Video shows racist drunk white men assaulting Black camper on July 4th
The celebration of America’s independence took a decidedly dark turn this weekend after President Donald Trump fanned the flames of racial and social division with his speech at Mount Rushmore. The dangers of this kind of rhetoric were made immediately clear on Saturday, when a Black man was allegedly nearly lynched by drunken white men near Bloomington, Indiana.
A civil rights activist, Vauhxx Booker, was traveling to a campsite with his friends near Lake Monroe when he encountered a white man wearing a Confederate flag hat. Booker described in a series of Facebook posts how the man began following them on an ATV and telling them they were on “private property,” even though he was not the owner of the property.
When Booker and his friends tried to use the alternate route through the public beach, they discovered it had been blocked off by boats and ATVs by white guys who shouted “white power!” at them. After attempting to discuss the situation and smooth things over, the white men became “immediately aggressive,” prompting Booker and his party to leave.
That’s when two of the white guys attacked him from behind.
“The five were able to easily overwhelm me and got me to the ground and dragged me pinning my body against a tree as they began pounding on my head and ripped off some of my hair, with several of them still on top of my body holding me down. They held me pinned and continued beating me for several minutes seemingly become more and more enraged as they kept trying to seriously injure me and failing. At one point during the attack one of the men jumped on my neck. I could feel both his feet and his full bodyweight land hard against my neck,” wrote Booker on Facebook.
As more people gathered to see what the commotion was about, the white men told them all that “we’re going to break his arms” and yelled to the members of their party several times to “get a noose.”
When people began filming, the men grew even angrier but eventually backed off. “You happy about this, you f*ckin’ nappy-headed B*TCH, you with your five white friends?” screams the drunken man at the person filming.
A man was almost lynched in Bloomington, Indiana. Nearly the whole event was caught on camera. pic.twitter.com/DAqywNEEhW
— Shannon. (@Breathe_DAH) July 6, 2020
“I don’t want to recount this, but I was almost the victim of an attempted lynching. I don’t want this to have happened to me or anyone. It hurts my soul and my pride, but there are multiple witnesses and it can’t be hidden or avoided,” wrote Booker on Facebook.
The Indiana Department of Natural Resources was called but no arrests were made. The incident is apparently “under investigation.”
A man by the name of Vauhxx Rush was assaulted in Bloomington, IN in an attempted lynching. Below are some of the graphic details from his story.
If you want to help, contact Erika Oliphant (Monroe County Prosecutor) & demand action:
(812) 349-2670
Eoliphant@co.monroe.in.us pic.twitter.com/xt990wWHH6— James Ray (@MakeItRayn_) July 6, 2020
Original reporting by Jeremy Hogan at the Bloomingtonian.
