This morning, a pastor named Michael McBride tweeted a photo of a lynched effigy at Sather Gate on the campus of the University of California, Berkeley.
* * *
Here’s one of the others:
http://instagram.com/p/wjqJq_juDE/
* * *
Initial reaction is about what you’d expect:
Many seem to assume this was a hate crime perpetrated by a racist student, townie, or police officer. The assumption is not justified. Given that this occurred in Berkeley, this probably was an ill-conceived attempt by left-wing anti-police protesters to show solidarity with victims of police brutality.
Editor’s note: This post has been updated with additional tweets.