When is a hate crime not a hate crime? It apparently depends on the ethnicity of the victim and the perpetrator as well. Or at least that’s the message coming from NBC News in an “explainer” they published this weekend. If you’re a white person hanging a noose outside a Black person’s house or painting a swastika on a synagogue, you’re obviously going to be tagged with a hate crime. But what about random attacks on Asian people in the middle of a pandemic that most of the world blames on China? Not so fast there, partner. NBC wants you to know that you need to slow your roll and examine all of the evidence carefully. We wouldn’t want to unjustly accuse somebody, would we?
