(Note: this entry contains a sampling of staged “hate crimes” in recent years.)
At the same time, to keep things in proper perspective, I ask you to consider the following sample of bogus and staged hate crimes in recent years:
Black student suspended in hate message incident
The Los Angeles Times
January 27th 2000
By Solomon Moore, Times Staff Writer
An African American teenager who claimed that he was assaulted by three skinheads earlier this month admitted to authorities in Lancaster on Wednesday that he lied to avoid punishment for being in a fight with two black classmates.
The 15-year-old confessed to a Los Angeles County sheriff’s detective who confronted him with conflicting accounts of the attack. The boy said he had in fact gotten into a fight with two high school acquaintances and worried about damaging his braces.
“His mom put a lot of money into his teeth,” said Det. Brian Schoonmaker. “Instead of telling his mom he picked a fight and lost, he lied. He said he made up the story about the skinheads because it was believable.”
Race hate victim ‘made up attack’
By Maurice Weaver
Electronic Telegraph
Thursday 18 May 2000
A BLACK man who claimed he was set on fire by racist thugs has been arrested for allegedly making up the attack, detectives said yesterday. They believe Ashley Cane, 24, who was treated for burns to his face and arms after the alleged attack in Northfield, Birmingham, on May 1, may have been injured while setting fire to a stolen car. A police spokesman said they had charged Cane and Abigail Woodward, 28, both of Birmingham, and Daniel Lane, 28, from Malvern, Worcs, with wasting police time and conspiracy to defraud. All three have been bailed to appear before magistrates tomorrow. A fourth person questioned over the incident has been released on police bail pending further inquiries. The incident, which was raised during Prime Minister’s Questions in the Commons, is no longer being treated as a racist attack.
Denny’s Catches Phony Discrimination Claim on Video
NewsMax.com
Monday August 27, 2000
Gotcha on videotape! Faced with fighting costly phony race discrimination lawsuits, restaurant chain Denny’s caught a minority couple red-handed when they tried to claim they were discriminated against.
According to the Aug. 24 issue of The National Law Journal the couple, who were first represented by Miami attorney Ellis S. Rubin, sought unspecified damages for alleged discrimination in a public accommodation. Noting previous similar suits against Denny’s, they claimed that the previous cases indicated a “willful disregard of the rights of African-Americans.” Stage was able to come up with a videotape from a camera installed over the restaurant’s cash register. According to Stage, it showed that the couple were not in the restaurant for the hour they claimed, but for a mere 10 minutes before leaving. Moreover, it showed that several black and Hispanic patrons were seated during the short period that the plaintiffs were there, although Flagler and Jones had alleged that no black patrons were served while they were seated in Denny’s, Stage recalled.
Stage waited until the plaintiffs were deposed and had restated the charges leveled in the original complaint before he sprung the trap, handing a copy of the incriminating tape to the couple’s lawyer. “After further investigation, we decided to withdraw from the case since we didn’t want to violate Florida Bar rules or Rule 11,” Rubin told the Law Journal, referring to the federal rule penalizing lawyers for bringing frivolous litigation.
Thief who lied about race attack detained
By Daily Telegraph Correspondent
‘Tuesday 10 October 2000
A TEENAGER who claimed he was attacked by a racist gang, doused in petrol and set alight, was sent to a young offenders’ institution for three months yesterday after he admitted making up the incident. Thames Valley Police launched a hunt for the gang of white teenagers who were alleged to have screamed racist abuse before hurling petrol over Chris Barton, 18, during the late night attack
Barton, of West Indian origin, said the men walked away laughing after the incident in Berinsfield, Oxon, last year. It was disclosed that Barton had stolen a car the previous night and had burnt himself while torching the vehicle. To cover his crime he made up the attack, lying to police and selling his story for £400.
Texas: Woman recants story of attack by KKK
Dallas Morning News, Sept 5, 2001
http://www.dallasnews.com/texas_southwest/462654_tswrailbriefs_.html
A 32-year-old black woman who said she was abducted, robbed and sexually assaulted by two white men last week has recanted her story. The woman, who lives in Bivins, about 150 miles east of Dallas, told police that she carved the letters “KKK” into her chest with scissors. Her motive is unknown.——
Hate crime hoax at Ole Miss
Michelle Malkin
townhall.com, December 18, 2002
A terrible racial incident took place at Trent Lott’s alma mater last month. But you won’t hear about it from Dan Rather or Time magazine or The Washington Post or the NAACP. That’s because what happened at the University of Mississippi in the early morning hours of Nov. 6 has all the markings of a fake hate crime: An apparent racial hoax committed by black students against black students, but blamed on whites—until the suspects were nabbed last week. Three black freshmen were accused by the college of scrawling racist graffiti on the doors of two other black students in the Kincannon residence hall on the Oxford campus. Among the hateful epithets: “F——g N——r” and “F——g Hoe N——r.” Also left on walls and doors spanning three floors of the dorm: A tree with a noose and hanging stick figure and vulgar references to genitalia drawn in blue window chalk.
… Local and national observers immediately assumed the vandals were white. Black students organized a “Say No to Racism” march and demanded more protection against white-on-black harassment. They blasted the school’s president for not apologizing quickly enough for the racial slurs. The school’s “Minority Affairs” director demanded that the university establish “programs and procedures” to ensure racial sensitivity and prevent hate crimes. The “Institute for Racial Reconciliation” and the “Committee On Sensitivity and Respect” convened meetings. Activists called for criminally prosecuting the perpetrators under state felony laws or federal hate crime statutes. But now that the race of the suspects has been revealed, some are seeking to minimize the crime as a “prank.” The college will not be bringing criminal charges against the trio.
Linda Man, Woman Pleads Guilty to Harassing Other Black School Bus Drivers
Kansas City Star, December 12, 2001.
American Renaissance, March 2002
Last October, someone put leaflets full of racial slurs and threats of violence on school buses and in the mailboxes of black school bus drivers for the Grand-view School District in Kansas City. It turns out the perpetrator was one of their own-black school bus driver Lee Hooker-Medlock. On Dec. 12, 2001, Mrs. Hooker-Medlock plead guilty to one count of misdemeanor harassment in exchange for probation and mental counseling. Her attorney, Paul Katz, blamed the incident on depression. “She didn’t really know what was she was doing,” he said. Depressed or not, Mrs. Hooker-Medlock was rational enough to cover her tracks. She sent leaflets to herself and her husband.
NU freshman reported knife attack, graffiti
By Lisa Black Chicago Tribune
November 19, 2003
A Northwestern University student who had said he was the victim of racist graffiti and a knife attack has been charged with felony disorderly conduct after he admitted to police that both reports were fake, officials said Tuesday.
On Monday, five days after Jaime Alexander “Xander” Saide, 19, told his story to hundreds of Northwestern students at a campus rally against discrimination, police arrested the freshman.
“The investigation suggests Mr. Saide fabricated both of these incidents to call attention to himself and his anti-hate campaign,” said Evanston Police Chief Frank Kaminski.
Saide had told police that on Nov. 4 he found anti-Hispanic slurs including the word “die” written on a wall and a poster near his room in Chapin Residential College. On Nov. 8, he told police, a man grabbed him from behind and put a knife to his throat as he walked to his dormitory after visiting friends. He said the man whispered an anti-Hispanic epithet in his ear before running off.
Police questioned Saide’s story from the beginning, Kaminski said.
“If you’ve been an investigator for any length of time, you start to develop gut feelings,” Kaminski said.
Saide told police he made up the incidents to “motivate minority students and staff to the problems of racism,” said Evanston Police Cmdr.
‘TRANNY’ CASTRATES SELF, FAKES BIAS CRIME
By LARRY CELONA and CYNTHIA R. FAGEN
NY Post, Dec 16,2003
A 22-year-old transvestite was in critical condition yesterday after he hacked off his penis, then lied and told cops he was the victim of a hate crime. The man, who was not identified because of the nature of the crime, was in critical condition yesterday after doctors at Harlem Hospital Center were unsuccessful in reattaching his penis. Police said the man initially claimed it was a berserk gypsy cab driver who had severed his penis in a fit of rage.
But cops grew suspicious after the victim’s story was inconsistent. After a second interview, police said they were able to determine the man made up the story.
Initially, the victim said the driver sliced off his penis after a bizarre midnight taxi ride around Manhattan. The victim said he went to an apartment, whose address he couldn’t remember, and was helped up the stairs by the cabbie.
Police said the victim said he then requested he be taken to 158th Street and Edgecombe Avenue when the cabbie lashed into a tirade. “You’re a man, I hate people like you,” the driver allegedly yelled at the man, before pulling out a knife and slicing his penis off.