Defining intent

Another case that probably won’t be prosecuted as a hate crime:

Jackson, 52, who is black, is recovering from injuries he sustained Sunday when four men beat him outside a Roosevelt delicatessen. At least one of the men shouted racial insults, including “Go back to Africa,” police said. All four have pleaded not guilty.

Brewington has demanded that the case be prosecuted as a hate crime, but authorities have said despite the racial words, the assailants attacked Jackson not because of his race, but because he wouldn’t move from the front of the deli.

Because the words people say don’t really matter. So if you yell something racist while assaulting somebody, it’s just because there’s a fight and the words were just spoken in the heat of anger and because the real reason the assailants (including a police officer) attacked the guy was because he wouldn’t get out of their way.