But that did not stop the Washington Post, New York Daily News, NBC, and hundreds of other media outlets around the country from splashing this lie on their pages earlier this year.

The story you are about to hear is a lie. Every bit of it: White cops in Bridgeport, Connecticut threatened black police officers by writing racist letters proclaiming white power, KKK, white supremacy, and how black cops are not welcome in that town.

The headlines from February tell the story: “Threatening ‘white power’ letters appear at police department with a history of racial tensions,’ proclaimed the Washington Post.”

“Racist ‘white power’ letter found in Bridgeport Police Department mailboxes says black cops belong in toilet,” said the New York Daily News.

Ten months later, a black cop has confessed to writing the letter -- and at the behest of Lt. Lonnie Blackwell, the head of the Guardians, the black police officers’ union in Bridgeport.

Bridgeport police officer Calvin Higgins, the confessed perpetrator of the hoax, achieved some local notoriety when he and two white officers were accused of using excess force when they arrested a Hispanic suspect in 2011.

The two white officers were convicted. In January, Higgins, a black man, was acquitted.

Soon after, the fake letter appeared in his mail box. According to the Connecticut Post:

“The racist letter was typed on city letterhead and distributed through the Police Department and began and ended with “White Power,” a term coined by the Ku Klux Klan and the American Nazi Party in the late 1960s and ’70s. It complained that Higgins didn’t belong in the Police Department. “It went on to make negative comments about African-American officers.

Higgins and others -- some at a press conference -- said the letter created a “hostile work environment” for black police officers in Bridgeport.

Soon after, Connecticut state police investigators were on the case -- and they found video surveillance from inside the police department headquarters that showed Higgins writing the letter on police computers just a few minutes before he claimed to discover it. More from the Connecticut Post: The letter he is seen typing appears to be the same letter he claims he found, the affidavit states. “Higgins looked at the photographs and began rubbing and shaking his head. Higgins then admitted that it was in fact the hate letter he claimed to have found in his mailbox,” the affidavit states.

Asked by state police why he would have done that, “Higgins then stated to investigators that Blackwell told him he should write a letter to bring attention to the department with respect to ongoing racial complaints,” the affidavit states.

The fake letter is just the latest example of how prominent or public black people lie about racism, but see their deceit exposed, often on video.

Earlier this month, a black student at Kean University in New Jersey left a Black Lives Matter rally to open a fake twitter account that she used to issue false threats of violence against black people from white people.

Earlier this year in Texas, a black member of the state legislature accused a state police officer of being abusive and racist during a traffic stop. Video showed the opposite.

A Texas journalism professor complained that two police officers were racist and abusive toward her. A video showed the opposite.

Taraji Henson, star of the hit TV show empire, told a black magazine about how her son was a victim of racist abuse at the hands of white cops. A video showed the opposite.

Former NFL star Lamar Lathon told a Houston TV station that police were abusive and racist towards him during a traffic stop. Video shows the opposite.

And of course last year in Hollywood, an actress from Django Unchained said police were racist and abusive towards her after they investigated a complaint that she and her boyfriend were having sex in their car. On busy street. In the middle of the day. Video showed the cop was unfailingly polite, despite her abuse.

There are lots of other examples.

Blackwell said he did not have anything to do with writing the fake letter. Higgins left the force in July. The NAACP, which called for an independent investigation, is not commenting on the hoax.

Colin Flaherty is the author of the Amazon #1 Best Selling Book, Don’t Make the Black Kids Angry: The hoax of black victimization.