IMHO, these ‘false flag’ hate crimes need to be dealt with harshly. Faking an incident of racial or political intimidation makes it less likely that REAL crimes get solved.
I believe they need to be dealt with harshly as well, but not for the reasons you state.
This guy's actions will never even be heard about by the vast majority of people, whereas if it a white guy was actually found doing what he was portraying one to do it would be BIG news that would have all the pseudo-righteous liberals clicking their tongues and making (politically correct) bigoted blanket slurs.
This guy should be held just as accountable as someone actually doing what he was pretending to do.
His motives are every bit as hateful and seeking to incite trouble.