But first, they have to have an underlying crime. It is not a crime to call people racist names. Doing so may provide a hook to elevate a crime into a hate crime, but racist attitudes on their own can't be bootstrapped into criminality.
All they need is a reason to investigate, and a racial slur is the trigger. That's why everybody is bending over backwards to find one, and they will. This is the Florida Ballot fiasco all over again, and it's a national disgrace.
On an unrelated note, is anybody else having problems with the server? I can't even get into my pings...