Regarding the supposed “hate crime” at Guilford College, WGHP Fox 8 News in Greensboro reports on a controversial letter written by Guilford College’s Director of Multicultural Education on January 2 to students of color and/or international students. In it there is a very Duke-Gang-of-88-esque tack of blowing things way out of proportion and responding with institutional racism in response to the thought of a racist act.

Meanwhile, the Greensboro Police Department has completed its investigation and said there was no evidence that would allow them to proceed with the case. The accused say they were defending themselves that night; their families issued a press release criticizing the media and the college official for “inaccurate portrayal of these young men” and state (and boy does this sound familiar), “When all of the FACTS are revealed, we believe that those who are sensationalizing this story will be rightly embarrassed and hope the retractions will receive the same level of visibility as premature and false charges.”

The families said the letter by the director, Sekinah Hamlin, “greatly inflamed emotions needlessly.”

In her letter, Hamlin wrote “What happened to these three young men could have happened to any one of us,” knowing full well that few students were going to get in a bar fight with a mixed-race group of football players. “This is the reality of racism and no institution, including Guilford, in this country, is free of it.”

Hamlin continued (emphasis added):

We are concerned about your safety and your mental, spiritual and emotional health. If you feel unsafe, need to talk, or anything else, please do not hesitate to contact us. In addition, we will have a gathering to discuss how this is affecting you/us/people of color Monday, January 21, 2007 (tomorrow) at 9pm in the International House. This meeting is ONLY for students of color. This affects us in a different way than our white allies and we only need to have a safe place to discuss how we are feeling.

How safe? Her response to the news station’s inquiry speaks for itself:

FOX8 News tried contacting Hamlin at the phone number provided in the letter. She refused to talk about the meeting saying the students would talk when they were ready. When we asked if Friday’s altercation was the only incident of concern, the director hung up on us.

Below is the text of Hamlin’s letter:

January 21, 2007

Students of Color and/or International Students:

By now, most of you have heard about the situation that occurred on Friday night between some football players and Faris Khader, Osama Sabbah and Omar Awartini (a student from NC State). Faris, Osama and Omar were defending themselves against students (and possible perspective students) that were attacking them physically and simultaneously verbally with phrases like “sandnigga”, “terrorist”, etc. The incident was a hate crime.

We must be united as people of color more than ever. What happened to these three young men could have happened to any one of us. This is the reality of racism and no institution, including Guilford, in this country, is free of it.

We are concerned about your safety and your mental, spiritual and emotional health. If you feel unsafe, need to talk, or anything else, please do not hesitate to contact us. In addition, we will have a gathering to discuss how this is affecting you/us/people of color Monday, January 21, 2007 (tomorrow) at 9pm in the International House. This meeting is ONLY for students of color. This affects us in a different way than our white allies
and we only need to have a safe place to discuss how we are feeling.

I have included cell numbers for myself and Jorge Zeballos, International Student Advisor and Latino Initiative Coordinator. We have been working with Faris, Osama and Omar are meeting continuously this weekend. If you have any questions or concerns, we will be able to answer them. In addition, if you would like to reach out to other Multicultural Education staff members, I have included their information as well.

Thanks and I see you on tomorrow.

Sincerely,

Sekinah Hamlin
Director of Multicultural Education

Following is the text of the accused players’ families’ press release (the photos that they refer to are in the pdf file):

Guilford Football Players Press Release
January 25, 2007

It is very apparent that the media and many uninformed individuals have unfairly prejudged Michael Bates, Michael Six, and Christopher Barnette of the beating of three Guilford College students during an unfortunate altercation involving several students last Friday night. Since media coverage has been so one sided the Bates, Six, and Barnette families issue this statement to allow for more balanced reporting of this event.

None of these accused young men have yet to be interviewed by any college official. The Greensboro Police Department has refused to take their statements and declined to review physical evidence including pictures of a vicious stabbing and belt whipping that was inflicted by Khader (an alleged victim) upon Michael Six during the altercation.

We also believe that a letter emailed on Sunday, by a college official, to all students of color greatly inflamed emotions needlessly. Here is the first paragraph from that letter from the Guilford College Director of Multicultural Education:

“By now, most of you have heard about the situation that occurred on Friday night between some football players and Faris Khader, Osama Sabbah, and Omar Awartini (a student from NC State). Faris, Osama, and Omar were defending themselves against students (and possibly perspective students) that were attacking them physically and simultaneously verbally with phrases like “sandnigga’”, “terrorist”, etc. The incident was a hate crime.”

We are deeply saddened by the inaccurate portrayal of these young men in this altercation by their school. When all of the FACTS are revealed, we believe that those who are sensationalizing this story will be rightly embarrassed and hope the retractions will receive the same level of visibility as premature and false charges. Under our system of government, our sons are presumed innocent of these charges and we hope that the community and the media will let the system run its course in determining their innocence or guilt.

The Bates, Six, and Barnette families would like to thank those in the communities, who know the true characters of these young men, for their continued support throughout this ordeal.