Yesterday a group of gay community leaders in Newark, New Jersey sent a letter to Newark Mayor Cory Booker and other officials calling on the officials to investigate whether the execution-style murders of three college students, and the serious gun-related injuries to a fourth student, in Newark on August 5, 2007 were motivated by hate based on any of the victims' perceived sexual orientation http://www.washblade.com/thelatest/thelatest.cfm?blog_id=14417.
The four young friends shot execution-style in a schoolyard just days before they were to head to college. According to the Newark police three were killed after being forced to kneel against a wall and then shot in the head at close range. A young woman was found slumped near some bleachers 30 feet away, a gunshot wound to the head but still alive. The four Newark residents were to attend Delaware State University this fall.
Sources say that the Newark mayor and other prominent black leaders in Newark may have known that some of the victims in this case were gay but withheld that information because, among other things, they felt it would be hurtful to the surviving families if word got out that their fallen relatives were gay. Other sources think the mayor, who was elected as a reform candidate pledging to clean up Newark's image as a crime-ridden city, felt uncomfortable delving into the sexual orientation of the victims because at least some in the black community view homosexuality as a negative characteristic.
There have been six arrests made in connection with the shootings. The first suspect, Jose Carranza, is an undocumented immigrant from Peru. He was under two indictments - 31 counts of sexually assaulting an 9-year-old and nine counts of assault stemming from a bar fight - when he was arrested for the murders. A second suspect, Melvin Jovel, 18, is a Honduran and officials say they are still not sure of his immigration status. Police also arrested 24-year-old Rodolfo Godinez, his 16-year-old half brother and two 15-year-old boys. Investigators suspect the murders may be gang related though the motive remains unclear.
Godinez who had been fighting extradition from Prince George's County, Maryland, is to appear before a judge in Upper Marlboro, Maryland today. He appeared before an attorney at the Maryland Secretary of State's Office in Annapolis on Thursday and said he would exercise his right to waive the hearings, said Capt. Joe Aiello of the Prince George's County Sheriff's Department.
If there is any evidence that these young people were targeted because of the perception or because they were lesbian or gay the community needs to know the facts. We will continue to follow this story and keep you up on any new developments.
recommend
Facebook
Twitter
bookmark 
email
print
Comments: 9
Was This A Hate Crime Too?
By Keith Boykin, in sexuality
Friday, September 21 2007, 10:04AM
When I first heard about the murders of three college students in Newark, New Jersey last month, I was immediately suspicious. The crime itself seemed so senseless. On August 4, four young adults were hanging out in a school playground when a group of males came up to them, lined them up against a wall and shot them execution-style. Three of the young people were killed on the spot, while the fourth was seriously wounded.
After reviewing the myspace pages of several of the victims, I wondered if they might be gay and wondered if police were pursuing that angle. But that never came up in the public discussion. The police immediately ruled out the possibility of a hate crime, and the media never brought it up either. Until yesterday. That's when black gay activist James Credle released a letter he sent to Newark Mayor Cory Booker asking the city to investigate the murders as a possible anti-gay hate crime.
Evidence of A Hate Crime
Writing on behalf of Representatives of the LGBTIQ & Two-Spirited Concerns Group, Credle asked the city to look into the possibility of whether the taking of their lives was driven by some type of bias or hate. "It has come to our attention that the attackers selected the victims because of a perceived bias against the race and sexual orientation of the victims," he wrote. "We are aware the victims were African American and at least one or more of the victims were gay," he said in his letter.
Credle's letter, which was also sent to the US Attorney General for New Jersey Chris Christie, urged Booker not to overlook the sexual orientation of the victims. "To date, in public statements by you, Mayor Booker, Police Director Garry McCarthy, including all newspaper articles, radio and television reports and/or statements from the parents of the victims, there has been no mention of the sexual orientation of the victims or that there was the possibility of a bias/hate crime based on race and/or sexual orientation. Further, we want to know why, although the murders were committed more than a month ago, the fact of the sexual orientation of the youth has never been a part of the media or public discourse or media regarding the murders?"
According to Credle, "several sources including friends, boyfriends/lovers of at least one of the victims and perhaps one of the parents knew that one or more of the murdered students were gay. At the same time, failure to fully expose and examine this issue will mean that the clarity that comes with the truth is clouded with distortion and rhetoric."
Credle said the group decided to go public with the information so that the crime would be thoroughly investigated and "full disclosure" was made. "We believe that if we keep silent, we will surely be an accessory to future tragedies like these in our community. Our silence would send the wrong message: 'You can attack and even murder lgbtiq & two-spirited residents of Newark and you will not be prosecuted and convicted under hate/bias crime laws.'"
If the information the group provides is accurate, will the black community, the gay community, the media, and the pontificating Republican presidential candidates still care about this case if one or more of the victims turns out to be gay? So far, it doesn't seem likely. An Associated Press story about the murder ran today with no mention of Credle's letter, despite the fact that it was sent out to the media by a New Jersey gay rights group, Garden State Equality. But even some of the top gay news blogs have buried the story today, although other blogs like Rod 2.0 have highlighted it.
That's another real tragedy here. If we really care about hate crimes, we can't sweep them under the rug just because the victims don't fit into our ideal character types to garner public sympathy. This is a case that still demands answers, and the time is ripe for the city to investigate the questions that remain unanswered.
The Looks Of A Hate Crime
From the beginning, the crime was particularly suspicious. Even after police arrested suspects, questions still lingered. I wrote about them last month. "These were good kids, getting an education and not bothering anyone, I wrote. "Why would anyone want to kill them? The police said it was not gang-related or drug-related. Robbery was supposed to be the motive. But why rob a group of young kids who didn't have much of value on them? And then why kill them? When some of the suspects were identified as Hispanic immigrants, some speculated that it might have been a hate crime against the four black kids. But police seemed to rule out that option too. So what was this murder all about?"
Without any hard evidence about the victims' sexual orientation, all I could do was to recall a previous anti-gay hate crime in Newark. "In the summer of 2003, I went to Newark to meet with the family of Sakia Gunn, a 15-year-old high school student who had been murdered on one of the main streets of the New Jersey community. I interviewed Sakia's mother and felt the pain she was going through after losing her daughter," I wrote.
Then I introduced the victims. Eighteen-year-old Terrance Aeriel missed his spring semester at Delaware State University but had re-enrolled for the fall. A musician, Aeriel played the baritone saxophone and participated in his college's band camp last summer. Aeriel was also known as a gifted orator, who had preached at Higher Dimensions Ministry in Bloomfield.
Dashon Harvey, 20, was also a junior at Delaware State University. He was a psychology major who had worked in the admissions office on campus. On his myspace page, he described himself as a "sometime runway model" and he is seen sitting in a photo studio holding up a fashion magazine. Harvey also seemed to proud of being elected "Mr. Junior" in Delaware State's homecoming court. He even recorded a video for his campaign on YouTube.
At 20 years old, Iofemi Hightower was the oldest in the group that was shot. She had attended Essex Community College, but was in the process of enrolling at Delaware State University for the fall. She had close ties to the Aeriels since elementary school and even attended the prom with Terrance Aeriel. Her myspace page featured a "Before and After" photo comparison of herself with Aeriel in 2006 and 2007. In the before picture, the couple are dressed up in formal wear with matching blue and white colors. In the after picture, Hightower sports a baseball cap and a sweatshirt.
Natasha Aeriel was the only survivor of the shooting. A 19 year-old junior at Delaware State University, she is a biology major who plays the alto saxophone in the school's marching band. Natasha Aeriel has also helped the police to identify and arrest the suspects involved in the case.
The families of the three young people who were killed and the young woman who was shot deserve to know the truth about what happened the night of August 4. And the public also deserves the truth. It's time to break the taboo and investigate this crime for all the possibilities.