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[Updated] 3rd Black Woman Charged With Hate Crime for Anti-White Assault on MTA Bus

New York City hate crimes have increased by 76 percent since last year.

Updated as of 8/19/2022 at 9:15 a.m. ET

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A total of three Black teens have been charged with hate crimes after allegedly beating a white woman and making โ€œanti-whiteโ€ statements, according to Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz. The 57-year-old woman was hospitalized as a result of her injuries. As hate crimes spike against Black and brown people, theyโ€™ve also been spiking against white people.

On the evening of July 9, Jill LeCroix and three other girls were on a southbound MTA bus in Queens. According to CNN, they got into a verbal dispute and one of the girls shouted, โ€œI hate White people. I hate the way they talk.โ€ LeCroix told New York Post the girls were โ€œlooking for trouble.โ€

โ€œBefore they hit me, the girl with the green hair said, โ€˜You probably like Trump! Donโ€™t you?โ€™ I said, โ€˜I love him.โ€™ I didnโ€™t see which one hit me first,โ€ LeCroix said. โ€œShe had a bag from Bath and Body Works, and she took out a scrub and said she was going to beat me with it. It was tangerine. She said, โ€˜Youโ€™re going to get what you deserve! All white people are going to get what they deserve.โ€™ It was crazy.โ€

More on the incident from CNN:

The woman was hit in the head with an unknown object, the release said, causing a laceration and bleeding.

The three girls ran away and the woman was taken to a local hospital where she received three staples on her head, the release said.

NYPD released a photo of three Black teenagers wanted in connection with the incident and two of them โ€” a 15 and 16-year-old โ€” have been arrested and charged with hate crimes. Police are still searching for the third girl.

The Queens District Attorneyโ€™s Office will ultimately decide what charges the teenagers will face.

Jahnaiya Williams, 19, is charged with assault as a hate crime as well as other charges, per the DAโ€™s office. Williams was arraigned Monday and faces 3 to 15 years in prison if convicted.

โ€œAs alleged, the defendant, as well as two other apprehended individuals, carried out an unprovoked assault on a public transit rider simply because of the victimโ€™s race,โ€ said Katz via the press release. โ€œI am committed to holding accountable those who perpetuate bias-motivated attacks on the residents of the most diverse county in the world.โ€

As often as we disregard the โ€œreverse racismโ€ and โ€œwhite oppressionโ€ cries from white folks, they arenโ€™t exempt from being victims of hate crimes. By the Justice Departmentโ€™s definition, a hate crime is one motivated by bias against a certain race, gender, sexuality and so on. If these girls were spewing โ€œanti-whiteโ€ comments out the gate, their actions qualified them for this charge.

The NYPD even has a platform to track hate crimes, though people of color are overwhelming recorded to be on the receiving end. According to the NYPD Hate Crimes Dashboard, thereโ€™s been 51 hate crimes against Asians, 35 against Black people and only one against a white person.

This is only accounting for one region. Imagine the numbers elsewhere.

Straight From The Root

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