First, a little background for newcomers:
Quoting myself from last March:
In February 2002 ten black Charlottesville High School students were arrested for a series of six separate attacks on primarily white UVa students (there were two Asian victims) that occurred between September 2001 and January 2002. In addition to various minor injuries one student suffered a concussion and another a badly broken cheekbone that required surgery. Several of the arrested students told police that they selected their victims because they were (or they thought they were) white.
The Charlottesville Commonwealth’s Attorney chose not to treat these racially motivated attacks as hate crimes.
In February 2003, as most of you may recall, Daisy Lundy, then a candidate for student council president, claimed that she was attacked by someone who was dressed like most UVa students and who uttered a racial slur. Quoting again from the above post, I noted then the vast contrast in the University’s response. This time, its
response was swift, massive, and impressive. In less than a day a “Voices of Diversity” web page had been added just off the main page, with links to powerful and heart-felt statements by University President John Casteen, offering a $1,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction; the Vice President of Student Affairs; the Law School; the Arts and Sciences chairmen; and the Alumni Board of Managers. Less than a day later the reward was doubled, to $2,000. By the second day after the attack the Council on African American Affairs, a Washington research institute in which many UVa alumni are active and that is closely affiliated with the Ron Brown Scholar program in Charlottesville, announced that it is offering a $20,000 reward.
Now fast-forward to today, and the front page of the Cavalier Daily. The lead story announces that the FBI is still investigating the alleged Lundy hate crime, and that a federal grand jury met over the summer to hear testimony. The only evidence that an assault occurred is Ms. Lundy’s claim, about which doubts have been growing and expressed more freely than was the case last spring, in part because her claim led to her opponent’s withdrawal from the student council race and her then unopposed victory.
There was, however, one other very interesting story on the front page of the CD today, “City Police Nab Three Suspects For Assault.”
The charges stem from an alleged assault on two Engineering students, second-year Brian Welsh and third-year Ricky Yau, who chairs the Student Council safety concerns committee….
At the time of the attack, Yau reported that he heard racial remarks, including at least one racial epithet, by one of the assailants.
Stating that racial slurs were not a factor in the investigation, [Charlottesville Police Capt. Chip] Harding said the assault was not being treated as a hate crime.
Of course not. This is Charlottesville. Charlottesville is Blue. In Blue America hate crimes against whites and Asians do not occur.
This double standard is old news. Here in Boston some years ago, a white Northeastern University student was attacked and killed by a group of young African Americans. Despite the admission that the group was out to “get a white boy” the local authorities determined that it was not a hate crime.
A few years earlier, a Vietnamese immigrant was beaten to death by a group of African American kids, and after a thorough investigation, the authorities were “relieved” that it wasn’t inspired by racial animus. Perhaps it wasn’t, but the relief expressed by the authorities was clear indication of their adherence to PC, and a clear insult to the victim’s family (“Too bad for poor Mr. Nguyen, but at least they didn’t hate him because of his ethnicity!”)