Update on Charlottesville Race Threats

Last week, I urged people not to jump to conclusions regarding the threats of racial violence that resulted in the closure of Charlottesville public schools. Many such threats turned out to be hoaxes, perpetrated by activists seeking to raise consciousness of racism and bigotry. Let the police investigation play out, I suggested.

Well, it didn’t take long to find the perpetrator, although the motive still remains a mystery to the public. Charlottesville police have arrested a 17-year-old Albemarle County male who identifies as Portuguese.  Such an identity does not fit the stereotyped profile of either a white supremacist or a progressive activist. A second teenager was arrested over an online threat that referenced Albemarle High School.

According to the Daily Progress, Police Chief RaShall Brackney said she wouldn’t reveal the first suspect’s motive, adding only that she found it “particularly troubling” that  a person who wasn’t part of the Charlottesville school system “made such a hateful divisive threat.”

I think it’s important to know the motive. Was the 17-year-old moved by racism, or was he using racist language to stir up trouble for other reasons? Such knowledge could inform the rhetoric going forward. Right now the Charlottesville political establishment is in all-out victimhood and aggrievement mode. Is the rhetoric justified or not?