A cold killer

He traveled to NYC just to kill a black man

James Jackson is a self-confessed racial assassin. The 28-year-old white suspect charged as a terrorist for the fatal stabbing of a black homeless man in New York traveled to that city from his native Baltimore to kill a black man.

After turning himself in, Mr. Jackson told authorities that he killed Timothy Caughman using a 26-inch sword to make a statement against racial diversity. He chose to kill a random black person in New York instead of in Baltimore because New York is the center of the media universe.

Mr. Jackson believed an act of murder would strike fear across the nation and stop interracial relationships from developing. The sheer illogic of such a scheme is obvious to everyone except Mr. Jackson.

Mr. Jackson has provided a motive for the killing — a decadelong hatred of black men. He spoke of his desire to kill more black people, especially those with economic means who appear in public with white women. The man Mr. Jackson confessed to killing wasn’t a man of economic means. He was someone digging through the trash and minding his own business when he was brutally stabbed to death because he was the “wrong” color.

“James Jackson prowled the streets of New York for three days in search of a black person to assassinate in order to launch a campaign of terrorism against our Manhattan community and the values we celebrate,” wrote District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. in his announcement of the charges.

Mr. Jackson has been charged with first- and second-degree murder as an act of terrorism. It would be hard for even the most skilled defense lawyer to argue that Mr. Jackson’s killing of a random black man didn’t fit the classic definition of a hate crime. If anyone ever deserved to have such charges filed against him, it is James Jackson.

The killer wanted to make a statement with a killing that would be heard across America. It is only right that New York’s criminal justice system make a statement in return. Racial terrorism isn’t a lesser kind of terrorism to its victims.