This all getting too repetitive at this point. Once again a high profile “hate crime” involving racist graffiti swept the nation a little over a month ago, creating tremendous excitement in the mainstream media. We’re referring to the horrible incident at the Air Force Academy Preparatory School, where five black cadet candidates found racist messages sprayed on message boards outside their dormitory rooms. That kicked off a lengthy investigation and warnings from the school’s administration about the need for diversity and all the usual messaging. This served as additional fodder for the SJW crowd, providing proof of what a horrible, racist nation America has become under Trump.

Now, at long last, the mystery has been solved and the hateful racist is being identified. Unfortunately, the perpetrator turned out to be one of the black cadets who was “targeted.” (Washington Post)

But on Tuesday, the school made a jolting announcement. The person responsible for the racist messages, the academy said, was, in fact, one of the cadet candidates who reported being targeted by them.

“The individual admitted responsibility and this was validated by the investigation,” academy spokesman Lt. Col. Allen Herritage said in a statement to the Associated Press, adding: “Racism has no place at the academy, in any shape or form.”

The cadet candidate accused of crafting the messages was not identified, but the Colorado Springs Gazette reported that the individual is no longer enrolled at the school. Sources also told the Gazette the cadet candidate “committed the act in a bizarre bid to get out of trouble he faced at the school for other misconduct,” the newspaper reported.

It’s great that the academy is still reinforcing the message that racism has no place at the academy because that’s absolutely true. But it might have been helpful for them to note that this wasn’t racism. I don’t know how much credence we should give to the former student’s explanation. It’s being claimed that he was attempting to divert attention from other disciplinary action he was facing over performance issues. Perhaps that’s the case in this one instance, but most of the time it isn’t.

It seems obvious that most of these hoaxes, particularly on college campuses, are designed to perpetuate the image of rampant racism. If you can’t find any actual racism to highlight I suppose you have to cook up some on your own. Still, everyone always seems to have an excuse. That black guy in Kansas who claimed that racist graffiti was painted on his car turned out to have done it himself. But he then claimed that it was a “Holloween prank that got out of hand.”

Pull the other one, Dauntarius. It’s got bells on it.

If there’s any amusement to be found in this story it’s the utter puzzlement expressed by the Washington Post reporter as to why someone would possibly do this. You see, the real problem here isn’t the people perpetrating the fraud, but the damage being done to the cause.

It’s unclear exactly what prompts people to commit these hoaxes, stunts and false reports. But such revelations have become a major concern for civil rights activists who document racist and anti-Semitic incidents, particularly amid a rise in reported hate crimes since the election.

Yes, it’s all so “unclear,” isn’t it? It’s just a mystery for the ages. One couldn’t even hazard a guess as to why somebody would do this. The best they can do is craft an explanation like the one used following the other recent “hate crime” hoax at Kansas State. That one was described as “a prank.” Oh, it was in very bad taste, of course, but still a prank, right?

The fact is that activists need to have an enemy to battle if they hope to attract the media attention and liberal public sympathy they crave. And if nobody is willing to step up and actually do something racist, an industrious social justice warrior will just have to take matters into their own hands and do it themselves. And then when they’re exposed, what might have been a productive conversation about racial tension (which absolutely still crops up in spots) gets flipped entirely off the rails. Good job, kids.