A Black trainer and musician who says members of a white nationalist hate group punched, kicked and beat him with steel shields throughout a march by Boston final yr sued the group on Tuesday.
Charles Murrell III, of Boston, was within the space of the Boston Public Library to play his saxophone on July 2, 2022, when he was surrounded by members of the Patriot Front and assaulted in a “coordinated, brutal, and racially motivated attack,” in keeping with the lawsuit filed in federal court docket in Boston.
Murrell was taken by ambulance to the hospital for remedy of lacerations, a few of which required stitches, the go well with says.
“As a result of this beating, Mr. Murrell sustained physical injuries to his face, head, and hand, all of which required medical attention. Mr. Murrell also continues to suffer significant emotional distress to this day as a result of the incident,” the go well with says. “Among other harms, those physical and emotional injuries have adversely affected Mr. Murrell’s ability to earn a living as a musician.”
He has “been plagued by severe anxiety, mental anguish, invasive thoughts, and emotional distress, including, but not limited to, persistent concern for his physical safety and loss of sleep,” and “routinely has nightmares and flashbacks,” in keeping with the go well with.
The defendants are Patriot Front, its founder Thomas Rousseau and a number of John Does. Emails searching for remark have been despatched to attorneys who’ve both represented Patriot Front prior to now or signify the group in pending litigation.
Murrell, who has a background instructing particular training, mentioned in a phone interview on Monday that the lawsuit is about holding Patriot Front accountable, serving to his personal therapeutic course of and stopping something related from taking place to youngsters of shade, like these he teaches.
“Because I am a teacher, because I come from special education, I am filing this suit so that even if one of them has a safer sidewalk to walk on, the work that I am doing will have been very much worth it,” Murrell mentioned.
The march in Boston by about 100 members of the Texas-based Patriot Front was one in all its so-called flash demonstrations that it holds across the nation. In addition to shields, the group carried a banner that mentioned “Reclaim America” as they marched alongside the Freedom Trail and previous a number of the metropolis’s most well-known landmarks.
They had been largely dressed alike in khaki pants, darkish shirts, hats, sun shades and face coverings.
Murrell mentioned he had by no means heard of the group earlier than the confrontation, however believes he was focused due to the tone of their voices and the slurs they used when he encountered them.
Patriot Front trains members to commit acts of violence, in keeping with the go well with.
“What happened to Mr. Murrell was no accident,” the go well with says. “For years, Patriot Front … has publicly and privately advocated for the use of violence against those who disagree with its express goal of creating an entirely ‘white’ United States.”
The aim of the lawsuit isn’t just justice and accountability, mentioned Licha Nyiendo, the chief authorized officer at Human Rights First, which is backing Murrell within the lawsuit, however to bankrupt Patriot Front.
“Our goal is to decimate this extremist group,” she mentioned, “and bring a national spotlight to the dangers of their extremist ideology.”
It’s the same tactic used towards a number of white supremacist teams concerned on the lethal “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017, which resulted in a $26 million verdict.
“That bankrupted and marginalized the leading hate groups that were involved in Charlottesville and really pulled back the curtain, through the discovery process, on how these groups operate,” mentioned Amy Spitalnick, the senior adviser on extremism for Human Rights First.
No one has been charged in reference to the assault on Murrell, 36, and the investigation stays open, in keeping with a spokesperson for the Suffolk district legal professional’s workplace.
The go well with, which alleges amongst different issues civil rights violations, assault and battery, and intentional infliction of emotional misery, seeks a jury trial and unspecified damages.
Founded after the “Unite the Right” rally, Patriot Front’s manifesto requires the formation of a white ethnostate within the United States, in keeping with the Southern Poverty Law Center’s web site.
It’s members submit flyers and stickers, put banners on buildings or overpasses and even carry out acts of public service, designed to maximise propaganda worth, the SPLC mentioned.
Also lively on-line, the Patriot Front is likely one of the nation’s most seen white supremacist teams “whose members maintain that their ancestors conquered America and bequeathed it to them, and no one else,” in keeping with the Anti-Defamation League.
Five members of the group had been sentenced to a number of days in jail for conspiring to riot at a Pride occasion in Idaho final yr. A jury discovered them responsible of the riot cost after after they had been accused of planning to riot on the Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, LGBTQ+ Pride occasion.
A complete of 31 Patriot Front members, together with one recognized as its founder, had been arrested June 11, 2022, after somebody reported seeing individuals loading right into a U-Haul van like “a little army” at a resort car parking zone in Coeur d’Alene, police mentioned on the time. Police mentioned they discovered riot gear, a smoke grenade, shin guards and shields within the van.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”