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NY Panhandler Attacked and Burned in Yet Another Hate Crime Against Black Men

By | Published on February 24, 2016
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Exterior view of San Jose State University in San Jose, Calif., Thursday, June 30, 2011. The school is one of the state schools that were affected by the new state budget. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)

Exterior view of San Jose State University (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)

At least two attackers poured scalding liquid on a homeless man’s face after they brutally beat him in the Bronx late last Sunday. Police are probing the attack as a possible hate crime.

The New York Daily News reports that the victim was a 50-year-old Black man. He was holding the door at a CFSC check-cashing store in Marble Hill at 8:55 p.m. Sunday and asking for money, according to authorities.

Two Hispanic men came out of a store, beat him for no apparent reason and called him the n-word.

“He’s burned, really burned. He has second-degree burns on his face. He’s pretty messed up. It’s hard to believe that’s just water,” a police source said.

According to witness reports, the victim asked people nearby for medical help. Many witnesses described the man as having melted skin.

“He was walking down the street. His face was white. All his skin was gone,” said Fode Soumah, 31, a sidewalk vendor who sells hats and scarves near the incident. “He was yelling for someone to call him an ambulance.”

The victim was rushed to the Jacobi Hospital in the Bronx and is expected to live.

This event continues a dangerous trend of racial attacks.

In 2013, a Black San Jose State University freshman had a bike lock put around his neck. The perpetrators, Colin Warren, Logan Beaschler and Joseph “Brett” Bomgardner, were only given a slap on the wrist after abusing the victim, Donald Williams Jr., who was 17 at the time.

According to NBC Bay Area, they put a U-shaped bike lock around Williams’ neck and refused to give him the key, before finally setting him free. The men, who reportedly displayed a Confederate flag in their dorm, also tried to lock him in a closet.

Williams was allegedly called “three-fifths” and “fraction,” referring to the fraction the U.S. Census used to count enslaved Black people in the South in the 18th and 19th centuries for the purpose of representation in Congress.

Yesterday, the Santa Clara County Superior Court jury convicted the three white men for misdemeanor battery.

Sentencing has been set for March 14. The three could face up to six months in jail, reports NBC Bay Area.

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