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So if forcing a young, disabled woman to eat dog and rat feces, drink urine from a toilet and lick up her own blood while sexually assaulting her and making statements like, “This is what we do to ni**ers around here,” doesn’t constitute as a hate crime, then what does?
This is the question attorney Malik Shabazz of Black Lawyers for Justice (BLFJ) is asking on behalf of his client, 20-year-old West Virginian Megan Williams, who Shabazz says has suffered “one of the worst hate crimes in U.S. history.”
Apparently, Logan County prosecutor Brian Abraham believes adding hate crime charges would be “difficult” to prove and chooses to focus on making sure that all six defendants – Frankie Brewster, 49; and her son Bobby Brewster, 24; Karen Burton, 46; her daughter Alisha, 23; Danny Combs, 20; and George Messer, 27 – are convicted of kidnapping, which carries a life sentence and first-degree sexual assault, which can add an additional 35 years.
In September, Williams was kidnapped and held for approximately one week in the home of Frankie Brewster, enduring beatings, being stabbed in her leg, choked with a noose around her neck and her hair ripped out.
[Carmen Williams (right), mother of Megan Williams, told the Associated Press, “I don’t understand a human being doing another human being the way they did my daughter.” Photo credit: AP.]
An anonymous tip from someone who witnessed the abuse led the police to Brewster’s mobile home, where according to the Associated Press, an extension cord ran from the home to the cramped shed, which she was held in with a portable stereo, a locker and a power saw.
The case is “something that would have come out of a horror movie,” Logan County Sheriff W.E. Hunter said.
Brewster, who was charged for first-degree murder in the past and the five other suspects, have racked up 108 criminal charges since 1991.
Federal authorities have handed the Williams case over to the state with no charges coming from them. BLFJ and the Williams family along with a reported 100 organizations, including the Nation of Islam and the New Black Panther Party, are organizing a march for November 3 in Charleston, where the state capital and federal courthouse are located, hoping to galvanize the same media support and community outrage that recently took place in Jena, Louisiana.
“The number of outright hate crimes and injustice cases against Blacks is rising so rapidly it’s hard for our office to keep track,” Shabazz said on his website Blacklawyersforjustice.org. The website lists hate crimes reported at the University of Maryland, in Pittsburgh, Long Island, North Carolina and Washington, D.C. “We are calling for every concerned person in our community to respond to this national crisis with vigor and due diligence. The November 3rd march in Charleston is a big step in the direction of organizing to challenge the tide of attacks occurring against Blacks.”
Schedule of Events
Friday, November 2nd 7:00 p.m.
A pre-march remembrance/prayer vigil will take place at the Logan County trailer home where Megan Williams was kidnapped and tortured.
Saturday, November 3rd 10:00 a.m.
Gather at the West Virginia State Capital Building
Saturday, November 3rd noon
National March Against Hate Crimes, Charleston, West VA.
Beginning in front of West Virginia State Capital Building and marching through Charleston, West Virginia.
Saturday, November 3rd 5:00 p.m.
Fundraiser for Megan Williams and Town Hall Meeting on Race Relations to take place at Reehoboth Cathedral of Christ in Charleston, West Virginia
915 Main St. Charleston, W. VA – Bishop James Carter III is the host pastor.
To endorse this march or for updates and further details, visit the website www.blacklawyersforjustice.org or call 202-397-4577.
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