The first Hate Crime indictment has been handed down in the Megan Williams case, and the accused, Karen Burton, 46, is “relieved:”
Karen Burton was “a little surprised” by the hate crime charge but was relieved that an earlier sexual assault count was not included in the indictment, said her attorney, Betty Gregory.
“She didn’t want her [...]

I’ve been working myself into a knot thinking about the latest proliferation of nooses and the recent regurgitation of racial hatred taking place all over America. Racism is a virus, you know, seemingly impossible to cure completely. It lives in the spine of the American soul as a retrovirus, always waiting for the next [...]

Megan Williams, the young black woman, who was kidnapped and tortured by at least six white residents of West Virginia, continues to speak out about the crimes perpetrated against her. In a revealing interview given to ‘Final Call,’ Megan Williams and her mother offer a more complete picture of the horror that Megan endured. Megan [...]

A noose was found hanging on a lamppost outside the Church street post office in New York City. It is located at Ground Zero and was closed for nearly three years following the attacks in 2001. It was our post office and when it reopened, we felt like we could finally begin to embrace the [...]

The New York Times and other news outlets of record refused to cover the story of nooses, unequal justice, unequal protection under the law and the beating of a high school student until these events sparked a protest so massive that they simply could not ignore it.
Now, the New York Times has given Jena district [...]

I had decided to let the debate about whether or not the brutal, stomach turning murders of Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom warranted a “hate crime” designation, roll on without any more comment from me. I was pretty clear in June when I wrote:
I am still not convinced that the torture and murder of Christian [...]

This case reads like an incomprehensible headline out of the poorest and most isolated war torn regions of another country. But it happened in Florida, about two months ago. Here are the details:
After dark on June 18, the police say, as many as 10 armed assailants repeatedly raped a Haitian immigrant in her apartment [...]

Looks like attention and support is starting to grow for the six high school students, unjustly charged in Jena. Here’s an update from Friends of Justice:
Friends:
Three hundred people from across the nation descended on little Jena, Louisiana on July 31st. They came to pledge their support to the Jena 6 defendants and their families. At [...]

Alan Bean of ‘Friends of Justice’ has written a comprehensive update and analysis of the events in Jena, Louisiana. This account fascinates because Bean’s optimism is palpable. Bean believes that a sea change is headed toward Jena. I hope it gets there in time to help the young men on trial.

On Sunday, David Ritcheson jumped to his death from the deck of a cruise ship. He killed himself after surviving one of the most brutal and repugnant hate crimes in recent memory:
Ritcheson’s death comes less than three months after he testified before Congress about how two teens nearly killed him on April 23, 2006, by [...]

UPDATE - 6/28/07 - UPDATE - PLEASE READ
The latest racial assault in Jena, Louisiana began on the morning of September 1st 2006, when three nooses were found dangling from a tree at the local high school. The day before, at a school assembly, an African American student had asked the vice principal if he could sit [...]