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Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Are Racist Hate Crimes Under-Reported & Under-Charged In America?
Posted by Justin Jeffre
There’s an alarming increase in overt racist symbolism and violence in this country. Diversity Inc. magazine reports at least forty-five noose incidents since October 30th. According to police, this September, a twenty-year-old African American woman in West Virginia was kidnapped, raped, tortured, held captive for over a week by six white men and women. Her story received less media attention than the noose incidents.
If this woman had been white and six black men and women had kidnapped, raped and tortured her for a week would there have been more coverage? I think most African Americans would agree with me when I say the answer is “Yes.” Prosecutors charged the six suspects with rape and kidnapping, but not for hate crimes despite the fact that they used racial slurs while they tortured her.
Here is an excerpt of how Megan Williams described her ordeal to the Associated Press in October.
MEGAN WILLIAMS:
They were torturing me. They all passed a knife around that was—and stabbing me. I was trying to get away as they were stabbing me, and they were holding me down and stuff. And they smothered me with a bag. That morning, I had a bag wrapped around my neck and everything. They choked me. They made me eat dog poop, rat poop and human. They made me drink their urine. And each time, they braided some switches together, and they were beating me across the back. They tore my clothes off me and everything.
And then they took me up to a lake. They said that was the place they were going to cut my throat and throw me in, and I was never going to come back and see my family again. They were just telling me that they were going to kill me.
And, you know, I was—they made me take a bath in a trash can. They wouldn’t let me use the bathroom. I had to use the bathroom outside. I had to sleep outside. And they told me if they even remotely heard me once, that they would go out there and kill me. They poured candle wax in my hair. They pulled my hair out when they were cutting it with scissors. And, you know, they were just scary.
They had me tied up. I couldn’t go anywhere. Like the time when they left, they were going to go get some beer and stuff, and when they came back they said they were going to finish me off. And before they even got back, I had already got loose. I found a knife and cut myself loose.
I heard the police coming up to the driveway. When I’d seen the police, I just—you know, I knew it was, you know, my chance to get out. And if I didn’t, I was going to die anyway. And then, that’s when they see me coming out there, and they thought—they said I was going to lose my leg, when they see about the stabs. And I was scared. I didn’t know what to do. All I kept saying—I was thinking about my momma, also wanting to come home. And every time I close my eyes, all I see is that knife, the one they kept stabbing me and stabbing me. It’s just—you know, it’s a nightmare.
On November 3rd hundreds descended on Charleston, West Virginia for a march to call on prosecutors to charge the suspects with committing a hate crime against Williams. Malik Shabazz is the co-founder of Black Lawyers for Justice, a leader of the New Black Panther Party, and Megan Williams’s lawyer. Shabazz, also a march organizer, says this is the latest in their efforts to secure justice for Williams and that they’re following up on the march.
“We don’t just have marches for symbolic reasons. We were able to raise $5,000 in our goal of raising $20,000 to help comfort her in this hour. We’re continuing to fight for hate crime charges to be established in this case on a state and a federal level.” He says “this case is being swept under the rug”.
According to Shabazz, the US attorney in the area, Charles Miller, claims he tried to get federal hate crime charges, or what’s called conspiracy against constitutional rights, but he was being rebuffed by the Bush-led US Department of Justice Civil Rights Division. “I can believe him on that point” said Shabazz.
“The United States Department of Justice—we commonly refer to it as the United States Department of Injustice—it vigorously attacks the civil liberties, civil rights, the human rights of those that they suspect of so-called terrorism. It advocates the wiretapping of private citizens, the intrusion of bank accounts. It advocates violating the rights of prisoners abroad and at home under the guise of fighting terrorism” said Shabazz.
Adding; “But when terrorism comes against our people here, and it’s continuously occurring, as in the case of Megan Williams and other cases, the United States Department of Justice Civil Rights Division has its hands tied. They won’t do anything. And they simply don’t care. So, yes, it’s coming out of Washington. I lay the responsibility on the President of the United States, George Bush, and his politically motivated United States Department of Justice, which simply does not care about our people and our rights and our calls for justice.”
According to the Amsterdam News, Brian Abraham, the Logan County prosecutor in West Virginia hasn’t ruled out filing state hate crimes charges, in addition to the kidnapping and first-degree sexual assault charges already brought against the six white suspects.
Shabazz says they’ll continue their legal advocacy and pursue the case vigorously. “We know that this is, at minimum, a state hate crime, and this must be established. West Virginia is a 98% white state; they’re 2% blacks. The filing of hate crime charges in this case will ensure the broader protection of blacks in the state.”
There is going to be a protest on November 16 in Washington, D.C. against racial violence led by Rev. Al Sharpton.
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14 Nov 2007 at 11:16 pm | #
Not up in Lansing Michigan. A student was watched, then followed, eventually she was raped & murdered. Her parents buried her not knowing she was raped & murdered by suffocation. The university did a splendid job of covering up the entire crime. I guess those Michigan people were afraid the race cards were going to come into play.
After the cops got involved, this rapist-murderer changed his story upteen times. Security camera tapes & his DNA did him in.
One had to dig deep for the entire story on this. Eastern Michigan University carefully crafted what was put out in the media, until the students took it upon themselves to get the real story out there.
Student: white female. Rapist-Murderer: black
How do you gauge “media attention”? Something that makes front page, top of the fold? Breaking news headlines every 2 seconds?
Hell, that Baby Baker Brenda certainly got her fair due of news time. Ditto for those crackhead hillbillies who killed Marcus Fiesel. Oh, how about the teacher who murdered her husband? The cameras were rolling while she was in bracelets being taken to the cop car.
However, I don’t believe there’s been enough news minutes or paper space given to this Club Red fiasco. I’d like more details on what those criminals were up to that caused the mess in the street. Also, there hasn’t been enough coverage on that idiot rapist who attacked the sleepwalking XU student. I smell a protective cover on that one. How about the lunatic that fired a gun & the bullet went thru a window at a nursing home on Washington Ave.?
I frequently view the local news & on the channels in other cities. Depending upon the seriousness of the crime, I find there’s equal coverage for Hispanics, Asians & whites. I believe the media is rapidly becoming race-afraid in providing more details & coverage on black crimes.
15 Nov 2007 at 12:14 am | #
Jones/ANON, why don’t you use your real anonymous name?
Are you afraid of something?
I don’t know anything about the case that you refer to, but by your own account it was the university and not the media or police that failed to report it.
Can you provide any evidence of this or is it just a scared white man’s hunch?
15 Nov 2007 at 10:41 am | #
Just curious. In a post about the evils of racial bias it’s kind of funny that you immediately revert to a racial slur to insult Anon (or what you think is a slur, accusing him of being a white man, like yourself and the other Beaconistas, in case you’ve forgotten). I don’t remember you indicting anyone else on the basis of race but certainly correct me if I’m wrong. Maybe you have, in an accusatory way, referred to someone as a “scared black man,” or “scared latino woman” or scared “Asian” or used some other term to specifically call out race in a demeaning way. If you have, then forgive me. I’ll concede that you’re an equal opportunity bigot.
15 Nov 2007 at 05:04 pm | #
http://www.wzzm13.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=73396
Jeffre, “Anon” posted comment #1. Just because one particular ISP showed up, doesn’t mean squat. We all use the same ISP. According to the directions, one can post anonymously. So, what’s your gripe? Our names, genders, & ethnicity is really none of your business. However, we’ve been ROFL that you pompously declared we are white & we are male. So typical of you. And no, we certainly aren’t scared of you. In fact, we find you to be irrelevant & an absolute laugh.
Above is the only source notes we are going to give you in connection with the Eastern Michigan U rape-murder. You seem to have ample time & a pocketful of money to research further. We aren’t your stepinfetchit lackeys.
Jeffre, we love your racial slurs. It shows your true character & your profound disrespect for the general population as a whole. Don’t run again for political office in this town. Your words will slip back around & bite you in your fat tookus.
P.S. Thanks, CincySuz!!!!
15 Nov 2007 at 07:38 pm | #
Jones, you are anonymous. I was just curious why you were using anon instead of your normal anonymous handle (Jones). I didn’t say you were scared of me, I just thought it was strange. So I asked.
Yeah, I’m convinced you’re a white male and that’s not a racial slur. I’m obviously a white male too.
Jones, you still haven’t made a point about what this story has to do with anything and why I should care about it.
15 Nov 2007 at 08:32 pm | #
Would somebody explain the racial slur because I don’t get it. I’m a white man and could not find anything to be upset about.
Thanks in advance.
15 Nov 2007 at 10:55 pm | #
The case you cite is tragic and thankfully got the national attention it deserved. And you’re right. Hate crimes are underacknowledged and undercharged. In the last year there have been numerous incidents across the country against African Americans. There have also been similar crimes against gays, latinos and whites. Here are two similar stories of incidents that most of us would classify as hate crimes though the perpetrators weren’t charged. Neither of these cases made a blip on the national radar. The first questions your contention that a white woman killed by 6 (in this case 5) black men and women would automatically get extensive media coverage. I’m sure no one reading this has ever heard the names Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom. There was barely any local coverage and no national coverage.
Double Murder and Rape Not A Hate Crime
According to news reports, Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom had gone on a date at a local restaurant on Saturday, January 6, 2007, but did not return home. During their night out, the couple was “hijacked, bound and blindfolded and taken back to Lemaricus Devall ‘Slim’ Davidson’s rented house on Chipman Street.”
Christian’s parents found her abandoned Toyota 4-Runner two blocks away from the Chipman Street house on Monday, with the help of her mobile phone provider. An envelope recovered from the vehicle yielded fingerprint evidence that led police to Lemaricus Davidson and 2316 Chipman Street. When police went to the address on Tuesday, January 9, they found the home unoccupied and Christian’s body in a trash can in the kitchen. Christian had been strangled to death. According to the grand jury presentment, Christian had also been raped vaginally, orally, and anally. One of the 5 suspects arrested, Vanessa Coleman, later told police that “she witnessed Christian’s mouth being cleaned with a bottle of some type of cleaner,” in an attempt to remove DNA evidence. Coleman also said that she had seen “clothes that were stained with blood and smelled of gas being put in the washing machine at the house.“Newsom was shot three times, “his body wrapped in a blanket, set afire and dumped alongside nearby railroad tracks.” He had also been anally raped.
The national news media was initially criticized by some for not giving the crime adequate coverage because the 2 victims were white, and the 5 suspects black, but some commentators have explained that “as bad as this crime is, the apparent absence of any interest group involvement or any other ‘angle’ might also explain the lack of coverage.”
Police Chief Sterling Owen IV said that there is no indication the crimes were racially motivated, and that the murders and assault “appears to have been a random violent act.”
My comment: I pulled out the least sensational of the reports. It was also claimed that Newsom was castrated and burned alive in front of Christian and that Christian’s breasts were cut off while she was alive in addition to a number of heinous acts of torture. Still, the only coverage of this case was local.
And this has yet to get any attention. The victims were Hispanic, the perpetrators Black. There were no charges of hate crime though clearly the victims were targeted because of their ethnicity. The meager local reports that did occur didn’t even respect the victims enough to report their names. They were known simply as “hispanic immigrants.”
Three Arrested in South Georgia Immigrant Murders
A gang of robbers preying on Hispanic farm workers in South Georgia in a series of 20 home invasions over the past three months have been arrested in connection with six murders.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation arrested two men and a woman they say used guns and baseball bats to rob immigrant farm workers.
Arrested were Stacy Smith, 19, Jamie Underwood, 27, and Jennifer Wilson, 26. The GBI said the three are suspected of breaking into four mobile homes within four hours last week, killing five victims by beating them with an aluminum baseball bat and shooting another.
The three are suspected in 20 such robberies in the past 90 days in three counties near Moultrie, Georgia, which have terrorized the South Georgia Hispanic community.
“We’re dealing with vicious criminals and they were preying upon weak people. And that’s what this has turned out to be, a series of heinous crimes,” said GBI director Vernon Keenan.
“It’s tragic and sad,” said Sheriff Gary Vowell. “Even though these heinous acts were committed in our Hispanic community, it’s affected our whole community.”
16 Nov 2007 at 06:13 pm | #
Hey cincysuz, since when did “white man” become a racial slur? Seems to me that it is an adjective modifying a noun. Anybody with a rudimentary understanding of the english language should know that.
16 Nov 2007 at 10:03 pm | #
Jeffre #5, Jones is out at the present, so I’m answering. We’re soooo glad you are convinced Jones & the rest of us, particularly Jones is a white male. As said before, our gender, names & ethnicity are none of your business.
.
Jeffre, thanks for clarifying that. Who knew?
CincySuz, thanks for the additional stories. I had no idea either. But this is the typical stuff that goes unreported or grossly underreported. And these types of crimes are escalating & takes months, even years to get them resolved. By that time, victims & witnesses forget the important details & the criminal gets a hung jury or walks out the door. And no one does a damned thing about it.
16 Nov 2007 at 10:46 pm | #
Jones & your other personalities, it’s pretty easy to tell your white and your friend is white also from the comments. Yes, it’s just a hunch, am I wrong? Please be honest.
17 Nov 2007 at 11:58 pm | #
Speaking of hate or at least hateful crimes. Look what goes on in Saudi Arabia:
Saudi court ups punishment for gang-rape victim
Woman, 19, gets six months prison, 200 lashes for meeting with unrelated man
(CNN)—A court in Saudi Arabia increased the punishment for a gang-rape victim after her lawyer won an appeal of the sentence for the rapists, the lawyer told CNN.
The 19-year-old victim was sentenced last year to 90 lashes for meeting with an unrelated male, a former friend from whom she was retrieving photographs. The seven rapists, who abducted the pair and raped both, received sentences ranging from 10 months to five years in prison.
Women are subject to numerous restrictions in Saudi Arabia, including a strict dress code, a prohibition against driving and the need for a man’s permission to travel or have surgery. Women are also not allowed to testify in court unless it is about a private matter that was not observed by a man, and they are not allowed to vote.