoax comes along. Case in point, how long was it between the Jessie Smollet and Bubba Wallace incidents? My question is rhetorical.
What bothers me the most about hate crime hoaxes is the psychological damage they inflict. People give less credence to such reports over time and thereby make it more challenging for the authorities to take seriously actual hate crimes. Statistically speaking, reports of hate crimes are on the rise. Yet, how many of these reported crimes are real vs fake? I wish I knew but at this writing, I could not find the details.
Typically when I think of hate crimes, my mind goes to white people committing crimes against black people because that is what I tend to hear in the mainstream media. However, that is not the full picture. Consider this quote from The Bulwark.
According to FBI statistics for 2017, racially motivated crimes against black Americans—usually intimidation or assault—make up the single largest category of hate crimes (nearly 30 percent of the total). Jewish Americans were targeted in about 12 percent of all reported hate crimes; Muslim Americans, in about 4 percent; Hispanics, in 6.5 percent; gay, bisexual, or transgender people, in about nearly 16 percent. African-Americans were overrepresented as both hate-crime victims and offenders: In cases with a known perpetrator whose race was identified, 26 percent of the offenders were black and 61 percent were white. (Blacks make up about 13 percent of the population of the United States and whites 64 percent.)
A look at news stories of hate crimes shows similar complexities. The spike in hate-crime reports around the 2016 election included attacks on white people perceived as Trump supporters. In a particularly disturbing case in Chicago in January 2017, a mentally disabled 18-year-old white man was kidnapped, tied up, beaten, and abused for more than 24 hours by four black assailants who livestreamed some of the abuse in a Facebook video while yelling anti-Trump, anti-white profanities. Some anti-minority bias crimes are also committed by other minorities—whether it’s last year’s vicious beating of a 91-year-old Hispanic man in Los Angeles by an African-American woman who told the victim to “go back to Mexico”; the recent streak of assaults on Orthodox Jews in Crown Heights, New York, in which most of the known suspects are black teenagers; or the brutal beating of a Jewish man in Brooklyn last October by a Muslim livery cab driver who shouted anti-Jewish epithets.
In light of that, I am not inclined to dismiss investigating a hate crime simply because it does not smell right. However, I would urge the public to not rush to judgement when the next “white on black” crime is glorified in the media. And I say that because when the roles are reversed, the media and outrage is largely silent.
As a public service to the overall community, I would ask everyone who is justifiably outraged over { insert alleged hate crime here } to wait until the official investigation of { insert alleged hate crime here } to conclude before being outraged enough to riot and loot. If at the conclusion of the matter, an injustice has been proven, at least the anger would have been justified. In the interim, I offer the following list of reminders as to why waiting for an official investigation to be over is in the best interest of all concerned.
(Big thanks to Milo Yiannopoulos who created the initial version of the timeline. My list is an update of what he created in 2016.)
HATE CRIME HOAXES: A TIMELINE
2007
- Student at George Washington University targets herself with swastika graffiti
- Assistant Professor at Case Western Reserve University falsely reports racist hate mail to the FBI
2008
2009
- Student at Hofstra University falsely accuses five male students of gang-rape
- Rachel Dolezal reports numerous hate crimes at her property, but fails to follow up with evidence
- Left-wing activists in Denver vandalize Democrat Party HQ, blame right-wing opponents of Obama
- Liberal blogs spread false rumour that a town hall protester yelled a death threat at a Democratic congressman
2010
- Lesbian couple in Tennessee stage fake arson attack on themselves
- White woman in Portland attacks herself with acid, blames it on black woman
2011
- African-American law student at the University of Virginia makes up police misconduct incident
- Man in Iowa makes up incident of gay hate crime
- Lesbian couple in Colorado spray-paint “kill the gay” on their own garage door
- UNC chapel hill student accidentally burns himself, claims his injuries were the result of a homophobic attack
2012
- Gay man in Montana injures himself attempting a backflip, claims injuries were the result of a homophobic attack
- African-American woman in Louisiana claims the KKK “set her on fire” for wearing an Obama t-shirt. Police later found her own fingerprints on the lighter
- African-American woman at Grand Valley State University writes racist death threat on a whiteboard outside her own dorm room
- Lesbian in Nebraska charged with making false claims to the police after faking homophobic assault on herself
- Gay bar owner in Chicago admits to torching his own establishment, writing gay slurs on the walls
- Lesbian sophomore at Central Connecticut State University writes homophobic death threats to herself
- Republican activist in Wisconsin falsely claims he was assaulted in his home by a man shouting homophobic slurs
- Students at Montclair State University charged with faking racist graffiti
- Student at Michigan State University claims he was punched and had his mouth stapled shut by Neo-Nazis
2013
- Lesbian waitress claims a customer scrawled a homophobic note on his receipt, refusing to tip her because she was gay
- Left-wing activists at Oberlin College scrawl racist graffiti around campus
- Feminist activist at the University of Wyoming sends rape threats to herself on Facebook
- Racist and transphobic graffiti at Vassar College revealed to be the work of the same transgender student who was appointed to run the student-led investigation into the incidents
- Jersey City high school student government candidate sends racist texts to himself
- Student at the University of Chicago fakes hack on his own Facebook page, fills it with racist abuse, uses incident to push diversity agenda on campus
- African-American Baptist minister admits to painting racial slurs on the side of his house and setting his porch on fire
- Mother of high schooler in Massachussetts falsely accuses high school football team of spraying racist graffiti on her family’s house
- Gay man in Tennessee charged claims he was attacked and had a homophobic slur written on his forehead, later charged with making a false report
- Transgender Student at Hercules High School in San Francisco fakes bathroom assault
2014
- Muslim man in California murders his wife, tries to blame it on “Islamophobic hate crime”
- Radio station in New York fabricates story of a mom stopping her child from attending a classmate’s birthday party because their parents were gay
- Bosnian immigrant in St. Louis falsely claims three black teenagers wanted to kill her due to ethnicity
- Gay Apple Store customer in Portland falsely claims employee wrote homophobic slur on receipt
- African-American waitress in Tennessee claims customer wrote racial slurs to her on the back of a receipt, handwriting experts later say this is false
- Muslim in Michigan burns Qu’rans outside Islamic Cultural Center
- Rolling Stone reporter Sabrina Rubin Ederly publishes “A Rape On Campus,” a female University of Virginia student’s account of an alleged gang rape at the hands of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity. The story proves to be a hoax, leading to a national controversy
2015
- Gay pizzeria owner in Utah admits he made up allegations that he was the victim of a homophobic attack in his restaurant
- Lesbian professor at Central Michigan University admits she punched her own face and claimed bruises to be the result of a hate crime
- Black activist at Kean University faces jail sentence and fine for tweeting anonymous racial abuse to fellow students
- Gay student at the University of North Dakota claims fraternity physically attacked him for homophobic reasons, later admits he started the fight himself
- Black student at Saginaw State Valley University leaves fake racist threats on Yik Yak
- Mexican-American man in Palo Alto attacked by rival gang, blames it on white racists
- African-American activist, an alumni of Kean University tweets anonymous racist threats to students, charged with creating false public alarm
- “White Only” and “Black Only” signs at the University of Buffalo turn out to be a campus activist’s “art project””
- African-American man in Colorado Springs leaves racist messages outside African-American church
- Baltimore woman receives $43,000 in donations after claiming she received homophobic hate mail, later revealed as hoax
- Gay man in Utah carves “Die Fag” into his own arm, claims to be victim of hate crime
- Muslim student at UT Arlington fabricates story of being threatened with a gun by white men in a pickup truck decorated with “large Texan flags”
- Student activists at the University of Missouri spread false rumor of KKK sightings on campus
- Yale Sigma Alpha Epsilon frat falsely accused of multiple racist incidents
- Gay man falsely accuses a University of North Dakota frat of throwing him out of a party because he is gay
- Vanderbilt students claim bag of excrement left outside student cultural center was racially motivated, later revealed to be dog waste
- Students at University of Delaware claim “nooses” were hung from trees on campus, later revealed to be remnants of paper lanterns
- Mosque in Houston set on fire — by a Muslim
- Jewish student at George Washington University admits to posting a swastika on Jewish fraternity’s bulletin board
- White woman in Texas invents story of being attacked by three African Americans in front of her 3-year old daughter
- Gay activist in Ohio claims he has been abducted, late revealed to be a hoax
2016
- Black activist in Seattle defaces African-American cultural center with racist graffiti
- African-American students at the University of Albany falsely claim to be victims of racial abuse by fellow passenger on a bus
- Pastor in Austin, Texas claims a local Whole Foods store wrote “FAG” on a cake he ordered for a gay congregation member, but surveillance footage shows he tampered with the cake himself
- Muslim woman in New York City admits to faking knife hate crime attack
- Stunner: Anti-Muslim Threat At University Of Michigan Was A Huge Hoax
- Hateful ‘Trump’ Notes Allegedly Aimed at Student Were Fabricated, University Says
- Police: No official report of ugly racial incident at Delaware gas station
- Church Organist Vandalizes Own Church
- Muslim Woman Reportedly Admits To Fabricating NYC Subway Attack
- White husband confesses to wife to setting their cars on fire and painting racial slur on their garage door in staged ‘hate crime’
- Journalist Tricked Into Spreading Hoax Trump-Inspired Attack [VIDEO]
2017
- Beloit Police Speak on Hate Crime Hoax
- Feds Indict US-Israeli Dual Citizen Responsible For 9% Of All Anti-Semitic Acts In 2017
- University student pleads guilty to false hate crime report
- Cadet candidate allegedly targeted by racism found responsible for act
- K-State Hate Graffiti Turns Out To Be — You Guessed It — A Hoax
- Student admits to writing racist message in high school bathroom
2018
- Saltgrass COO, waiter say racism story made up
- Area sheriff livid over lie spread about employee on social media
- Woman Who Said She Found Hateful Note on Car After Teens Yelled ‘Trump 2016!’ Made Up Story: Police
- Drake University officials: Four of the five racist notes found on campus were hoaxes
2019
- Nick Sandmann settles $250M lawsuit with the Washington Post (The lawsuit claims that the Post “wrongfully targeted and bullied Nicholas because he was the white, Catholic student wearing a red ‘Make America Great Again’ souvenir cap on a school field trip)
- Jussie Smollett Staged Hate Attack Because He Was Unhappy About His Salary, Police Say
2020
- ‘NO CRIME’ IN BUBBA WALLACE CASE – Noose Had Been In Garage Since ’19
- Twitter account of embattled #MeTooSTEM founder suspended
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
- Fake Hate Map – When the Demand for Hate Crimes Outweighs the Supply…
- fake hate crimes: a database of hate crime hoaxes in the usa
And while this post may not be relevant today, please bookmark it for future reference as it is only a matter of time before another sensational race crime is reported; real or not.
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