March 18, 2004

Yet Another Hate Crime Hoax

By Thomas Lifson

I hope that someone is collecting a comprehensive list of all the hate crime hoaxes which have been discovered in recent years. It often seems that hoaxes are so common that skepticism should always be appropriate when a new instance of racist, sexist, anti—homosexual, anti—Semitic, or other politically unacceptable graffiti is reported.

The latest apparent hoax comes once again from a prestigious campus. It seems that the fevered consciousness of racism so common to academia, when deprived of actual overt acts of racism, drives some people to serve the 'higher truth' of racism by creating phony acts of same.

This time, it isn't a student who is implicated; it is a professor.

Dr. Kerri Dunn, a Visiting Assistant Professor of Psychology at Claremont McKenna College in Southern California, was seen by two witnesses applying 'racist, anti—Semitic and sexist epithets' to her car. Additionally, local police reported that the professor had given them inconsistent statements regarding the affair.

The incident prompted all five of the Claremont Colleges to cancel classes March 10 for teach—ins and rallies against hate crimes. More than 1,000 people attended an evening rally at Claremont McKenna, where students pushed for racial and ethnic tolerance and Dunn was one of the speakers.

This is far from the first time that a campus has been plunged into turmoil by phony reports of a hate crime, in fact generated by the purported victim. Often, the perpetrator faces only trivial charges and punishment. So far, the only potential charge being mentioned for Professor Dunn is the misdemeanor of filing a false police report.

Given the seriousness with which the law treats hate crimes, it seems only fair that a hate crime hoax should be treated as severely as the underlying crime being fabricated. Since passions are being deliberately inflamed, as in a genuine hate crime, and that the additional aggravating factor of fraud is present, the law should actually treat hoaxes even more severely than genuine hate crimes.

Serious jail time for hate crime hoaxers would help dampen this rampant crime wave. As reports of hate crimes fell, there is even the chance that actual social harmony might increase. Imagine that!