A Black man claims that a group of White men assaulted him and threatened to hang him after he and his friends had trespassed on private property. The White men were gathered at an Indiana lake to celebrate the Fourth of July and to watch the lunar eclipse.
The incident went viral on social media and protesters immediately gathered in front of the Bloomington, Indiana courthouse on July 6.
Racist attack
According to a report by WTTV, a red car hit two protesters who were protesting peacefully. They were demanding that the men who assaulted the Black man should be charged. The protesters were taken to the hospital and the condition of one woman is still unknown.
A local civil rights activist and member of the Monroe County Human Rights Commission, Vauhxx Booker, posted a video on Facebook and showed the men who assaulted him. The men pinned him to a tree and they could be heard asking someone to get a noose.
Booker called 911 and the Indiana Department of Natural Resources responded to the call and they are now investigating the incident. However, no other details about the investigation were given by the officers and it is not clear if they have made any arrest or not, as reported by BBC.
Booker wrote on his Facebook account that he does not want to recount the incident, but he was shaken by the thought that he was almost a victim of a lynching. He added that he does not want the assault to happen to him again or to anyone.
Booker added that after the White men told him and his friends that they were trespassing on private property, they apologized immediately.
However, five White men attacked him and they threatened to break his arms. He heard one man say "get a noose" while they told his friends to leave the area. He pointed out that one man had a hat with a Confederate flag on it and they made statements about "white power."
The video clip that he posted online showed a white man holding him up against a tree. Another man can be heard yelling at someone off-camera that they are "nappy-headed", then the same man yells "You invaded us" and calls one of Booker's friends as a "stupid liberal."
Booker wrote that during the ordeal, he and his friends were calm and polite. But he is convinced that their demeanor would not have made any difference because the White men targeted them as soon as they saw that they are Black. He suffered cuts, bruises, minor concussions, and patches of his hair was pulled out.
Waiting for arrests
On July 6, Bloomington Mayor John Hamilton and Bloomington City Clerk Nicole Bolden issued a statement expressing their anger over the racially motivated attack.
State Senator Mark Stoops said that he was horrified when he found out about the incident. He called Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb to investigate the incident and suspect the officers who did not make any arrest when they responded to the scene, as the incident was obviously a hate crime.
Booker has now gotten himself a lawyer and he will continue with pressing charges, to make sure that the five White men who assaulted and threatened to lynch him will not do it to other people of color.
