Black Indiana man nearly 'lynched' by White mob bearing Confederate flags on July 4: 'I refuse to be a hashtag'
A Black man from Indiana took to social media to share an encounter with a group of drunk White men on the Fourth of July, which led to him fearing that he could be lynched. The White mob had been seen with Confederate flags in a forest. The man who was attacked, Vauhxx Rush Booker, took to Facebook to share his horrific experience. In the video, the man was allegedly pinned to a tree, have his hair pulled out, with his attackers jumping on his neck.
On Facebook, Booker shared how he had been walking with a friend to watch a lunar eclipse close to Lake Monroe when a man sporting a Confederate flag hat seemingly drunk, confronted him.
The man had continued to stalk and follow them in an ATV and told them that they were on private property. Booker told the man that they had permission to cross but soon learned that the person who had given them permission "wasn't the actual property owner". Booker and his friend turned to leave when several more White men appeared and started to get aggressive. According to Booker, it was just moments later that the men started to attack him from behind and knocked him to the ground.
Booker's post read, "The five were able to easily overwhelm me and got me to the ground and dragged me pinning my body against a tree as they began pounding on my head and ripped off some of my hair, with several of them still on top of my body holding me down." "They held me pinned and continued beating me for several minutes seemingly become more and more enraged as they kept trying to seriously injure me and failing. At one point during the attack, one of the men jumped on my neck. I could feel both his feet and his full bodyweight land hard against my neck," the post read.
Bystanders who tried to intervene after hearing the commotion said that the alleged attackers had told them, "We’re going to break his arms" while they told their friends to "get a noose". Booker had shared three video clips of the incident with one showing the back of a man who seems to be held against a tree by another man as bystanders try and break up the confrontation.
In another one of the videos, a shirtless White man can be heard screaming, "You nappy-headed bitch … You happy with your five White friends?" Booker revealed that the Indiana Department of Natural Resources had responded to the scene but "refused to arrest any of these individuals." One of the other clips shows a man yelling, "You invaded us, you stupid f***ing liberal f***s." The victim calmly responds saying, "no one invaded you."
Booker shared that he decided to speak out as he is "gravely concerned that if any other people of color who were to cross their path they could be killed." He had started his post with, "I don’t want to recount this, but I was almost the victim of an attempted lynching. I don’t want to recount this, but I was almost the victim of an attempted lynching." "It hurts my soul and my pride, but there are multiple witnesses and it can’t be hidden or avoided."
"I refused to die with these White men atop me while I struggled for every breath. I still refuse to be a hashtag or some racist’s victim. I do know that we as a community can stand against racism if we choose," he added.
Social media users were outraged and took to the comments section to say so. One such user shared, "Shared..I'm greatful you and all helping you weren't killed! f****** drunk racist pea brains will murder someone eventually if they aren't delt with. They need delt with... permanently. Take good care of yourself, rest and heal those wounds...I heard you and I care about you." Another wrote, "There are just no words to tell you how sorry I am that this happened to you, but how happy I am you are alive. Sending so much love and blessings to you and your family.