African American UCD Student Victim of Hate Crime

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hate-crimeDetails are still forthcoming in an incident on Monday morning, where an African American UC Davis student was reportedly the victim of a hate crime that occurred near the student’s home on campus, according to a message from UC Davis Chancellor Linda Katehi along with Executive Vice Chancellor Ralph Hexter and Adela de la Torre, Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs and Campus Diversity.

The Chancellor stated, “We are fortunate that the student was able to call UC Davis police, who responded immediately and successfully arrested three male suspects, two of whom were charged with assault and committing a hate crime.”

She noted that the perpetrators are from the Sacramento area and are not UC Davis students.

UC Davis Police Matt Carmichael did not have additional details other than to state that the suspects were booked into Yolo County Jail where they await arraignment.

Those arrested include 24-year-old Lonny Doyal of West Sacramento, 22-year-old Justin Sheppard of Sacramento and Jake Lee, 22, of West Sacramento.

All three were charged with a Penal Code section 647(f), which is a drunk in public misdemeanor. Mr. Sheppard was charged with an assault while Mr. Lee faces assault and battery. Mr. Sheppard and Mr. Lee both face hate crime charges under Penal Code section 422.6 (a).

The Chancellor, along with Vice Chancellors Hexter and de la Torre, issued a statement on Monday evening: “We cannot stress enough that those who commit hate crimes in our community will be held accountable for their actions.  Acts of bigotry and discrimination have no place in a civilized society and they have no place on our campus. A hateful incident directed at any one of us is an unacceptable affront to all of us.”

They added, “No one should ever be made to feel unsafe or not valued on our campus, and we must all continue to do everything we can as a community to prevent such actions.”

“We hope this unacceptable incident will serve to further advance dialogue about how the UC Davis community can continue to build a culture and climate based on mutual respect, support and caring,” the statement continued.

“We encourage students who want to discuss this incident or any related matter to reach out to Kayton Carter at the UC Davis Center for African Diaspora Student Success. We also hope you will participate in our upcoming Principles of Community Week Feb. 29-March 4.  Any students who feel emotionally distressed by any act of discrimination or bigotry, please contact personnel at the UC Davis Student Health and Counseling Services,” the statement concluded.

—David M. Greenwald reporting

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  • David Greenwald

    Greenwald is the founder, editor, and executive director of the Davis Vanguard. He founded the Vanguard in 2006. David Greenwald moved to Davis in 1996 to attend Graduate School at UC Davis in Political Science. He lives in South Davis with his wife Cecilia Escamilla Greenwald and three children.

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32 comments

  1. It’s a shame this occurred, regardless of the hometown of the bullies. It’s also a shame that some folks will be skeptical and need to know more details to believe something like this could happen in Davis. I wonder if the reader is as skeptical of every kind crime that is reported.

    1. Oh please, the story has no details and is very vague except for the names and hometowns of the assailants.  Why are you attacking my post when it’s very apolitical?

        1. It is revealing when a poster, who constantly pleads for protection,  resorts to name calling. A sign of an atrophied cingulate anterior cortex, perhaps?

          ;>)/

        2. There you go BP, our friend Biddlin flies above our meager cognitive capability.  Too bad his emotional intelligence is underdeveloped otherwise we might be debating the next Einstein (in hindsight).

  2. Biddlin

    Why be thankful for that?”

    Not speaking for BP, only myself.

    One reason to be grateful is the same reason that I am grateful every day that I live in a community where I feel safe to walk the streets, where I feel that the vast majority of my fellow residents mean no harm to me or anyone else and where the police generally see it as their primary duty to protect the residents. I feel blessed that the more overt and violent aspects of racism, and all of the other “isms”, are much less evident here than they are in every other community in which I have lived.

        1. BP

          Are you exhibiting brandism in your post? Why Starbucks instead of Peet’s or Nugget or Common Ground or Mishka’s or a number of others worthy of unbiased consideration? I’m sure you had no intention of committing microaggression and will endeavor to be fully politically, culturally, and commercially sensitive in the future.

        2. Good point Pig, I apologize.  I’m accepting of all coffee and coffee establishments whether you take your coffee white with cream or straight up black as long as it doesn’t have that evil sugar in it.

           

      1. Biddlin

        “”So you’d prefer to assaulted by out of towners, got it.”

        No, from your comment, I don’t believe that you do get it at all. What I prefer is that there never be any attacks at all from any source.  We happen to have fewer here than in other locations in which I have lived. That I see as a positive. Clear enough ?

    1. Yes Tia Will, if these guys committed a hate crime I’m glad they don’t live in Davis.   There are those who post here who like to say that Davis is a racist community and if these men were from Davis it would’ve added a little fuel to their fire.  We have a few bad apples but overall Davis is a very accepting community.

      1. BP.  You need to understand the challenges being a social justice crusader in Davis.   These imported problems are like a free line to a cocaine addict that would otherwise have to go cold-turkey (by the way, the wild turkeys in Davis are getting out of hand!)

        The reason they get so snappish when you bring up the point that Davis just does not have these problems is that they feel their relevancy and purpose in life starting to diminish.  It also hits their guilt buttons… they know they live in an exclusive and expensive, mostly white, community and that just does not sit well with their political and social identity.  Of course they are not willing to actually move to where the problems are real and frequent.  They just stay here eagerly waiting for the gift of the infrequent outsider causing problems and then they all jump on it as that long-awaiting hit to satiate their mounting anxiety over having to accept who they really are.

        The kids need fluoride.

        The people are obese and diabetic.

        We have a big problem with poverty.

        We have a big problem with racism.

        It is like these people lost their watch in the dark and dangerous cellar, but chose to look for it in the sunny park.

  3. I am firmly with BP and hpierce that we simply do not have enough information on this situation to be passing judgements on what the event itself may or may not indicate.

    About my level and reasons for gratitude, I stand my ground.

    1. Yes Alan Miller.  Who knew an innocuous comment like,

      Will have to wait for the details of this story.  Thankfully the perpetrators weren’t local.

      could lead to all of this.

  4. Hate crime laws are hateful and largely counter-productive in fomenting social harmony.   They are one the many constructs of the legal-politician industry… trial lawyers that fund the political careers of other lawyers to help grow the opportunities of their industry.   Social justice crusaders afflicted with their chronic group-ism worldview and victim mentality like hate crime laws too… as they serve to help perpetuate their perceived relevancy and usefulness making the world a more fair place.

    One thing seemingly lost on the social justice crusaders is that blacks are over-represented in hate crime convictions.  Blacks make up 12.3% of the total population, yet they account for 23.3% of hate crime convictions… almost double.  While whites make up 77.1% of the total population and account for only 54.6% of hate crime convictions.

    https://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2013/november/annual-hate-crime-statistics-show-slight-decease/annual-hate-crime-statistics-show-slight-decrease

    The problem is that we can never succeed trying to legislate morality, and yet this is what hate crime laws are attempting to do.

    But the most troubling aspect of hate crime laws is the obvious hate of the suspects demonstrated by those most rabidly supportive of hate crime laws.

    1. You can also argue that “we can never succeed [in] trying to legislate” courtesy or common sense.  And yet, this is what traffic laws and for that matter most of the criminal code attempts to do.  Why not include morality?  You prefer a world in which there is nobody “crusading” or at least speaking out forcefully against hate?  I don’t think even Jesus Christ would defend you on that.

    2. Yet last year Ms Katehi made everyone stand up and pose in a ceremony about this.

      This was after the ASUCD Palestinian Council passed a resolution about divesting investments in companies that do business with Israel, even though they do the same business with Egypt and other places like the West Bank. Every day at the Quad there are groups of UCD students who conspire with other campuses to do the same thing. That incident was the third or fourth campus to do this, and it WAS all students.

      Ms Katehi never held them responsible, instead all the Faculty and Staff had to endure more “Sensitivity Training” as if WE did something. Nice Press release. Again.

      By the way, criminals are all over every day. After I lost a wallet locked in my truck, the perp used it on 8th street at a local apartment complex. The UCD and Davis PD made a report and warned me not to go there, even though it was happening that minute.. Other criminals are reported in Roseville and everywhere in between from OAKLAND. They stop in Davis on the way up or back just to steal a few bicycles. But only thirty or forty a day…

  5. Miwok

    Ms Katehi never held them responsible,”

    Honest question. What would you have had her “hold them responsible for”. It would appear to me that while rude, non collaborative, and hostile, they were certainly within their First Amendment rights. What penalty would you have had her impose for exercising their right to free speech and freedom of association ?

  6. More info coming out about the charges:

    “They were throwing items at the victim and at the same time barraging her with racial slurs,” Carmichael said. Officers who responded to the report found the suspects nearby and took them into custody. They are not UCD students.
    Two of them, Lonny Doyal Lee, 24, of West Sacramento and Justin Sheppard, 22, of Sacramento, were arrested on suspicion of assault and battery, committing a hate crime and public intoxication — all misdemeanor crimes, Carmichael said.
    A third man, 22-year-old Jake Lee of West Sacramento, was arrested for alleged public intoxication. All have since posted bail from the Yolo County Jail and are due in court May 10.

    The victim said she wasn’t sexually assaulted or needed medical attention.

    One interesting quote:

    “That’s really surprising. I would never have thought that would happen here,” Ray Stevenson, 18, said while taking in the afternoon sun at West Village with fellow first-year students Marquis Turner and Muzill Izmarai. All three are Davis High School graduates.
    Turner, who is African-American, said he has always felt safe on the UCD campus, and in Davis in general.

    http://www.davisenterprise.com/local-news/crime-fire-courts/hate-crime-reported-at-ucd-3-arrested/

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