NAACP won't back W.Va. torture case march

[Lone_Star_Dem]

Source: USA Today

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — The NAACP said Tuesday it does not support a hate crime awareness march that will raise money for a black woman who says she was tortured by six whites.

Local and national NAACP officials said they disapprove of Saturday's march organizers, a group based in Washington, D.C., called Black Lawyers for Justice that wants hate crime charges brought against the defendants.

Six whites are charged with raping and torturing 20-year-old Megan Williams for days until her Sept. 8 rescue. All could get life prison sentences if convicted, but the prosecutor has not filed hate crime charges, saying they could be difficult to prove.

<snip>

"The NAACP is not against hate crimes being charged; we're just saying we respect the decision of the prosecutor to later on have the freedom to do so. We do believe that some of what the perpetrators (had) against Megan, it was hate crime, but we want them to be prosecuted under the laws."

Read more: http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-10-30-march-naacp_N.htm?csp=34

[Kagemusha]

1. So what else aren't we hearing about this?

Reading between the lines, I'm sensing that the NAACP's problem is not with the cause, but with Black Lawyers for Justice. Is this some kind of personal animosity issue?

This too suggests such issues:

"The Southern Poverty Law Center is critical of Shabazz for his association with figures like the late Khalid Muhammad, a former Nation of Islam member famous for incendiary remarks about whites and Jews.

Murphy and some other black leaders have accused Shabazz of using Williams' case to showboat."