Racial Hoaxes Remain Too Good To Fact-Check For The Left

Some stories are just too good to fact-check for legacy media and their “mainstream Republican” counterparts.

Chief among such news items are ones that stoke racial animosity. If it’s an opportunity to knock down a group of Christians,  then that’s even better for the usual suspects, who jump at the chance to shriek about alleged bigotry running rampant.

The latest example of this malfeasance comes out of Utah. Recently, as has been widely reported, Duke University volleyball star Rachel Richardson claimed that several Brigham Young University (BYU) fans subjected her to racial heckling during a Duke vs. BYU women’s volleyball match on August 26. There was no video evidence, despite it allegedly occurring in the middle of the day in a packed gymnasium.

What happened next was entirely predictable. Those who should know better condemned the incident wholeheartedly. Members of the media claimed it was more evidence of America’s racial struggle. Republicans intent on appeasing the Left rather than fighting for truth issued heartfelt tweets.

For example, Utah’s Governor Spencer Cox tweeted in a since-deleted post, “Just catching up on this terrible story. I’m disgusted that this behavior is happening and deeply saddened if others didn’t step up to stop it.”

“As a society we have to do more to create an atmosphere where racist a**holes like this never feel comfortable attacking others,” he added.

Cox has also defended actual racism against white kids in the past, so perhaps his response isn’t surprising.

Whatever the case, almost nobody in authority waited for the facts, not even BYU. The school almost immediately banned some poor fan who was accused of uttering the profanities in question.

On Friday, BYU completed its lengthy investigation into the incident. It looked at all available audio and video evidence, interviewed more than 50 people at the court that day, and made a conclusion. BYU revealed, “we have not found any evidence to corroborate the allegation that fans engaged in racial heckling or uttered racial slurs at the event.”

As a result, the aforementioned ban on the spectator has been lifted.

Folks who decry racism should be glad that it looks more likely than not that the heckling never occurred.

Yet, Duke responded to the announcement by sticking with Richardson and its volleyball team.

“The 18 members of the Duke University volleyball team are exceptionally strong women who represent themselves, their families, and Duke University with the utmost integrity,” Duke’s Vice President & Director of Athletics Nina King said in a statement. “We unequivocally stand with and champion them, especially when their character is called into question.”

Noted Duke alumnus Jay Bilas even stated his continued support for Richardson. Bilas tweeted, “We stand with and up for Rachel Richardson.”

We stand with and up for Rachel Richardson. https://t.co/swnFWYe8zW

— Jay Bilas (@JayBilas) September 9, 2022

If anybody should know college controversies regarding race aren’t always what they seem, Bilas should.

The former college basketball star was featured prominently in ESPN’s “Fantastic Lies” about Duke’s last racial imbroglio — the Duke lacrosse scandal. In 2006, members of the Duke lacrosse were infamously accused of raping a black stripper. It was all a lie.

Bilas was disgusted by the university’s response, most notably from then-President Richard Brodhead.

“From the beginning, President Brodhead abdicated his responsibility as Duke’s leader to stand up for fairness and truth,”
Bilas wrote in a letter to Duke Magazine that was never published by the outlet. “Instead, President Brodhead chose the path of political expediency. He failed to effectively counter factually inaccurate and inappropriate statements about Duke and its students, failed to forcefully speak out against procedural irregularities and failed to take appropriate action in response to repeated attacks upon the due process rights of Duke’s students. That is unacceptable.”

But Bilas doesn’t appear to have taken the lessons he learned in 2006 and applied them in 2022.

BYU also chose political expediency and failed its students by rushing to implement penalties for something without evidence. Duke, in standing by their volleyball team despite the absence of evidence, still doesn’t really seem interested in looking at the truth.

Based on his reaction to the latest news, it would appear that Bilas’ loyalty might be more aligned with Duke than to fairness or honesty.

Bilas, of course, is just one person. Plenty of other Americans believe claims of racism without first waiting for the facts, only to have the truth come out long after it’s buried in everybody’s mind something nefarious happened.

It happened with the Covington Catholic kids, Jussie Smollet, NASCAR driver Bubba Wallace, and even at the school where former second lady Karen Pence taught art. It was falsely reported that three white boys pinned down a black girl and cut her hair.

In a nation that the Left claims is full of racists — and with elected GOP officials apparently ready to support that notion — why do so many racial hoaxes happen and dominate national news? Why are