Racial hoaxes reinforce different groups’ worst suspicion of one another: Whites are racists. Blacks are criminals.

Over the past 25 years, I’ve analyzed more than 100 racial-hoax cases, beginning with the 1987 case of Tawana Brawley, an African American teen who falsely said that several white men had raped her.

A woman has been charged with vandalism under $1,000 after authorities say she used a rock to carve “white pride” into the sidewalk at a Johnson City business.

Black people who create hoaxes are more likely to say they were victims of a hate crime by an imaginary white perpetrator.

These hoaxes have one thing in common: They tap into our conscious and unconscious beliefs about the nexus between race and crime. The accusers are counting on stereotypes to distract the police and the public from what actually took place.

Today we have another case or hate hoax.

From WCYB News 5

According to the release, 41-year-old Mahagany Teague vandalized the DC Fitness on Bobby Hicks Highway in Johnson City.

Authorities say she was arrested on Tuesday and has been booked into the Washington County Detention Center. She’s being held on a $1,000 bond.

The business owner spoke with News 5 on Monday.

“It hit me in the heart more than anything,” Derrick Carson said.

Teague is scheduled to appear in court on Wednesday.

Derrick Carson owns and operates a gym, DC Fitness, in Johnson City. He can train as many as 40 people in a day.

Arriving for his usual 5 a.m. call time on Monday, he found a message reading “white pride” etched by the front door.

People carry out racial hoaxes for all sorts of reasons—serious, mundane, or even silly.

But lately, the racial hoaxes that come from black people are too often.

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