Following the tragic death of George Floyd, Minneapolis became the home of the defund the police movement, and even contemplated abolishing the police. However, the government of Minneapolis has completely reversed course after a near-record crime wave has hit the city. Now the city is voting to fund the police.
Over the past half-century or so, American law enforcement and popular culture have conferred an extra level of seriousness and gravity to “hate crimes” as opposed to regular crimes. The definition of a hate crime, according to the FBI, is a regular crime with an added element of bias. “A ‘criminal’ offense against a person or property motivated in whole or in part by an offender’s bias against a race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, ethnicity, gender, or gender identity,” the FBI.gov website states.
Right now, it seems likely that Jussie Smollett is not only going to be found guilty of staging a fake hate crime and lying about it to police, but also of perjury.
Jussie Smollett destroyed his career and reputation trying to live up to a racist expectation of “blackness.” It’s the same mistake former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick made.
