Beating victim afraid to go public; rallies planned

By Matt Hennie | Feb 7, 2012 | 12:53 PM

Atlanta police have identified the victim of a brutal anti-gay attack recorded on video as activists make plans for a rally and public meeting to discuss the incident.

On Tuesday morning, the leader of a human rights group held a press conference outside the grocery store in Southwest Atlanta where the attack took place. Gerald Rose, founder and CEO of New Order National Human Rights Organization, condemned the attack, which was captured on video by the apparent gang members who attacked the man.

“You turn on the news and this stuff happens,” Rose says. “It is nonsense.”

Rose (second photo) answered questions from several reporters as an Atlanta police officer was stationed nearby. He then briefly walked through the neighborhood around JVC Grocery & Deli (top photo) and talked with passersby. The store sits at the intersection of McDaniel and Delevan streets in the Pittsburgh neighborhood just a few minutes from the Downtown Connector.

“You have a young man who did survive who is afraid to come forward because of what happened to his situation. My job as an activist is to walk the neighborhood and let them know enough is enough,” Rose said.

Activists at the press conference said Atlanta police identified the victim but that he is afraid to come forward. The mother of the victim tells WSB that her teen son has been too upset since the attack to report it to police. An Atlanta police spokesperson could not immediately be reached Tuesday to confirm that investigators identified the victim.

Devin Barrington-Ward, an LGBT activist and volunteer with Change Atlanta, says that the victim will need support and that the incident shows the need for Georgia to adopt a hate crime law. Barrington-Ward and Adolph St. Arromand are planning a rally for Saturday in front of the store.

“It is surreal. You are in the exact place where an atrocity occurred and everybody should be outraged,” Barrington-Ward says. “We need tougher laws on the books so this young man feels the need to come forward.”

Georgia does not have a hate crime law, but U.S. Attorney Sally Quillian Yates said Monday that prosecutors and the FBI are looking into the case to see if the attack would fall under the federal hate crime law.

“Along with the Atlanta Police Department, we are working to determine if the actions portrayed in the video violate federal law, including the hate crime statute,” Yates says in a prepared statement. “The actions depicted in the video are appalling and unacceptable in our community, and we encourage anyone with information about this video to contact the FBI or Atlanta Police.”

LGBT activists including Darlene Hudson, who co-founded the annual Bayard Rustin/Audre Lorde Breakfast held during the MLK Holiday Weekend, have scheduled a public meeting on Tuesday to discuss the incident. The session is set for 6 p.m. at the Rush Center on DeKalb Avenue.

Barrington-Ward says he has a simple message for members of the Pittsburgh Jack City Gang, who apparently recorded the attack and posted it to hip hop website Worldstar on Sunday.

“You are cowards and you will be caught. Period. Whether he was gay, straight, yellow, orange, black or white, the fact of the matter is that he is a human being first and human beings don’t deserve to be beat down like that. You are cowards and you will be caught,” he says.

UPDATE: Carlos Campos, a spokesperson for Atlanta police, says the agency has “no new information to release” about the incident or if investigators have talked with the victim.