Demanding Justice for Jason
reports on the latest protest to win justice for the victim of a hate crime who is being prosecuted for defending himself.
NORTHAMPTON, Mass.--On November 19, Hampshire County District Attorney Elizabeth Scheibel wasn't in her office. Maybe that was because of the crowd of over 300 protesters outside her office demanding justice for Jason Vassell.
Jason is the victim of a hate crime committed in February. At about 4 a.m. on February 3, Vassell--then a student at the University of Massachusetts--was in his dorm room with two female students when one of the women opened the shade to find two white men. The men threatened Jason, screamed "nigger" at him and kicked in his window.
After the women left and police were called, the two men barged in and broke Jason's nose. In the ensuing altercation, both of Jason's attackers were stabbed. Jason, the first to be charged with a crime, was suspended from school and charged with two felonies. He now faces up to 30 years in prison. Only one of Jason's attacks has been charged at all, and only with misdemeanor counts.
Since Jason's arrest, however, students, professors and community activists have organized a "Justice for Jason" campaign with protests, petitions and a vigil in support of Jason at an earlier pretrial hearing.
At the November 19 demonstration, supporters came out in the freezing cold to march down Main Street, demanding an end to this injustice and chanting. By the time the crowd reached the district attorney's office, it had grown significantly. Many bystanders heard the chants, saw the crowd and joined in the protest themselves.
"There were several hundred people marching and another several hundred looking on," said Joe Mirkin, one of the organizers of the Justice for Jason campaign. "It was remarkable how so many people came out in the cold to increase public exposure for Jason."
Along with many others, state Rep. Ben Swan and Bill Newman of the American Civil Liberties Union spoke out at the rally about the injustice in Jason's case and in the U.S. legal system as a whole.
Protesters had planned to deliver a petition of 4,500 signatures to Scheibel demanding that all the charges against Jason be dropped, but when representatives of the Justice for Jason campaign entered the building, they found Scheibel's office empty. Staff promised that the petition would reach the district attorney. After hearing this news, the crowd outside the office began to chant, "We'll be back!"
The call for justice will not be silenced until all of the racist charges against Jason Vassell are dropped.
