Fake Hate Crime Goes Unreported

We're a little confused. Our old newspaper is reporting on what it is calling "another ugly racial threat" at a local high school.

The recent threat was posted on Instagram and it said, among other things, "All blacks must die."

The alleged fact that the message was posted by a 17-year-old black girl, however, didn't change the narrative. This was an "ugly racial threat." That's their story and they are sticking to it.

Certainly, it could be construed that way. But not by any reasonable person. Any reasonable person with the now known facts would realize this was not a racial threat but a racial threat hoax.

Such hoaxes are becoming more and more commonplace. They are being perpetrated often by members of identity groups who want to see themselves as victims of an oppressive white, heteronormative and sexist culture.

For instance here's just one such hoax reported last year.

Elizabeth, N.J. - A recent Kean graduate has been charged with being responsible for a series of tweets threatening black students at the school two weeks ago, acting Union County Prosecutor Grace H. Park announced Tuesday.

Kayla-Simone McKelvey, 24, of Union – a black alum who graduated in May – was charged by summons with third-degree creating a false public alarm. 

Park said an investigation by the Union County Prosecutor's Office's Special Prosecutions Unit and Kean University police found that McKelvey, a self-proclaimed activist, participated in a student rally to raise awareness of racism on college campuses on Nov. 17, but left midway through and walked to a computer station in a university library.

People fall for these hoaxes all the time, especially on college campuses. But when they are revealed to be what they are - ugly pranks or fake hate crimes - they should called as such. Why the hesitation here is beyond us.