A white man convicted of a racially motivated attack on a Black family three years ago at a Michigan hotel has been sentenced to a minimum of two years and up to 10 years in prison, following a ruling by a Kent County judge.
Joel Peter Venema, of Allendale, west of Grand Rapids, was sent away in late July after pleading guilty in April to ethnic intimidation, assault with intent to do great bodily harm (less than murder or by strangulation), and resisting arrest.
The vicious assault took place on the night of Aug. 7, 2021, at the Staybridge Suites in Kentwood, but Venema’s appeals delayed his guilty plea and sentencing for nearly three years while the family he tormented waited for justice.
The primary victim in the case, Jackie Beard, had just gotten off work and was cooling off at the hotel pool with his family, unaware of the explosive situation that was about to unfold.
“Then all of the sudden, this guy comes in with a lot of kids,” Beard recalled, according to WOOD-TV News 8. “We’re sitting in the hot tub, and I was like, ‘Please don’t come over here.’ They came over here. Then he got to body-slamming one of the kids, and, you know, a hot tub is very shallow. So, I was like, ‘Can you please stop that and take that away from me and my family?’”
That’s when Venema got in Beard’s face and launched into a racist tirade, according to Beard and several pool guests who witnessed the incident.
Beard said when he first confronted Venema, things escalated quickly as the man erupted without warning, spewing the N-word and then making a chilling reference to lynching.
“He said, ‘F— you, n—er. I’ll F— you up. I’ll beat your A—. You need to be hung,’” Beard said, adding that he tried repeatedly to de-escalate the situation by backing away from Venema.
At one point, Venema grabbed Beard by the throat and started to make good on his threats.
“We got up and walked toward the gate,” Beard explained, “and all of a sudden, he’s like, ‘I’m gonna kill you, you n—er,’ and he jumps on my neck and starts strangling. I shook him off … and he jumped on my neck again and started saying, ‘I’m gonna kill you. I’m the baddest (expletive) out here. You’re gonna die tonight, you n—er.’”
Someone at the pool called the police, who showed up fast and captured part of the dramatic confrontation on bodycam footage, which was only recently released to the public.
“He attacked him for no reason,” a witness told a Kentwood officer, according to the station. “He got him by the throat, and [Beard] said, ‘Get off me.’ [Venema] said, ‘n—er, n—er, n—er. I’m not gonna get off you.’ … I said, ‘Stop it. You’re gonna kill him. Let go of his neck. You’re gonna kill him.’ He just wouldn’t let go.’”
Venema continued to use racial slurs toward a Grand Rapids police officer and another detainee, who was Black.
Even after being handcuffed and placed in the back of a police cruiser, Venema continued launching racial slurs, showing no signs of stopping.
“You know what n—ers (do)?” Venema angrily asked the officer from the back seat, seeking affirmation for his racist views but getting none. “You know exactly what they do,” he growled. “They assault white people, and they get away with it. You know what I mean?”
When the officer asked what he meant, Venema referenced the Black Lives Matter movement, even though the activist group had nothing to do with his outburst that led to his arrest.
“You’re not part of the defund the police (movement)?” Venema asked irrelevantly while exposing his apparent political grudge. He then tried to give the cop a hard time for allegedly taking sides with Black people. “Give me a break, dude. Seriously? You’re part of that whole movement? (Expletive), dude. You’re a piece of (expletive).”
According to reports, in 2020, a photo of Venema was taken at a George Floyd protest, where he participated as a counterprotester while wearing a T-shirt with “Dutch Lives Matter Too” scrawled across the front.
Venema’s rap sheet reveals three arrests for assault and two alcohol-related driving offenses, according to the Michigan State Police.
Venema’s attorney, Frank Stanley, attempted to downplay his client’s reprehensible behavior by attributing the man’s outrageousness to alcohol. Stanley also noted that Venema has since apologized to both the victim’s family and his own.
Kentwood police administered a preliminary breath test on Venema at the scene, revealing a blood alcohol level of .27, well beyond Michigan’s legal driving limit.
Stanley continued to suggest that Venema should get a pass because he was inebriated, claiming he said some “stupid things” he didn’t truly mean.
“This is alcohol,” Stanley said, referring to Venema’s actions. “He was drinking excessively, and if you look at the (bodycam) video, it’s an indicator. He’s being arrested by white police officers, and he’s using racial slurs against them. In my opinion, almost beyond a reasonable doubt, this proves race had nothing to do with it. He was extremely intoxicated, and people say stupid things when intoxicated.”
Stanley said Venema was regretful and embarrassed and now sought to be taken at face value rather than judged by his previous outburst of hate toward Black people.
“He recognized this was not appropriate behavior,” said Stanley. “When he’s not drinking, he’s a very productive, hardworking individual.”
Stanley noted that Venema had stayed free on bond “for a very long time” and complied with the no-alcohol condition throughout.
Beard, a former professional boxer, understood that engaging with Venema could backfire, as police might perceive him as the aggressor if he retaliated physically.
“Take the higher ground,” Beard told WOOD. “I’m a bigger man. Something small to a giant. Gotta get past the little stuff.”
