Editor’s note: This story contains detailed descriptions of threats made to victims based on their race, national origin, sexual orientation or other characteristics protected by Oregon’s hate crime law.
It was supposed to be a carefree Fourth of July 2020. Two families had settled in for what they thought would be a relaxing Oregon summer evening on the beach of Lincoln City – an 80-mile, weekend getaway from their homes in Forest Grove and Hillsboro – when a group of seven men approached.
According to witnesses, the white men walked up to the Black families, raised their hands into the air and exclaimed “Heil, Hitler!” They told the families to “F—- off,” then called them a highly offensive racist slur directed at African Americans. They waved Donald Trump flags in the air, blared music extolling the virtues of Trump and exclaimed “You think you’re privileged because you’re Black!”
One man lit a firework and threw it near one mom – warning “That’s just a warm-up.” Someone in the group mimicked a handgun with his fingers and pretended to shoot. One man also alluded to having a real gun, exclaiming that the group would shoot at police if police shot at them.
More than 15 officers responded to the scene. Like the families, they feared for their safety – writing that the men seemed poised to carry out “an imminent, unprovoked attack,” according to their 68-page report.
The encounter made national headlines and sparked overwhelming public condemnation. But within days, Lincoln County District Attorney Jonathan Cable announced his decision: The men wouldn’t face any hate crime charges.
Whether he made the right call is a matter of fervent debate.
The case illustrates the struggle many Oregon district attorneys face in determining what constitutes a hate crime. Individual prosecutors must interpret the finer, sometimes confounding points of the law and often do in different ways – more so than with many other, more clear-cut…
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