A shocking claim, a “racist” angle, followed by a flood of headlines, a GoFundMe that fills up overnight, and before anyone has time to sort out what actually happened, the accused is already branded for life.
The facts usually catch up later, and we discover the whole thing was a hoax. But the damage to the victim is already done.
That’s exactly why this Texas case is getting so much attention. Another white teen was attacked and wrongly labeled as a “racist bully,” and a black mother gained a lot of money and social clout for being a “victim.”
Underneath all the viral noise and horrific racist allegations was a middle school incident that might have been immature and disgusting, but it was in no way racist. And a jury agreed with him in a big way.
Here’s what went down:
A group of eighth-graders pulled a cruel sleepover stunt that never should have happened.
But the jury flat-out rejected the claim that the behavior was driven by racial hatred and awarded him a heck of a lot of cash.