Another day, another white supremacist putting Black lives in danger only to be treated as less than a terrorist.
On Monday, a white man who happens to be a leader of one of America’s oldest white supremacist groups was arrested in Phoenix, Ariz., after he allegedly pointed a gun at a group of Black people and threatened to kill them after harassing them and shouting racial slurs at them. Apparently, the altercation started after the white man put trash on the Black people’s car.
The Associated Press reports that Burt Colucci of the National Socialist Movement Corporation—a white supremacist group that probably needed a name that looked better on a business card than “Ne0-Nazi Klan-Humpers Incorporated”—was arrested and charged with aggravated assault after police officers took statements from the Black people involved in the altercation, another witness, and Colucci himself.
From AP:
According to the police report, Colucci said he had merely brought his semi-automatic pistol into a “low ready” position, but the Black individuals said he had aimed it at them and threatened to kill them, and the witness said she had seen Colucci point the gun at the men. None of the parties knew one another, according to the report.
A Maricopa County superior court judge set Colucci’s bond at $7,500 on Tuesday and permitted him to travel to his home state of Florida, but said he must return to Maricopa County no later than April 25 for his next hearing, according to court records. If convicted, Colucci faces at least three years in prison.
It should surprise no one Black that an armed white thug gets to threaten Black people with a gun in what very much sounds like a clear hate crime on Monday and by Tuesday be allowed to pay a measly $7, 500 bond and fly off to white nationalist Disneyland...I mean, Florida.
Mind you, according to AP, just two days before his arrest, KoluKKi... I mean Colucci led his fellow lynching enthusiasts in a rally at a Phoenix park that is connected to the civil rights movement in the city. During the rally for white supremacy—as if America ever needed a rally for that—the group of about 15 Third Reich rejects reportedly shouted racial slurs at random Black people in the area and challenged them to a fight.
Hopefully, this man is brought to justice and made to serve the maximum penalty. Being Black in America is exhausting enough without us having to worry about some Great Value American History X asshole sticking a gun in our faces when we’re just trying to go about our lives.