CHARLESTON — Hundreds of people marched through the state capital Saturday to urge prosecutors to bring hate crime charges against six whites charged in the beating, torture and sexual assault of a 20-year-old black woman.
Authorities say the accused, three men and three women, held Megan Williams captive for days at a rural trailer — sexually assaulting her, beating her and forcing her to eat human and animal feces. She was discovered Sept. 8 after Logan County Sheriff’s Deputies received an anonymous tip.
Police stopped traffic in downtown Charleston, as demonstrators held signs calling for the suspects to be charged with hate crimes. African drumbeats punctuated the footsteps of marchers along a 2-mile route that passed a traditionally black neighborhood.
“This is a beautiful sight coming down our streets,” Charleston resident Lisa Harmon said as she cheered the marchers from a sidewalk. “A beautiful sight.”
Many shopkeepers and residents openly supported the march, clapping or raising their fists in unity.
Mary Booker, 52, of Charleston, said there is racism in her home state and she wants to see hate crimes taken seriously in the Williams case.
“Justice is all we are asking for, no special treatment,” Booker said. “They need to be charged with everything they have done, the hate crime and the rape and the battery. All of it.”
Before the march, a rally was held on the steps of the state Capitol building.
“Hate crimes are out of control in America,” Malik Shabazz, a legal adviser to Williams and her family and a founder of Black Lawyers for Justice, told the crowd. “Nooses are being hung and our women are being raped by white mobs. What happened to Megan Williams was a hate crime and we want this prosecuted as a hate crime.”
Shabazz pointed to statements from suspect Frankie Brewster and her son, Bobby Brewster, that racial epithets were used every time Williams was stabbed.
The city’s black ministerial association and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People had urged people to stay away from the rally because it could harm the prosecution’s case.
Logan County Prosecutor Brian Abraham has not filed hate crime charges in the case saying the other charges already filed carry harsher penalties. A hate crime conviction carries up to 10 years in prison in West Virginia. All six face kidnapping and sexual assault charges. Kidnapping carries a possible life sentence.
Abraham, who urged Williams and her family not to talk about the case or attend the rally, has said it might be difficult to prove a hate crime charge because Williams had a “social relationship” with one of the suspects for at least several months before the alleged assaults.
Williams attended the rally wearing a T-shirt with the message “Protect the Black Woman.” In a brief speech, she showed her appreciation to her supporters.
Joe Marchal said he drove three hours from Berea, Ky., with his wife and infant son to show his support for Williams.
“If no one came out today, imagine how that would make Megan Williams feel,” Marchal said. “We’re here for her.”
In addition to calling attention to hate crimes, organizers hoped the rally would help raise money for Williams’ medical care and future educational expenses.
Zayid Muhammad, the national minister of culture for the New Black Panther Party, came to the rally from Newark, N.J.
“As a father of a daughter and a child of African ancestry, the idea that I can sit by idly, (in) the face of one of the most violent and obscene acts committed against a black woman in my life, was too appalling,” Muhammad said. “I had to come.”
The Rev. Al Sharpton did not appear at the rally or march, despite his staff’s confirmation earlier in the week that he was scheduled to attend. Instead, he held “an emergency press conference in New York,” according to a spokeswoman, regarding New York Knicks coach Isaiah Thomas.
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