No Hate Crimes No Peace
by BAR columnist Lizz
Brown
"The defendants tell the victim, time and time again,
‘this is what we do to Niggers.'"
Paradoxical but true.
It was hate that brought them together.
Hundreds of people from all over the world journeyed to
Charleston, West Virginia, on November 4th to march on behalf of Megan
Williams.
It was a family affair that made Megan a victim and brought
her to our attention - a criminal get-together of perverted Mothers and their
sons and perverted Mothers and their daughters. The
crimes these family
members committed against Megan are the stuff of brutal fiction: rape,
sodomy, torture and assault. And then
there were mind-boggling acts of depravity: force feeding of animal feces and
human urine, snatching out hunks of hair and rape interspersed with scalding
water.
The human scientist in us has to ask - where does the
energy to commit these types of crime come from? What do you call upon within yourself to go that extra depraved
step? These acts were beyond rage. These were acts that were committed over a
period of time. No heat of the moment,
crime of passion here.
"There were
mind-boggling acts of depravity: force feeding of animal feces and human urine,
snatching out hunks of hair and rape interspersed with scalding water."
Bobby Brewster, Frankie Brewster, Danny Combs, Karen Burton,
Alisha Burton and George A. Messer, took over a week out of their lives to
execute a series of unspeakable crimes against one tiny, defenseless 20 year
old woman. What fueled their evil
enthusiasm?
Racism did.
And how do we know? They confessed.
Time and time again during the commission of
their dozens of crimes, the defendants said "this is what we do to
Niggers." These were raging race-based
criminal acts. It was the color of her
skin. It was the color of their skin - "this is what we do to
Niggers."
And yet the local prosecutor says that hate
crimes will not be prosecuted. He
thinks it would be too hard to get a conviction. And the Feds it seems agree with him. U.S.
Attorney Charles T. Miller stated: "As a practical matter, sentenced to
life, what else can be done?"
And there you have it - the convenient hate crime racial
conundrum that confronts white America.
It is just too hard for a white person (prosecutor) to get
white people (juries) to convict white people (defendants) for racist crimes
against Black people (victims of hate crimes), so what else can we do?
Wow. The defendants
tell the victim, time and time again, "this is what we do to Niggers" and the
prosecution throws up their collective hands and says we can't charge a hate
crime with that kind of evidence.
Some folks believe that we should be fair to these
prosecutors from West Virginia. After
all, the hundreds of years of pro-hate history and pro-hate actions that
preceded their decision not to charge, makes a conviction against hate a
virtual impossibility. The reality is
far less complex. The reality is the
Prosecutors in West Virginia haven't charged anyone with a hate crime because
they don't see one. And they are not
alone.
"The hundreds of years
of pro-hate history and pro-hate actions makes a conviction against hate a
virtual impossibility.
A little while ago, the 89 year-old Senator from West
Virginia got on the Senate floor and began a passionate plea on behalf of
victims of crime. Trembling with
outrage, Sen. Robert C. Byrd described acts of torture and abuse, and demanded
retribution. He declared before God and
everyone in the Senate gallery, that he had seen one execution in his
life "it's not a beautiful thing" he said, but "I could witness another one
if it involved this cruel sadistic, cannibalistic business." Was the good Senator describing his moral
outrage against the hate crimes committed against Megan Williams? Was he standing tall against racism? Of course not - the former Klansman from West
Virginia was demanding on behalf of canines everywhere, another lynching of a
Black man - Michael Vick. As proof of
his preference for dogs over Black people Sen. Byrd issued a 914 word
press statement describing why it was wrong, barbaric and cruel to hurt dogs.
And he didn't stop there - Byrd quoted the Bible and claimed that the hottest
places in hell were reserved for those who do wrong against dogs.
The press statement from the prosecutor in the Megan
Williams case consisted of just 88
words - and not one mention of hate.
So let's be clear: in West Virginia, at the highest levels
of government there is plenty of anger, rage and action directed at a Black person
who hates dogs, but not at a White person who hates Black people.
"Sen. Byrd prefers dogs over Black people."
So people marched. People from England, Ohio, Vermont, Virginia and all over marched
and demanded that those who assaulted Megan Williams be charged with hate
crimes. They know something that
prosecutors and the oldest man in the United States Senate refuse to say:
telling someone that "this is what we do to Niggers" as you assault them is a
hate crime. Bobby
Brewster, Frankie Brewster, Danny Combs, Karen Burton, Alisha Burton and George
A. Messer's racist beliefs manifested themselves as unspeakable acts against
Megan Williams. Every racist
belief manifests itself as an act. 
At the end of their two mile journey to justice, Megan
Williams and her Mom gathered along with the other marchers at the foot of the
Robert C. Byrd Courthouse. As she stood there,
with not a dog in sight and wearing her "protect the Black Woman" t-shirt, one
hopes Megan and all of the others realize how much further they will need to
go.
Lizz Brown is a veteran
journalist, broadcaster, activist, educator and attorney based in St. Louis.
She can be contacted at lizzbrown@sbcglobal.net.
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