of Rodnc’ James, a Los Angeles youthrnwho was shot in the head by a white studentrnwliile attending Utah Valley CommunitrnCollege in Orem. James, a handsome,rnpopular musician, attracted a lotrnof attention from female students. Thisrnprovoked the jealousy of Lyle Murray,rnJames’ roommate, who lured James awayrnfrom campus and shot him. Fortunately,rnJames survived with only minor injury.rnAlthough James believes racial motivesrnma’ have been involved in thernshooting, he reports that Murray hadrnnever uttered a racial epithet. Asidernfrom the fact that the assailant was whiternand the ictim was black, there is nornbasis for regarding the incident as arn”race-related” crime. Nevertheless, thernNAACP and its allies have insisted thatrnthe shooting be regarded as racist in originrnand prosecuted as a hate crime.rnUnder the standards employed in thernLavton skinhead incident and the shootingrnof Rodney James, Aaron Chapman’srnmurder should be regarded as a haterncrime. Clearly, the actions of the TonganrnCrips were intended to “terrorize”rnand “intimidate” people; furthermore,rnthe assailants were all Tongan andrnthe victim was white. But the beating^rnmurder attracted little interest fromrnUtah’s “social justice” activists. JeanetternWilliams, who chairs both the staternNAACP and the “William AndrewsrnCommittee on Social Justice” (Andrewsrnwas a black man executed in 1992 for arnmultiple torture-murder), said that shernwas concerned only that Asi Mohi receirne a sentence no more severe than arnwhite criminal would receive for thernsame offense.rnThe Utah “Martin Luther King, Jr.,rnHuman Rights Commission” also treatedrnthe Chapman murder with indifference.rnCreated by gubernatorial executivernorder in 1991, the King Commissionrnis an adjunct to the state economic developmentrnboard. The commission’srnpurpose is to persuade politically correctrncorporations that L’tah “values diversity.”rnTo that end, the commission sponsoredrnI’tah’s hate crimes law and has inflictedrnvarious reeducation schemes upon publicrnschool students. An early priority ofrnthe commission was realized last summerrnwhen Salt Lake City’s busiest streetrnwas renamed “Martin Luther King, Jr.,rnBoulevard.” The commission had no interestrnin the murder of Aaron Chapman,rna genuine human rights abuse by anyrnstandard.rnThe media’s soft-focus treatment ofrnAsi Mohi helped minimize criticism of arnsocial-engineering program in which thernvoung recidivist had been enrolled.rnCalled “Colors of Success,” the programrnwas designed to “lower social barriers”rnamong high school and junior highrnschool students in Salt Lake. Mohi hadrnbeen the program’s poster boy: a frontpagernstory in the December 29, 1992,rnDeseret News displayed Mohi as the program’srnmost notable success story.rnAccording to the Deseret News, thern”Colors of Success” program brings “atrisk”rnstudents together with “privileged”rnstudents under the guidance of adultrn”case managers.” Participants becomerninvolved in discussions about “racism,rnproblem-solving, goal-setting, peer pressure,rnand how to improve the school andrncommunity.” According to “Colors”rnalumna Emma Wharton, “We [would]rntalk about problems in the school, thisrnteacher being unfair, racism, or whyrnthere are more kids in upper-level classes.”rnIn addition to nurturing class andrnrace resentment in students, the program’srn”case managers” would conductrn”conflict-resolution” sessions involvingrnrival gangs.rn”Colors of Success,” which is fundedrnbv tax-exempt foundations and governmentrnagencies, has been a hard sell, andrnmuch of its marketability dependedrnupon Mohi. The Deseret News reportedrnthat Mohi “hopes a college athleticrnscholarship is in his future—and it won’trnbe as a Prop. 48 athlete [an academicrnhardship case].” After two and a halfrnyears in the “Colors” program, Mohi hadrnbecome, according to the Triburie, “arnrole model for troubled teens.” During arnspring 1993 “Take Back the Streets”rnevent sponsored by Salt Lake gang caseworkers,rnMohi was introduced as a “reformedrngang member.” Robert Sawyer,rnMohi’s case manager, said that Mohirnhad been active in “Colors” right up tornthe night he shot Chapman.rnDuane Bourdeaux, the founder ofrn”Colors,” was in the crowd outside thernTriad Amphitheater when Chapman wasrnmurdered. His flrst instinct, to judgernfrom his published remarks, was to defendrnMohi and the “Colors” program: “Ifrnhe could have made it through this year,rnI really think things could have changed.rnWhether the kid did go out and take arnlife, I know what the kid did in this program.rn. . . I know what I see in this individual.”rnBourdeaux was obviously concernedrnthat Mohi’s actions wouldrnprovoke criticism of the “Colors” program:rn”It’s devastating for a program likernours to get this kind of press.” But thernprogram may prove impervious to thernnegative publicity. According to the i’ribune,rnMohi’s crime has inspired “police,rnprosecutors, teachers and parents [torncall] for more programs like ‘Colors ofrnSuccess.'”rnWhile Utah’s intellectual elite contemplatedrnan enhanced entitlement forrnthe state’s youthful criminals, MonicarnVigil became another crime victim. Inrnlate October Miss Vigil was killed in herrnsleep by an intruder who crept into herrnbedroom and shot her point-blank. Asrnof this writing no suspect has been detained.rnPolice briefly questioned Vigil’srnformer boyfriend, against whom Vigilrnhad obtained a restraining order; however,rnthe young man provided an alibi.rnJust prior to her death Vigil had testifiedrnagainst Asi Mohi, and many in Utahrnreasonably suspect that her murder wasrnan act of retribution by Mohi’s gangrnallies.rnAaron Chapman’s death was worthyrnof broader publicity—and it would haverngotten it if the victim had belonged to arnpolitically correct ethnic group. On thernday of Chapman’s murder, the AssociatedrnPress nationwide carried a story aboutrnthe flight of black people from the tinyrntown of Vidor, Texas, because of racialrntensions—an ugly situation, to be sure,rnbut no more inherently newsworthy thanrnthe Chapman story. The Florida trial ofrntwo white men accused of burning Jamaicanrntourist Christopher Wilson,rnwhich was concluded just shortly afterrnChapman’s death, also earned worldwidernattention. Wilson had been abductedrnand burned on New Year’s Dayrn1993, surviving with burns on 40 percentrnof his body. The two white defendantsrnwere convicted of kidnapping,rnrobbery, and attempted murder despiternabundant weaknesses in the prosecution’srncase. Wilson suffered horribly andrnhis assailants should be punished to thernlimits of the law. However, Wilson—rnunlike Aaron Chapman—is alive.rnThe opinion cartel’s curious disinterestrntoward the Chapman murder redundantlyrnillustrates this fact: under the victimrnhierarchy recognized by America’srnsocial engineers, white Americans canrnbe the perpetrators—but never the victimsrn—of racially motivated crimes.rnWilliam Norman Grigg is a staff writerrnfor the New American.rnAPRIL 1994/43rnrnrn