Racists/hateful activity needs to be STOPPED!
Reported on NYDN, a black man in Indiana, Vauhxx Booker, 36, says he encountered a racist attack by five white men with confederate flags on July 4th. Booker is a Bloomington civil rights activist and a local official. He claims For July 4 weekend, Booker and his friends had all planned to meet up to view the lunar eclipse at lake Monroe, instead of celebrating Independence Day. Those plans were disrupted when some white thugs allegedly tried to lynch him. The entire ordeal was caught on camera. In a detailed Facebook post, Booker painfully recalls what happened:
“I don’t want to recount this, but I was almost the victim of an attempted lynching. I don’t want this to have happened to me or anyone. It hurts my soul, and my pride, but there are multiple witnesses and it can’t be hidden or avoided.”
“The individuals were calm for a moment then quickly became aggressive, and we started to simply leave. Rather than go back on the public beach they angrily indicated for us to use the trail, so we complied, and (friend and I) started walking away from them back to our site. A short moment later they began following us yelling. Two of them jumped me from behind and knocked me to the ground. I tussled with the two and another one joined in, then two more. The five were able to easily overwhelm me and got me to the ground and dragged me pinning my body against a tree as they began pounding on my head and ripped off some of my hair, with several of them still on top of my body holding me down. They held me pinned and continued beating me for several minutes seemingly become more and more enraged as they kept trying to seriously injure me and failing. At one point during the attack one of the men jumped on my neck. I could feel both his feet and his full bodyweight land hard against my neck.”
“The attackers told the growing group, “we’re going to break his arms” (while literally attempting to bend my arms behind me) and then stated to the members of their party several times to, “get a noose”, amongst some other choice slurs. With me still pinned underneath them they kept telling onlookers to leave the, “boy” and that everyone else (all white) could go. Folks then started filming the confrontation, and shouting that they wouldn’t leave me to be killed.”
“We called 911 who transferred us to DNR. When DNR eventually arrived they didn’t contact us to ensure that no one was injured, instead they went directly to speak with the other individuals (attackers) first. When they finally came to the beach near our campsite where we were all waiting, multiple individuals who didn’t know each other shared videos and relayed that the individuals had yelled “white power” and a litany of other derogatory remarks, and threatened my life multiple times, and also assaulted an approximately 60 year old man who stopped to film the encounter. Yet DNR refused to arrest any of these individuals, even with multiple the witnesses several who filmed the event and collaborated our accounts. Instead the officers stated they contacted the Prosecutor’s office who relayed there was no immediate need to arrest anyone, and that the officers would simply file a report. To reiterate, this attack occurred on public land and was recorded by numerous individuals who made statements against the attackers for assaulting them and me. I’m gravely concerned that if any other people of color who were to cross their path they could be killed.” Read the full post.
Take a look at footage from the horrifying ordeal:
Booker offered information if you’d like to help. You can ask the Monroe County Prosecutor Erika Oliphant to demand justice. The email and number is, eoliphant@co.monroe.in.us 18123492670. He also has a GoFundMe. If you’d like to follow and support his activism, you can follow his other page.
Booker suffered a mild concussion and bruises, had patches of his hair pulled out, and had been called racial slurs during the attack. Someone allegedly also yelled “white power.”
The FBI is reportedly stepping in and investigating the situation as a hate crime. Bloomington Mayor John Hamilton and City Clerk Nicole Bolden said in a joint statement that they are working with the Monroe County prosecutor to seek justice in Booker’s case.