HATE CRIME HOAX: Post-election racist messages at Rhodes College prove to be fake
‘The investigation into the hate crime that occurred recently on our campus has ended with the identification of the perpetrator and the conclusion this incident was fabricated,’ the school said.
'This matter has caused enormous pain to our community, and we are taking the appropriate steps to hold this individual accountable, including all legal avenues that may be available to us,’ it continued.
A supposed hate crime at Rhodes College in Tennessee has proven to be a hoax.
Following the 2024 presidential election, racist messages were found written on sheets of paper in front of a building on campus, bearing messages like “F N-word, Trump Rules,” student Lauren Roberts reported at the time, according to WREG-TV. “Rhodes needs to find whoever did it, immediately. . . .They are saying they are investigating and doing this and that and the third but it’s been — two weeks and you still haven’t found anybody that’s kind of like a bumper to the black community, in my opinion,” she added.
[RELATED: Hate crime hoax: Black man responsible for ‘racist’ graffiti at Salisbury University ]
Now, the school administration has discovered that those messages were part of a hoax that was meant to portray President-elect Donald Trump’s supporters in a negative light, according to Fox News.
Rhodes College told Fox News: “Thanks to the tireless efforts of our Campus Safety officers and the Memphis Police Department, the investigation into the hate crime that occurred recently on our campus has ended with the identification of the perpetrator and the conclusion this incident was fabricated. This individual has admitted responsibility.”
It continued: “This matter has caused enormous pain to our community, and we are taking the appropriate steps to hold this individual accountable, including all legal avenues that may be available to us.”
According to research conducted by Wilfred Reilly, a political science professor at Kentucky State University and the author of “Hate Crime Hoax,” fewer than 33 percent of the hate crimes he examined were real, with the rest being hoaxes, according to the Wall Street Journal.
A prominent hate crime hoax that took place in recent years involved actor Jussie Smollett, who claimed to have been attacked by Trump supporters who yelled racial slurs at him and assaulted him in Chicago in 2019.
It was later discovered that Smollett had lied about the occurrence, and had to spend five months in jail and pay a fine of almost $150,000 as punishment.
A Rhodes College spokesperson shared with Campus Reform the statement already quoted above.
