The FBI confirmed to TPM Tuesday that it has opened an investigation into the alleged attack on Vauhxx Rush Booker just outside Bloomington, Indiana on July 4. Booker described the alleged assault as an “attempted lynching.”
About damn time.
Jeez…could there be any doubt it was a hate crime?
Fuckers.
Indiana Department of Natural Resources’ Law Enforcement Division why weren’t there arrests? Why respond if you were not going to do anything?
While it’s great the FBI is (finally) involved, why isn’t Indiana taking a stronger role in this? Think a hard look needs to be taken of the IDNR lack of response.
FBI: “our investigation has determined that this violent racism has been present in this area and in these individuals since at least 2019, so there is nothing we can do.”
Why does TPM continue to refer to this as an “alleged assault”? There is cell phone video that clearly shows a black man being attacked, pushed up against a tree, by a group of white people that won’t let him go. What is “alleged” about that? It’s the very definition of assault.
It’s really too bad that the video starts after they were calling for a noose (at least I haven’t seen that in any of the videos so far). It’s pretty clear how wrong this was, and the lies about “private property” and how the guy was treated outside of the attack just shows the racism in even more light.
There really should be charges, the question is if the current version of the FBI, and the agents in Indiana, will do anything about it…I’m not encouraged at the moment. It’s more likely the county prosecutor will bring charges, there is enough evidence in the video and witness statements for that.
Because until there is a legal judgement on what happened they have to treat it this way, to do otherwise opens them up to a slander lawsuit. It’s standard procedure for news organizations…they can describe what happened in the video directly (i.e. “man X punched man Y in the face”), but they can’t make a legal assertion without a court decision, and calling something an assault is that kind of assertion. Quoting someone (“he assaulted me!”) also follows the rules, it’s what news organizations say about the event that matters.
I suspect that Indiana is KKKomplicit.
It’s not very often I disagree with most TPMers as you’re all smart people. However come on now. This incident is 4 days old. It’s disturbing. Yes the MF’ers should be locked up. But remember the central park lady Amy Cooper who tried to have a black man shot by police? That took New York 42 days to announce charges. This isn’t an Indiana problem, it’s a wheels of justice move too dang slow problem.
The DNR. WTF ?.. Forget it. Not going there.
If you’re Black you’re whack:
…the officers spoke with his alleged assailants before checking to see if he was hurt.
They also spent fifteen minutes making sure the rope wasn’t damaged.
‘Boy am I glad the FBI are coming,’ but we are,”
I hope the feelings are warranted. Things are changing faster than we can keep track of, and not always in positive ways.
I don’t think 4 days is outrageous for the FBI to get started (though the story broke a couple days ago). But why weren’t they arrested at the scene with assault charges?
Note the end of the article where the white woman infers that arguing with them is the same as threatening their lives. Preparing her ‘stand your ground’ defense.
Remember that filthy, sleazy and white nationalist Republican racist whore Bill Barr is in charge of the FBI. Remember, the FBI conducted that fake investigation of christian conservative rapist and boofer Bart Kavanaugh without reviewing evidence, calling witnesses and provided a pre-determined outcome. Our Department of Justice is corrupt and cannot be trusted. They are infiltrated by Russian-intelligence.
FYI…The Central Park birdwatcher wrongly reported to police by Amy Cooper has declined to testify against her false complaint arrest. He feels she’s suffered enough.
The good news is the FBI opened an investigation.
The bad news is Billy Barr is the A.G.
Indiana is infested with white nationalist Republicans and extremist christian conservatives. In much of Indiana, the culture is like that of pro-confederate Mississippi and Alabama, South Carolina and Kentucky.