A Black Man Was Attacked Yesterday: Jussie Smollett

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A black man was violently assaulted last night.

Jussie Smollett, singer, songwriter, and actor in the acclaimed television series, 'Empire', was hospitalized after being attacked in Chicago late Monday night, according to TMZ. Two white men wearing ski masks charged Smollett, who is both Black and openly gay and plays a gay character on Empire, outside of a Subway. Then, these two men violently and brutally attacked Jussie, called him “that f—got Empire n—,” put his head in a noose, and yelled, “This is MAGA country.”

According to a statement from the Chicago Police, the men also “poured an unknown chemical substance on the victim” during the assault and later fled the scene. Smollett was able to take himself to Northwestern Memorial Hospital and is currently in “good condition.” 

Chicago police said they are investigating the incident as a "possible hate crime". I can help them out. This IS a hate crime. They called Jussie homophobic and racist slurs. They put a noose around his neck. They brutilized Jussie, in the same way so many Black men in this country have been brutilized by white men. I don't know how much more clear. 

I am so tired of this rhetoric that would call incidents of very clear hate, "racial" or "racially charged" when in fact, they are indeed racist. They called him a nigger. They put a noose on his neck. That is RACIST.

They called him the F-word. They beat him enough to shatter bone.

This is a hate crime. End of story. 

The fact that a man, on his way home, minding his business, in a city, Chicago, can be targeted and violently attacked by racist homophobes is telling of the times we live in. Whether he was a celebrity or every day person, he is STILL a person and deserves our attention and cry for justice.

I cry out, in the same way that the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) between 1920 and 1938, flew a flag from a window of its 5th Avenue headquarters in New York City when a lynching took place. A man was assaulted yesterday.