Another day, another “white racist” violence hoax, while the real, black-on-white violence continues unabated and unnoticed

Yesterday, October 23, at 1:06 p.m. Jim N. wrote:

Just saw this, from the AP. Another hoax or a deliberate staging just in time for the elections … let’s make race center stage again.

I sure hope this is a hoax … it definitely appears to be too well staged.

Here are excerpts from the AP story, which is dated October 22, 2012:

NEW ORLEANS A 20-year-old black woman said she was set on fire by three men who wrote the initials KKK and a racial slur on her car in northeastern Louisiana, police said Monday.

Officers found Sharmeka Moffitt with burns on more than half of her body when they responded to her emergency call Sunday night …

The FBI is investigating the attack as a possible hate crime … Moffitt was in critical condition at a hospital and … some of her injuries were third-degree burns.

Moffitt told police the men doused her in a flammable liquid and set her on fire at a park …

Officers found the letters KKK—an apparent reference to the white supremacist Ku Klux Klan—and a racial slur smeared in a paste-like substance on the hood of her car …

On the emergency call, Moffitt described her attackers as three men wearing white hoods or hats, Lewis said. She later told a Winnsboro Police officer who responded to the call that the men were wearing white hoodies….

Regardless of the investigation’s outcome, though, [Otis Chisley, president of the local branch of the NAACP] said, racism and KKK activity remain a fact of life in the state.

“It’s prevalent throughout Louisiana,” he said. “It’s hidden but it exists.”

At 3:41 p.m., October 23, I replied to Jim N.:

Yes, it’s way too pat. Let’s wait for a couple of days and see what further facts come out.

At 5:55 p.m., October 23, Timothy A. sent this article from The Franklin Sun, the local paper in Franklin Parish, Winnsboro, Louisiana (see my comment at the end of the article) :

Officials: Burn victim’s claims false
posted Tuesday, October 23rd, 2012 at 3:45 pm

Two days after multiple law enforcement agencies began an investigation into the attack and burning of a Winnsboro woman at Civitan Park, authorities now believe the wounds were self-inflicted.

According to Winnsboro Police Chief Lester Thomas, evidenced gathered at the scene of the incident shows 20-year-old Sharmeka Moffitt’s initial claims that she was attacked and set on fire turned out to be false claims made up by Moffitt.

“This is a case in which the investigators had to pursue the facts that were presented,” Thomas said. “It’s been a very disturbing case for everyone involved.” [LA replies: Notice how Thomas seems apologetic for following the facts, as though following the facts was not what they really wanted to do, because it would expose the hoax, but, darnit, they were unfortunately required to follow the facts by the nature of their jobs.]

On Sunday, officers responded to a 911 call around 8 p.m. near the walking trail at Civitan Park to find Moffitt with burns covering her body. It was less than a minute from the time the call from Moffitt came into the 911 center that officers from the Winnsboro Police Department and the Franklin Parish Sheriff’s Office were on the scene at the park located on Hwy. 15.

Moffitt could not identify the race of her attackers, but said three men wearing “T-shirt hoodies” doused her in a flammable liquid and set her on fire at the park. The responding officers found no suspects or vehicles at the park where the attack allegedly occurred.

Moffitt was taken to Franklin Medical Center in Winnsboro and then transported to LSU Medical Center in Shreveport, where it was determined she had burns on over 60 percent of her body.

State Police arrived by helicopter with its crime lab team to gather evidence shortly after Moffitt was taken for medical assistance. Law enforcement officials gathered evidence from the scene all night, finishing its scaling of the crime scene by Monday morning.

After analyzing the evidence at the State Police Crime Lab, it was discovered Moffitt’s fingerprints were on the cigarette lighter and the lighter fluid recovered near the wooded area around the crime scene.

“There is more physical evidence along those lines that back this up,” Thomas said.

At a news conference held at LSU Medical Center on Monday evening, Moffitt’s mother, Edna Moffitt said her daughter was in critical condition with third-degree burns on her arms and other areas and would undergo surgery Tuesday.

False rumors regarding the incident were spread on various social media outlets Sunday night just hours after the incident took place. On many of the Twitter and Facebook posts, users speculated the attack was a hate crime and Moffitt was attacked for wearing a President Obama t-shirt when she was “raped and burned alive”.

Moffitt’s mother and Thomas confirmed Monday that the Obama T-shirt rumor was false and there was no evidence of sexual assault.

A racial slur and the letters, KKK, that were written in toothpaste on Moffitt’s vehicle were linked to female DNA, authorities said.

“All of the evidence is pointing back to the victim inflicting this upon herself,” Thomas said. “No evidence has shown any other person was involved.”

Thomas said that no matter the outcome of these types of tragic events, it’s always a heavy burden on law enforcement and the victim’s family.

“My heart truly goes out to the Moffitt family, who are more than just members of our community, they are my friends,” Thomas said. “I hope we can come together as a community and pray for their wellbeing and a quick recovery of Sharmeka.”

Candlelight vigils for Moffitt were held Monday night around Winnsboro before the facts of the case were revealed.

Franklin Parish Sheriff Kevin Cobb said the unity shown by the community on the heels of the incident was inspiring.

“I want to thank the community, who under these stressful times they allowed law enforcement to do their job to seek information, collect evidence and follow the facts,” Cobb said. “Although I think what she did was wrong and had major consequences not only for her, but throughout our community and our country. There’s something wrong here, and we need to help individuals like this. In the same way our community came to support her as a victim, I still hope the community will support her emotional and physical recovery.”

While Thomas and Cobb said no charges have been filed against Moffitt at this time, the case evidence will be turned over to the 5th Judicial District Attorney’s Office for review.

Thomas and Cobb said the collaborative efforts by their departments with the State Police and FBI helped in solving the case in a timely manner.

[end of article]

Can you imagine how terrible all that hidden white racism in Louisiana must be, if it drives a young black woman to set herself on fire in order to make a false claim of white racism? My gosh, back in the days when white racism was visible, blacks weren’t driven to such mad extremes as setting themselves on fire in order to blame it on white racism. That hidden white racism must be infinitely worse, infinitely more cruel, than the old-fashioned, visible kind.

In another story about police declaring Sharmeka’s story to be a hoax, from CBS Local in Houston, we read this:

“I feel a hurt for the victim,” Winnsboro Police Chief Lester Thomas told a news conference Tuesday.

“Nobody knows, it could be you, it could be me, it could be one of our family members struggling like this,” added Franklin Parish Sheriff Kevin Cobb.

Of course! Anyone, meaning any black person, could be so depraved that he sets his own body on fire in order to invent a false story of white racists setting blacks on fire. Anyone could be “struggling” like this. These are the terrible extremes to which all that hidden white racism in Louisiana drives blacks. Sheriff Cobb is white, yet he so identifies with the trauma of being black in racist America that he says, “It could be you, it could be me,” that would do such a thing.

From Time.com:

Winnsboro Police Chief Lester Thomas, left, and Franklin Parish
Sheriff Kevin Cobb announce during a news conference at the
Franklin Parish Courthouse on Tuesday, Oct. 23, 2012, that
Sharmeka Moffitt fabricated a story about being attacked and
burned Sunday night at Civitan Park in Winnsboro, La.

Finally, here is the entire AP story that was excerpted at the beginning of this entry:

AP/ October 22, 2012, 11:21 PM
Louisiana resident Sharmeka Moffitt, who was set on fire, claims attack was race-related

NEW ORLEANS A 20-year-old black woman said she was set on fire by three men who wrote the initials KKK and a racial slur on her car in northeastern Louisiana, police said Monday.

Officers found Sharmeka Moffitt with burns on more than half of her body when they responded to her emergency call Sunday night, said Louisiana State Police spokeswoman Lt. Julie Lewis.

The FBI is investigating the attack as a possible hate crime, but no arrests had been made as of late Monday, Lewis said. She said Moffitt was in critical condition at a hospital and that some of her injuries were third-degree burns.

Moffitt told police the men doused her in a flammable liquid and set her on fire at a park in Winnsboro, a town in Franklin Parish. Lewis said she extinguished the fire using water from a spigot before a police officer arrived.

Officers found the letters KKK—an apparent reference to the white supremacist Ku Klux Klan—and a racial slur smeared in a paste-like substance on the hood of her car, Lewis said.

On the emergency call, Moffitt described her attackers as three men wearing white hoods or hats, Lewis said. She later told a Winnsboro Police officer who responded to the call that the men were wearing white hoodies. She was unable to say what race her attackers were. The officer found no suspects or vehicles at Civitan Park where the attack allegedly happened, and the park has no surveillance cameras, Lewis said. She said the state crime lab was analyzing several pieces of evidence.

Franklin Sheriff Kevin Cobb called it “a horrific event” and said authorities would “follow the facts and seek justice.”

Otis Chisley, the president of the local branch of the NAACP, a civil rights group, said he had been in touch with Moffitt’s distraught family. He said he was waiting for more facts to come to light before drawing any conclusions about what happened and that “everyone wants to move with caution.”

Regardless of the investigation’s outcome, though, Chisley said, racism and KKK activity remain a fact of life in the state.

“It’s prevalent throughout Louisiana,” he said. “It’s hidden but it exists.”

- end of initial entry -

Jeanette V. writes:

Note that this woman’s name, Sharmeka, sounds like something nasty and unsanitary that a medical professional would avoid.

LA replies:

There’s something to what you’re saying. As we’ve discussed before, names convey qualities, and therefore a person’s name affects his self-image, his character. In addition to all the other deficits she doubtless faced in life, her mother had to saddle her with the name “Sharmeka,” virtually assuring that she would be dysfunctional and/or depraved.

Clark Coleman writes:

I wonder if you see any connection between the police chief’s apologetic tone for having to investigate the facts of the case, and the photo of the police chief in this blog entry?

LA replies:

Well, in that photo he is not a strong or decisive looking individual. One could even say he looks apologetic for existing.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at October 24, 2012 01:15 PM | Send