hate crime
HipHopWired Featured Video
Source: Facebook / facebook
A Brooklyn teen has been arrested and charged as an adult in the murder of dancer O’Shae Sibley, and it has been deemed a hate crime.
On Saturday (Aug. 5), it was announced at a press conference held by the New York Police Department that they had detained the individual suspected in the fatal stabbing of O’Shae Sibley. NYPD Assistant Chief Joseph Kenny said that the suspect, who is 17, is being charged as an adult with second-degree murder and criminal possession of a weapon.
Related Stories
Kenny said that the suspect lives and goes to high school in Brooklyn and explained the reasoning behind the charges. Surveillance footage at the Coney Island Avenue gas station on July 29 showed Sibley dancing and vogueing as his friends were refueling their car before being confronted by another group of men in the parking lot. “They began to use derogatory names and homophobic slurs against them,” he said of the events leading up to the altercation. One person approached Sibley, stabbing him in his rib cage before fleeing in an SUV. “They also made anti-Black statements,” Kenny said.
“Parents lost a child, a child to something clearly that was a hate crime,” said Mayor Eric Adams at a press conference, which was held outside of the gas station in the Midwood neighborhood of Brooklyn. “It wasn’t as though someone turned themselves in out of the goodness of their heart,” he continued, crediting law enforcement and community involvement for the arrest. “It was out of the proper investigation and coordination that led to no other thing to do but to turn themselves in.”
The death of Sibley comes as attacks against those from the LGBTQ+ community have increased rapidly, sparking outrage from that community as well as protests and rallies. “He was doing nothing more than voguing and dancing,” said NYC Center for Black Pride chief Lee Soulja Simmons on Saturday. “He did not deserve to die in that way.” Simmons also said that Black queer people were emotionally struggling with Sibley’s killing. Representatives from Muslim community organizations were also present at the press conference to lend their support, as the suspect reportedly said at the outset of the incident: “I’m Muslim. I don’t want this here.”
Under the law in New York State, the suspect faces a mandatory sentence of 20 years to life if he’s to be tried as an adult. The Brooklyn District Attorney could change the charges once they take over.
HipHopWired Radio
Our staff has picked their favorite stations, take a listen…
HipHopWired Featured Video
Source: timnewman / Getty
A family in an Oregon suburb is speaking out about a neighbor targeting them because they’re Black – by spraying a slur on their own house.
According to reports, the Channel family has been for years dealing with the unhinged antics of a neighbor of theirs in West Linn, a suburb just south of Portland, Oregon. But the neighbor, a woman who has not been identified publicly, has ramped up her disturbing behavior and directed it toward the Channel family, who is Black by recently spray-painting the N-word on her own house.
Andre Channel spoke to local news outlets about the incident, which apparently took place on Christmas Day. He had received a call from another neighbor named Jason while traveling outside of the country. “He was like hey, just want to let you know, your neighbor wrote the n-word all across their house,” Channel said to KPTV. “This is the crossing the line for me, this is new.”
The family stated that the neighbor also directed the slur toward their son earlier in the month. A representative of the West Linn Police Department confirmed they were called to the scene, and that they spray painted over the slur with the homeowner’s consent. But Channel says that action didn’t occur until after him and other neighbors repeatedly called the police to come back. His neighbor Jason stated, “the cops have been here pretty much two or three times a week for the past two months, three months. They’re doing all they can do about it, but we all know the system is broken.”
Channel feels that law enforcement should be doing more. “It seems like we keep getting the run around in regards to there’s a process to this, a process to that,” Channel said. “My daughters shouldn’t have to be at home wondering what’s going to happen next.”
“Incidents such as this cause actual harm, both to those specifically targeted and the wider community at large. We stand firmly against hate and bigotry in all of its forms, and in solidarity with our community members,” the West Linn Police Department said in a statement.
They’ve also said that they’ve notified the Oregon branch of the Department of Justice. Andre Channel is insistent that this ugly incident won’t force him and his family to leave. “I’m not going to let one person force me out of a neighborhood in a city that I love,” he said. “We should be able to come home and feel safe, period.”
-
Pages