[COMMENTARY] In the same week that a 14-year-old “gay rights advocate” in Wayland Union High School on the west side of the state was assaulted for her advocacy, there was another story coming out of Macomb County in the state’s east side. The east-side story told a tale of a group of 20-30 African-American males wandering aimlessly through the suburban Detroit county assaulting white people. Police have arrested three teen-agers in response to the assault.

Now here is where things get interesting. While in Wayland the assailants saw nothing wrong with their assault on the gay rights advocate, police identified the attack as a hate crime and wanted to prosecute it under Michigan law. The problem was the law does not include attacks motivated by a person’s real or perceived sexual orientation.

Continued – From the law:

(1) A person is guilty of ethnic intimidation if that person maliciously, and with specific intent to intimidate or harass another person because of that person’s race, color, religion, gender, or national origin, does any of the following:

(a) Causes physical contact with another person.

(b) Damages, destroys, or defaces any real or personal property of another person.

(c) Threatens, by word or act, to do an act described in subdivision (a) or (b), if there is reasonable cause to believe that an act described in subdivision (a) or (b) will occur.

Now let’s map this out a little bit, shall we? The Wayland attack was the result of the victim’s advocacy for gay rights. One newspaper even claims the 14-year-old victim identified herself as a lesbian, and her attackers have told police they attacked the victim because she was advocating for gay rights and they did not like that. That is clearly malicious and “with a specific intent to intimidate or harass another person…” by causing “physical contact.”

However, the motivation for the crime is not covered, and therefore police could charge the attackers only with aggravated assault.

Now let’s flop sides of the state to Macomb County. Here there was a band of 20-30 young African-American males, whom Macomb County Sheriff Mark Hackel called a “roving band of animals”   in an interview with the Macomb Daily.  He also went on WJR radio and said he might not be able to prosecute the attacks as hate crimes. His reasoning was not that none of the three points in paragraph one of the law were not met, but that the victim was white and therefore not a protected class under the law.

Hackel’s interview with WJR has been parsed by the folks over at Young Americans for Freedom, which has posted action alerts and written pieces about how this attack shows that whites are open to hunting.

But the issue here is Hackel is wrong. The law says race, not people of color, or black, or brown. It says race. That means if you are attacked because you are Asian, it is a crime. If you are attacked because you are black, it is a crime. If you are attacked because you are Hispanic, it is a crime. And yes, if you are attacked because you are white, it is a crime.

In this case the video that is available of the attack is insanely brutal, and the victim is white. But the three defendants already arrested have not yet offered publicly a reason for their attacks. Maybe they attacked the victim because he was wearing the wrong color shirt. Maybe he was picked because he said something to the attackers. Maybe he was attacked simply because he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Does that justify the attack? Hell, no. But it doesn’t make it a racial incident, either.

Now, if when they were attacking the victim, the attackers were screaming, “Die, whitey,” or “We’re going to kill you, honkie,” there would be a clear case for a hate crime charge. But absent that or any other statements for motive given to police or prosecutors, there is absolutely no evidence yet that this was a crime motivated by race.

So that takes me back to the beginning. Why is it that we have a prosecutor and law enforcement on one side of the state begging for a chance to charge two attackers who had their anti-gay beating videotaped as a badge of honor, while on the other side of the state the top law enforcement agent in Macomb County is using racially charged language and at the same time firing up fears that white victims of race-based crimes can’t have their day in court?

Maybe Hackel has made a mistake. But it has been weeks since the incident broke; one would think he would correct himself.

The folks in Wayland have done a phenomenal job in labeling the attack there exactly what it was and not playing semantics.

The Macomb County sheriff appears to be seeking to divide his community by raising the specter of black people coming down every street in Macomb and attacking innocent white men and women. It is not supported by the video. It is not supported by the evidence thus far presented. It is supported only by the rhetoric of a politician.

Hackel’s actions in this case thus far are at the very least dishonorable.