The Other McCain

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Lunenburg, Massachusetts: Mother Suspected in Fake Racism Hoax?

Posted on | December 4, 2013 | 52 Comments

A supposed hate crime that made big news in Massachusetts now appears to have been a hoax — but still, perhaps, a crime:

The investigation into who spray painted a home with racist graffiti last month has turned toward the woman who lives there.
Police said on Wednesday that Andrea Brazier is now considered a “strong suspect” in the case.
Officers say they executed a search warrant on Tuesday and seized two cans of spray paint and ammunition from the home.
Brazier, who is white, and her husband Anthony Phillips, who is African American live at the home with their 13-year-old son, Isaac. Brazier initially cast suspicion on her son’s Lunenburg High School football teammates, saying he had been bullied in the past.
The school’s superintendent cancelled the football team’s final game on Thanksgiving after no one came forward to take responsibility. . . .

(Whoa! They canceled the high school football team’s last game because of a mere suspicion of racism?)

A police affidavit obtained on Wednesday indicated that Brazier had stopped cooperating with investigators and had changed her story several times. . . .
During an interview with police and an FBI agent, she told them that she wanted the investigation to be over and wanted the media to go away.

Ruh-roh. If she lied to the FBI, she could be in big trouble. But since when is it the FBI’s job to investigate racist graffiti? And if real racist graffiti is a federal offense, what is fake racist graffiti? The alleged hate crime was a big deal last month:

Days after the vandalism, several hundred residents gathered in the center of town for a candlelight vigil to show their support for Isaac Phillips, who played on Lunenburg’s freshman and junior varsity teams.

Da Tech Guy rounds up the local story that went national and asks, “Where does Lunenburg go to get its reputation back?”

 


Comments

52 Responses to “Lunenburg, Massachusetts: Mother Suspected in Fake Racism Hoax?”

  1. Steve Skubinna
    December 5th, 2013 @ 6:49 pm

    No, teach then not to be so damned white. The filthy little bastards. Obviously guilty of something.

  2. LNSmithee
    December 6th, 2013 @ 12:05 am

    RT @rsmccain: Commenter: “Maybe they’ll stop and reflect the next time they don’t spray paint racist graffiti.” http://t.co/64BjMWFrga