The National Black Justice Coalition (NBJC) is right to encourage the federal government to ask tough questions about whether Robert D. Champion’s civil rights were violated despite his family’s insistence that his homicide was not a hate crime. Federal officials are the only authorities who are actually qualified to make such a determination.At a news conference, Champion family attorney Christopher Chestnut admitted that some of the witnesses he has interviewed said Champion was beaten worse than the other FAMU Marching 100 members who were hazed on November 19 because he was gay.
But despite that evidence, he insists that the homicide cannot be classified as an act of anti-gay hate.
“This is not a hate crime. This is a hazing crime,” Chestnut said.
If witnesses have come forward to say that Champion was singled out for an ultimately deadly beating because of his homosexuality, how can Chestnut be so sure that it wasn’t a hate crime?
NABJ has asked the U.S. Department of Justice’s Community Relations Service and Civil Rights Division as well as the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights to launch probes into Champion’s death. Even if those agencies decline that request pending the outcome the criminal investigation led by Florida officials, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida should review all of the witness accounts claiming that Champion was brutalized because of his sexual orientation and file any appropriate federal charges.
The individuals who killed Robert D. Champion should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. If they committed a federal hate crime, then they must pay the price.