That community organizer's town is a real sh** hole.
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Three black teens and one 24-year-old were charged with hate crimes Thursday in relation to the brutal attack of a white man with special needs.
News of their arrests had sparked a fierce debate on social media over whether the assault — which was broadcast via Facebook Live — should be called a hate crime.
The victim’s name has not been released, but police have identified the man as an 18-year-old from suburban Chicago who suffers from “mental health challenges” and was reported missing by his parents on Monday. His assailants reportedly shouted racially charged taunts during the alleged assault, including “f*** Donald Trump, f*** white people,” while they held they young man captive in an apartment and physically abused him.
In an earlier statement to media, Chicago police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi stopped short of describing the incident as a hate crime, sparking outrage on social media. He said that despite the fact that the suspects made “terrible racist statements,” investigators were still not sure of the motive.
“We do not believe the victim was targeted because of his race or because of a political affiliation,” Gugliemi said then. The incident comes shortly after Chicago closed out its deadliest year in almost two decades, with 762 recorded murders in 2016.
The details of the incident are violent and disturbing. The young man’s parents said that, shortly after reporting their son missing to police in the suburban community of Streamwood, they began receiving text messages from someone who claimed to be holding their son captive. The texts led area officers to “a Facebook video depicting [the man] being verbally and physically abused,” CNN reported. Not long after, officers in Streamwood received a call from Chicago police, who said they’d found the man, bloodied and disoriented, after responding to a domestic battery call on the city’s West Side.
By Wednesday, Chicago police had taken four suspects. Initial reports stated that all four of the suspects were both African-American and 18 years old, however the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office later announced that felony criminal charges had been filed against 18-year-olds Jordan Hill, Brittany Covington and Tesfaye Cooper, and 24-year-old Tanishia Covington.
The 30 minute video — which was reportedly widely shared before it was removed from Facebook — appeared to show the victim tied up, his mouth covered, as he is beaten and berated by a group of young African-American men and women as they yell profanities about “white people” and president-elect Donald Trump. At one point, one of the men is reportedly seen cutting a patch of the victim’s hair, causing his head to bleed.
Amid the the flurry of reactions that circulated across social media late Wednesday, claims also began to spread that Black Lives Matter was to blame for the horrendous incident, despite the fact that, as Chicago police clarified Thursday morning, there is no evidence to suggest that the suspects were in any way affiliated with the activist group.
Prominent tweeters like alt-right author Mike Cernovich and conservative commentator Glenn Beck had already broadcast the rumor to their tens of thousands of followers. By Thursday morning, #BLMKidnapping was trending on Twitter, as the group’s Chicago chapter attempted to maintain its innocence.
The four are expected to appear in court on Friday, where some will also face charges of aggravated battery, aggravated kidnapping and aggravated unlawful restraint, in addition to the hate crime charges.