The Cincinnati Beacon
Are Racist Hate Crimes Under-Reported & Under-Charged In America?
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
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.
|