WFHB Bloomington Community Radio
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Over the July 4th weekend, a group of people physically assaulted local resident Vauhxx Booker at Lake Monroe.
The racist incident was caught on cellphone video by a number of witnesses. After the assault Booker said he was diagnosed with a minor concussion, some abrasions, bruising, and some ripped out hair patches. He said some of the five men who assaulted him were wearing confederate flags.
“I was almost the victim of an attempted lynching,” said Vauhxx Booker.
Booker said he and his friends met at Lake Monroe to see the lunar eclipse. On their way to the park, Booker said they encountered a large, white male who seemed drunk and wore a hat with a confederate flag print on it.
“We noticed he began following us in an ATV, and we stopped as he drove up behind us and then [he] stated we were on private property,” said Booker.
Booker responded that he believed the organizers of the lunar eclipse viewing received permission to be on the property. When he arrived at the event, Booker said he told the event organizer what happened.
According to a Facebook post by Booker, he was informed that the man who followed them on the ATV was not the property owner.
Booker said he informed his friends that were on their way to the lake to use the public beach entrance to avoid any conflict. He said that he later found out that a group of men had blocked off the public beach entrance with a boat and ATVs, saying it was their land.
In his Facebook post, Booker said when people attempted to cross, the men yelled “white power” at them.
Booker said he and a friend decided to walk back and attempt to have a conversation with some of the “more sober seeming group members and see if we could smooth things over a bit.”
“We were calm and polite, but looking back now, it’s apparent that these individuals began targeting our group the moment they saw myself, a Black man and were looking to provoke a conflict,” said Booker.
The following audio comes from the Bloomingtonian. It was also posted on Vauhxx Booker’s Facebook account. We warn you, the listener, that the following audio is graphic.
Booker said, “My enduring gratitude to those who stopped merely being bystanders and acted to aid me, who told the police what they’d seen and heard, and who shared my outrage at DNR’s and our Prosecutor’s office inaction.”
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Mayor John Hamilton and City Clerk Nicole Bolden sent out a press release this morning that said the city would like to express its outrage and grief in response to the two racist incidents that occurred in the community over the past week. The Mayor’s office later noted on Facebook that the incidents did not occur within the city’s jurisdiction but that the city would work with local and state officials to advocate for justice. The mayor’s statements drew praise and condemnation alike on social media, where people noted that one of the two recent racial profiling incidents occurred within the city limits and jurisdiction. Others noted that the mayor’s statements rang hollow given that they did not mention any concrete action the city would take to address racial equity and justice problems within Bloomington.
The first incident the city mentions was the physical assault of “one black resident” on nearby Indiana State Park land at Lake Monroe.
The other incident recounts how a white, plainclothes officer, in an unmarked police cruiser, who identified himself as a detective from neighboring Lawrence County, questioned and detained a Black resident who was walking down the street where he lived. The city calls this, “an apparent example of racial profiling.”
Monroe County Sheriff Brad Swain sent out a press release that said the area in which the incident occurred was in the Indiana Department of Natural Resources Jurisdiction. He stated that the Monroe County sheriff’s office had no involvement in the complaint called in to the state DNR. However, the sheriff’s department has received many community requests to get involved in the case.
Swain responded to these requests in the press release saying, “MCSO has no involvement in this event, and has no oversight responsibility over an agency empowered by the State of Indiana.”
Booker said, “Bloomington we’ve had three public incidents involving overtly racist individuals who were then backed by the police within a month. Are we going to wait for a Black person to be lying dead in the gutter before we act? When is enough actually enough?”
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Earlier this afternoon, we spoke with Vauhxx Booker’s attorney, Katharine Liell, over the phone. She told me some of the repercussions the attackers may face, her initial reaction and what the public can do to help.
People on social media started to identify the names of the attackers. WFHB has not independently confirmed the names. A demonstration in solidarity with Vauhxx Booker is planned for Monday at 5:30 p.m. at the Monroe County Courthouse.
