top
East Bay
East Bay
Indybay
Indybay
Indybay
Regions
Indybay Regions North Coast Central Valley North Bay East Bay South Bay San Francisco Peninsula Santa Cruz IMC - Independent Media Center for the Monterey Bay Area North Coast Central Valley North Bay East Bay South Bay San Francisco Peninsula Santa Cruz IMC - Independent Media Center for the Monterey Bay Area California United States International Americas Haiti Iraq Palestine Afghanistan
Topics
Newswire
Features
From the Open-Publishing Calendar
From the Open-Publishing Newswire
Indybay Feature

Victim of Hate Crime on UC Berkeley campus

by Joseph
On April 21, I was the victim of a hate criminal threat on the UC Berkeley campus. I identified the suspect who threatened me, and yet no arrest was made.
On April 21, around 7pm, I was walking on UC Berkeley's Upper Sproul Plaza towards Telegraph. I was singing out loud, an R&B song to myself. I passed a man who heard me singing looked straight at me and said "Keep walking faggot before I beat your ass!" I responded with "Wait, what?" and he repeated himself minus the homophobic slur. "You heard me, keep walking or I'll beat your ass!"

I told this to the CSO's when I arrived at UCPD, and both officers that I spoke to. For reasons that I can only surmise are because the UC police have a history with me and hate me for my past activism, they insinuated that I was lying. "Did you do anything to provoke him?" "Why didn't you tell this to the officer when you came in?" My truthful response: "I did tell him!"

I was told by the officer that the man and the woman he was holding hands with, who I assumed to be his girlfriend, both denied that this happened. As if this meant anything. Why would he admit to the threat he just made? And why would she admit to a crime her boyfriend just committed?

I have just learned that the man was released without charge and case closed.

Are there any others with similar experiences on the UC Berkeley campus? What recourse do I have?
Add Your Comments

Comments (Hide Comments)
by Reginald Bacon
If the perpetrator was black, I suspect you are SOL. If he was white, I suggest you go back there with a support group (show of force), find him, take his picture, and give it to the UC paper or the SF Chronicle. You seem to write well; perhaps you can write an article that one of these outfits can publish. Sadly, I don't think they'll publish it if he's black, because it doesn't fit their narrative.
by cp
Several years ago a friend of mine who is half black, half white reported a few incidents. He said that while walking down Bancroft, a patrol car suddenly pulled over and stopped him, and they said that there had been a call about a black person with a knife walking down the street, but then they let him go. I'm not sure if that was UCPD or BPD.
The same person said that once his sister had a situation when her landlord who lived in the same building was found dead (probably of a heart attack). The BPD appeared to be interviewing her as if there was a possibility that he had been murdered, and she was questioned as if she was about to be detained or was under suspicion. He insisted on standing nearby, and was unhappy when they made him stay outside. He verbally criticized this, and the police officer detained him in the car, but could not identify a crime to arrest him for. So they wrote a false report claiming that he had been displaying schizophrenic behaviors such as speaking about voices from radio implant in his head. He was transported to the mental facility in San Leandro, but the psychiatrists there let him go within an hour because he isn't crazy.
by story
cool story bro

- queer uninterested in people who collaborate with law enforcement
We are 100% volunteer and depend on your participation to sustain our efforts!

Donate

$110.00 donated
in the past month

Get Involved

If you'd like to help with maintaining or developing the website, contact us.

Publish

Publish your stories and upcoming events on Indybay.

IMC Network