News About Alleged Racially Motivated Crimes

In May 2010 , the United States Department of Justice (”DOJ”) issued three news releases describing criminal proceedings DOJ attorneys charge were motivated by race.  A May 12th news release posted by the DOJ at http://www.justice.gov states that a 23-year-old man has been indicted by a federal grand jury for participating in a civil rights conspiracy in connection with an October 2008 cross-burning near the home of an interracial racial couple in Athens, Louisiana.  In that case, a co-conspirator was convicted this past January for conspiring to burn a cross, using fire to commit a federal felony and obstruction of justice charges stemming from this same cross-burning.  A May 13th DOJ news release states that a federal grand jury in the District of Massachusetts has charged two men in a three-count superseding indictment in relation to the arson of a church.  According to that news release, the superseding indictment alleges that in the early morning of November 5, 2008, within hours of Barack Obama being elected President of the United States, the two men agreed to burn and succeeded in burning the Macedonia Church of God in Christ, a predominately African American church.  In a May 17th DOJ news release, DOJ attorneys announced that a white supremacist pleaded guilty to using the Postal Service to send a threatening communication to the president of the Lima, Ohio chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.  As stated in the news release, the white supremacist admits mailing a hangman’s noose in order to convey a threat to injure the victim because the victim advocated publicly for better police services for African Americans in Lima, Ohio.  A Civil Rights Division attorney quoted in the news release stated, in part, that “A noose is an unmistakable symbol of hate in our nation, and it was used in this case to intimidate an individual exercising his right to speak out and advocate on behalf of others.”

With respect to the indictments, the DOJ cautioned in the news releases that details in an indictment are allegations and defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.  Further information about the DOJ and the laws it enforces is available in the DOJ’s website at www.doj.gov .