A hate crime in Baltimore

Especially if the crime is a so-called “hate crime.” Last month, shortly after St. Patrick’s Day, a white tourist from Arlington was knocked out cold, beaten some more, kicked, robbed of money, a cellphone, his car key and a watch, and then stripped nearly naked on a Baltimore street.

As is often the case today, some moron felt this despicable act worthy of being recorded on a cellphone. Said moron then posted the video in late March, according to news reports.

The video soon “went viral.” WBFF, the local Fox affiliate in Baltimore, was one of the first television stations to show the video. News anchors repeatedly asked viewers to weigh in on whether or not what happened to the tourist was a hate crime.

And this is why I have a problem with the concept of “hate crimes.” Some people are bending over backward to say what happened to the tourist was NOT a hate crime, which leaves us with this question: Are those in denial suggesting the tourist was knocked cold, kicked, beaten, robbed and stripped because the perps LIKED the guy? I think it’s pretty safe to assume there was some hate involved in the crime.

Warren Brown is a prominent Baltimore attorney. He represents Aaron Parsons, the guy in the video who nailed the tourist with a right cross and knocked him cold.

As might be expected, Brown has dismissed race as a factor in the attack. Also joining the “it wasn’t a hate crime” brigade is one Frederick Bealefeld III, Baltimore’s police commissioner.

What happened to the tourist wasn’t a hate crime, Bealefeld insisted, but “drunken, opportunistic criminality.” He hinted that those suggesting otherwise were guilty of “race baiting” and “fear mongering.”

You’ve got to love it when a city official from a city of race baiters condemns race baiting. Gov. Martin O’Malley, who was mayor of Baltimore for a spell, race-baited former Gov. Robert Ehrlich during the 2010 campaign.

The late Del. Howard “Pete” Rawlings, the father of Baltimore’s current mayor, race-baited a fellow Democrat during one election, subjecting the liberal white woman to the smell test — literally. Rawlings urged voters to cast ballots for the white woman’s black opponent, saying black Baltimoreans would vote for legislators who “look like them, talk like them and smell like them.”

But back to Bealefeld: The man seems a bit premature in ruling out the possibility of a hate crime. As for “drunken, opportunistic criminality” — as far as I know, not a single person involved in the incident was given a sobriety test.

The investigation is preliminary; few people have been interviewed. Isn’t it possible there might be a witness who says that the man’s race was a factor in his being a victim?

In addition, let’s use a little common sense here. Let’s look at a few facts and try to reach a conclusion.

Fact one: There was only one white guy standing in front of the Clarence Mitchell Jr. Courthouse that night.

Fact two: Everybody else was black.

Fact three: The only person being beaten, robbed and stripped was the white guy.

Conclusion: There was, at the very least, a racial angle to the entire incident, with some possible racial animus.

The beating, robbery and stripping of the white tourist isn’t the first black-on-white street crime that didn’t make the “hate crimes” cut. There are others, some far more outrageous than what happened to the visitor from Arlington. But in Baltimore, city officials tend to have short memories about such things.

Examiner Columnist Gregory Kane is a Pulitzer-nominated news and opinion journalist who has covered people and politics from Baltimore to the Sudan.