Home / General / Hate speech, hate crimes and the illusion of plausible deniability

Hate speech, hate crimes and the illusion of plausible deniability

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On Saturday Richard Collins, III, came to the University of Maryland to visit friends and celebrate being commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Army. He was going to graduate from Bowie State on Tuesday.

Early Sunday morning he was stabbed to death by Sean Urbanski, a UMD student and member of a Facebook group called Alt Reich Nation.

Court documents obtained by News4 say Collins was waiting for the university’s shuttle bus with his friends when they realized the shuttle bus had stopped running for the night. The three decided to call an Uber and were waiting for one to arrive when they heard Urbanski screaming nearby, the documents said.

Collins and his friends watched Urbanski has he approached them. According to court documents, “Urbanski said, ‘Step left, step left if you know what’s best for you.’

“Collins said ‘No’ as Urbanski continue to approach,” the documents said.

One of Collins’ friends noticed Urbanski was holding a knife with a 3- to 4-inch silver blade as the suspect stabbed Collins once in the chest area, documents said. The friend ran toward Baltimore Avenue as she called 911 and asked the Uber driver to call 911. Other witnesses stayed with Collins and tried to help him until police and medics arrived.

Two Prince George’s County police officers found Urbanski sitting on a bench at a bus stop about 50 feet from where Collins had collapsed. Witnesses identified him as the suspect and he was taken into custody at the university’s police department, documents said.

Urbanski faces a number of charges including 1st and 2nd degree murder. The FBI is investigating to determine whether it was a hate crime.

The the chief of UMD’s police department noted that he wasn’t aware of any increase in threats on campus. I’ll take his word for it, but note there has been an increase in threatening activity.

Soon after tRump was elected white supremacist flyers started appearing on the campus and in nearby neighborhoods. A couple of weeks ago someoneĀ  placed a noose in the kitchen of one of the frats.

Is there a direct connection between the flyers or the noose or the Facebook group and Urbanski stabbing Collins in the chest? Unless Urbanski says so, that will remain an unknown known. Even if he says he was influenced by one or more of these things, it would fit the pattern that assists the spread of supremacist terror.

Marginalized groups know that soon or late the fire of violence will follow the smoke of hate speech. No matter how many people or organizations speak about the criminal brown savage or the Sharia spreading Muslim, slut and their non-stop abortions, or the gay man who wants to assault kids, the act of violence against marginalized people is always attributed solely to the individual. Where was he radicalized? people ask semi-ironically. Not here! And don’t try to take our guns! screams every human septic tank that’s been spewing filth everywhere.

Meanwhile the speech continues and keeps the potential victims nervous and miserable.

This ill-defined space between the speech acts and violent acts is also the headquarters of The Grand Brotherhood of Pundits and Tut-tutters who are deeply saddened when people protest the on-campus appearance of people like Charles Murray or Anne Coulter or Milo Y-didtheycancelmybook, because anything that hinders the Free and Open Exchange of Ideas is Bad.

I think inviting someone like Murray to take a nap in the path of a steam roller is a fine example of the free and open exchange of ideas, but that doesn’t count for some reason.

More importantly, these protest recognize that no matter how much someone might like to pretend, the interplay between speech and violence exists. Protesting the speech is one of the few ways people can prevent violence without resorting to violence themselves.

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