Hate Crimes or Hoaxes on the Peninsula?

Just in time to celebrate the holiday season comes the shocking, shocking, I say, story of a LGBTQWTF activist on the Kenai Peninsula getting assaulted for being a LGBTQWTF activist.

The ADN ran the typical breathless story documenting multiple attacks on the target.  The Peninsula Clarion ran a similar story.  Interestingly enough, neither paper allowed comments on the story, which may be yet another indicator of what they both actually think of the veracity of the claimant.

A week later, a pair of enterprising democrat House members wrote an opinion piece decrying the lack of hate crime laws in Alaska that supposedly will empower the LGBTQWTF community by treating them unequally.  This time around, the ADN did open comments, which were highly skeptical at best.

Hearing this story, every fiber of my being screams Jussie Smollett, who staged a racial hate crime attack hoax in Chicago Jan 2019, blaming the attack on Trump MAGA hatted assailants, we simply don’t have enough information on this one yet.  But given recent popularity of hate crime hoaxes nationwide, most of them (over 90%?), on college campuses, I think we need to make sure this really happened before running around passing laws to make sure it never happens again.

The target claimed to have received a threatening note, pictured in the ADN story.  He claimed to have been slashed with a knife.  There ADN had a photo of 3 cuts on his left forearm.  Finally, he claimed that the perp was standing in the back of his pickup and threw a rock at his vehicle, nearly making a hole in the windshield on the passenger side.  Both papers had photos of the windshield.

Interesting location for an impact, on the passenger’s side, conveniently placed so the driver can continue to see out when they drive from news photographer to news photographer.  Also note that local temps on the day of the attack were 12 – -4 F.  Pretty cold to spend a while standing in the bed of your pickumup, in the dark, with a rock, waiting for a specific vehicle to come along.  Throwing while standing on a slick surface with gloves and winter gear on doesn’t work all that well either, but what do I know?

The Soldotna Pride group scheduled a town hall to discuss LGTBQWTF safety on Jan 4.  To the best of my knowledge, neither paper covered that event, though Alaska Public Media did.  Interesting timing on a series of attacks, just in time for a public meeting to discuss public safety for the LGBTQWTF community.

For their part, the Troopers are investigating and so far, have found nothing.

What to do about this?

We have laws on the books against knife attacks, threatening letters, and tossing large caliber objects at moving vehicles.  They are at some level enforced regardless of membership in any esteemed victim group.  Why do we need additional legislation?  Of course, this event is nicely timed to generate both interest and legislative support by enterprising democrats and those who caucus with them who pander to self-selected victim groups at the drop of a hat, so I do expect them to propose something this legislative session.  And the ever reliable Gary Knopf is also on board with this.

While I will strongly oppose such legislation, there is a way to have fun with it.  The legislation, should it be floated, ought to have a hate crime hoax provision that will prosecute anyone who is found making false hate crime claims with the same charges and same penalties (jail time, fines, probation, legal and court fees, etc) as the hoax would have brought on someone.

For example, say we have a claim of an attack that would get someone 5 years in jail for aggravated assault.  If it is found to be a hoax, the hoaxer is the one who spends the 5 years in jail in addition to paying all legal bills, court costs, and investigatory costs by law enforcement that would have been applied to whomever ended up being accused and prosecuted for the claimed crime.  This negative incentive will go a long way toward putting the brakes on the fledgling hate crime hoax industry in Alaska.

I have no idea how all this will end up.  The most interesting part of it so far has been the media which breathlessly pushed the original story has gone silent.  Nothing to see here.  Move along.  Move along.  I wonder why?

Alex Gimarc lives in Anchorage since retiring from the military in 1997. His interests include science and technology, environment, energy, economics, military affairs, fishing and disabilities policies. His weekly column “Interesting Items” is a summary of news stories with substantive Alaska-themed topics. He was a small business owner and Information Technology professional.