"There appear to have been about as many fake racist incidents in recent years as real ones."
And you base this on what?
A generalized personal impression that about half the high-profile racist incidents of recent years, especially those on college campuses, turned out to have beed faked by the "victims."
I haven't seen any stats on this, though.
It is notable that the initial reports always got a great deal more publicity than the "never mind." It is also fascinating that some of the victim group activists would claim that it didn't matter whether the incident actually happened. It was "fake but real."
Laird Wilcox, a professor of political science, has written extensively on hate crime hoaxes.
According to him, many of these hoaxes are fabricated to score political points, for financial gain or for revenge.
The good professor has compiled quite a list of hoaxes.