Racist White Man Convicted of Hate Crime at Site of Rosewood Massacre

While some people are getting away with committing violent acts toward Black people, this one isn’t.

Last week, a white man by the name of David Emmanuel was convicted by a jury in Gainsville, Fla., on multiple counts of federal hate crimes for attacking a group of Black men. Get this: The attack occurred near the site of the Rosewood Massacre, which happened 100 years ago in 1923.

The charges include willfully intimidating and attempting to intimidate the victims through the use of a vehicle because of the victim’s race and color and because they were using a public facility, according to the press release from the U.S. Department of Justice.

The attack occurred on Sept. 6, 2022, when Emmanuel saw six Black men minding their own damn business on a piece of land near the site of the Rosewood massacre.

More from the U.S. Department of Justice (use your imagination to fill in the “slurs” and “expletives”):

“When the defendant came upon the victims, who were on the public roadway, he shouted racial slurs and expletives at them, including “[racial slur] get out of these woods” before driving a pickup truck directly at the group, nearly striking one of them. At trial, one witness testified that Emanuel admitted that he “came at those [expletives],” and that he “would have [expletive]d up all those Black [expletive]. Video evidence showed that after he was arrested, Emanuel complained that he was “getting treated like this [expletive] over a [expletive] [racial slur].” One witness testified that the defendant came “within inches” of striking one of the victims and that one victim, “nearly lost his life that day.” No victims suffered physical injury as a result of the defendant’s racially motivated attack.”

I know it’s often difficult to determine if a person committed a hate crime, considering it’s almost impossible to truly tell what a person is feeling in their heart. But when a person yells multiple racial epithets towards a group of Black people who aren’t even bothering them, they’re putting themselves on front street and letting the whole world know, “I’m a racist.”

David Emmanuel is scheduled to be sentenced on October 17.