Reposted from The Root-Angela Helm
I could not believe this when I first read. It is unbelievable. It brought tears to my eyes.
This is the result of Donald Trump’s hateful rhetoric and his tacit support of white supremacists and neo-Nazis. I am afraid this is only the beginning of dark days in America.
NH1.com reports that a Claremont, N.H., boy had to be flown to Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center after one or more teens decided to hang him from a tree with a rope.
The boy’s mother, Cassandra Merlin, posted the horrific photo of her baby’s neck to Facebook, and even then gave those responsible the benefit of the doubt.
The boy’s uncle, Lyrik Martin, who also posted photos of his injuries on social media, wrote in a post that he wasn’t sure the attack was racially motivated, but the boy’s grandmother went on record saying the teens taunted the boy for being black.
Lorrie Slattery told the Valley News that the incident was in fact racially motivated and “intentional.”
Slattery said she was able to recount what happened from her grandson’s 11-year-old sister and other children present (there were no adults), and that her grandson and some teens were playing in a yard on Aug. 28 when the teens started calling the little boy “racial epithets” and throwing sticks and rocks at his legs.
Some or all of the teens allegedly stepped up on a picnic table and grabbed a nearby rope that had been part of a tire swing, Slattery said.
“The (teenagers) said, ‘Look at this,’ supposedly putting the rope around their necks,” Slattery said. “One boy said to (her grandson), ‘Let’s do this,’ and then pushed him off the picnic table and hung him.”
The boy swung back and forth by his neck three times before he was able to remove the rope from his neck; Slattery said none of the teens came to his aid.
As late as Friday, Claremont Police Chief Mark Chase would not comment on the specifics of the case, only saying that they were still investigating and that those involved are juveniles, prohibiting him specifically making any comment.
Chase also said that the kids being investigated (who knows if they’re charged) should be “protected.”
“The town of Claremont, N.H., has 13,000 residents, and is 96 percent white, 0.6 percent African-American, and 1.8 percent biracial, according to the 2010 Census.”
Police Chief Chase said these perpetrators, these kids “should be protected,” what about our children? When are they going to be protected?
America 2017.
Read more at NH1.com and Valley News.