1997_10 The Daily Collegian October 1997

              Last Wor<d
October», 1997
Not a
A Mother's Reflection
Editor's Note: The Boyd's related this official state-
ment to the Fnsno State University campus commu-
mtyandtheg/taterfrano community Here is the state¬
ment, which is not in it's endnty
*<
At the out set, wc wish to express our
heartfelt gratitude to the Fresno State University
community for the outpouring of support we have
received in the wake of the brutal and unprovoked
assault on our son, Malcolm Boyd, in the carry hours
of August 23,1997. The prayers, the many expres¬
sions of sympathy, of justifiable and righteous out¬
rage, the flowers, cards get well balloons, hospital
visits, offers of housing, rides and even food, were
overwhelming. Support was broad-based and came
from every ethnic, racial and religious group imaj>
inablc, from those who knew Malcolm and from
those who knew only of the terrible wrong he had
suffered.
Secondly, we wish to clarify the circumstances
surrounding the attack and to dispel some of the
rumors and false innuendoes that have surfaced in
the days and weeks following this horrific crime.
Third, wc wish to explain our general inacccssi-
biliry to the media and absence from related events
and activities organized by the student body and
broader Fresno community.
It would be an understatement to say that were
it nor for the spontaneous and continuing efforts of
students like Dewayne Thomas, Stephanie MiDikin,
Shawntdl Muhammad and FSU alumnus Julia
Dudley, campus-wide awareness, let alone FSLTs
heightened sensitivity to the assault on Malcolm,
would not be what it is today. From the first day of
classes, they made certain that one of the focal points
of the academic year would be the assault on our
son and the struggle against racial violence. Words
cannot express our debt to them.
Lest wc forget, another Fresno Sate student was
assaulted alongside Malcolm -Jason Bechara. Jason
and Malcolm had ma for the first time less than an
hour before the hate crirne that left dur son in a
coma, which is now in its 35th day. Jason received
less serious wounds to his forehead, which required
several stitches and is healing. The psychological
wounds run deep and arc not so readily mended.
His anguish is our anguish. Wc.stand with him
against his own self-doubt and against any sugges¬
tion that he could or should have done more to save
our son from the swift, but terrible blows he took.
Stunned and bleeding from the cowardly sneak at¬
tack, Jason still managed to rally support to
-look for the perpetrators. He and his ram¬
ify have been a source of comfort and
strength in our time of sorrow.
It is in no way surprising, but
troubling, mat several un-
and patently false rumors
luendocs have been generated
the events of August 23. For cx-
iplc. it has been said that Malcolm
had been a reveler at the Kappa
Sigma party that he was talking to
the attacker's girlfriend at the time of the
assault. We have even been told that one un¬
sympathetic student claimed, "Malcolm didn't
beaten down because he was black, he was.
beaten down because he'd [urinated] on Someone's '
To set the record straight, Malcolm was beaten'
in wholly unprovoked racial attack. According
to The'Fresno Bee, the alleged perpetrator
was a known member of a white su¬
premacist
Gang, the Pcckcrwoods.
Malcolm was standing outside the
apartment he'd shared over the sum¬
mer with other FSU and Fresno Gty
College students a few yards from the
FSU campus. His apartment com¬
plex and the Kappa Sigma fraternity
house stand back-to-back. He was
standing in the common driveway
jM -   between the two structures talking,
■ I    not to one of the rVckcrwood's girl¬
friends, but to his new acquain¬
tance, Jason Bechara, and a young
woman with no apparent connec¬
tion to the Pcckcrwoods.
According to the Bee, one of
three Pcckcrwoods. fresh from a
confrontation with another Afri¬
can-American at a nearby 7-
Elevcn, let loose with a racial epi¬
thet. Malcolm, apparently the
only African-American in the im¬
mediate vacinity questioned the
remark. The Peckcrwood is said
\^\ to have denied that the slur was
*^   '.% aimed at him (Wc ask: If not
Malcolm, then at who was
, the slur directed?) Then,
from behind came the first
^w. Jason was clipped;
Tm bore the bunt as a
•foot-long metal conduit
pipe smashed into hie skull.
Again and again the second
Peckcrwood swung. "This is
white pride, fool!" the
Peckcrwood exulted.
Malcolm took the weight.
It was the weight of 400
years of hate^^^^^ For a few ticks of the
dock, Malcolm was every black man, woman and
child wbod been shackled and chained, who had
suffered the lash, had swung from a rope, who'd
been drawn and quartered or tarred and feathered,
whose very humanity had been denied because of
the color of their skin. This was a racial attack, pure
and simple.
Many of those who have whispered that
Malcolm had attended the Kappa Sigma party have
done so not to stare a point of fact, but to condemn:
Malcolm is blade Kappa Sigma is a "white" frater¬
nity. Therefore, he shouldn't have been there and
gor what he deserved, or, at best, he should have
expected nothing dsc. The fact is that we arc aware
of no-evidence that Malcolm entered this Kappa
Sigma house at all, or that if he did, that is was for
any more than a few minutes.
No, Malcolmdidn't get what he deserved or what
be should have expected. If that were the case, every
black student at FSU deserves to be beaten into a
coma and left to linger at death's door, or should
expect to be so for attending a "white" school. Our
son was directly outside his apartment, minding his
own business. The attack on him was an unpro¬
voked and unwelcome intrusion into his space. A
sneak attack, it was unexpected as wdl as undeserved.
The charge that Malcolm had urinated on his
assailant's car is ludicrous on the face ol it. He was a
few feet from his own bathroom. He had no blad¬
der problem. He isn't a flasher. He wasn't drunk.
It makes no sense.
This rumor most probably stems from the
initial Fresno Bee article on the incident" Boyd's
roommate, Dana Henson, said the assailants ap¬
proached Boyd's group after being told not to
urinate near a car parked on Sierra Madre Av¬
enue in front of the apartment coriiplcx near the
university where Boyd lives." Note that the ar-
tide says that his assailants, not Malcolm, were
admonished not to urinate near the car, which
only goes to prove that the rumormongcrs have
lud intentions and cannot read.
Wc realize that in some ways wc have not ful¬
filled the expectations many have of the "grieving
family," especially given the potential for high
media exposure in a case like this. Wc have been
largely absent from public view. Except for an
"Interview granted to The Daily Collegian and
background information on Malcolm we pro¬
vided for the FSU weekly. Insight, wc have not
spoken to the media.
Likewise, wc have been absent from events
organized by student and community members
in support of us. Wc made a brief appearance at
the students' car wash fundraiser on August 30
and met with Fresno area African -American com¬
munity leaden and activists at an'informal lun¬
cheon on Labor Day.
While some have been disappointed or per¬
plexed by our iow profile, wc fed it was the best,
indeed, the only, course to take.
Our paramount concern has been or son's
survival. We have had a little time to concern
ourselves with anything dsc. Wc have logged hour
after hour at his bedside. We've stared incessantly
at the screens displaying his vital signs. During
the height of the crisis when it seemed wc would
lose him, wc virtually camped out at the Univer¬
sity Medical Center, afraid to leave. Wc slept on
chairs and tablctops. Wc received visitors and
fielded phone calls in the ICU waiting room. Wc
bond with the families of other critical care pa¬
tients, who arc doing the same things. In short,
wc had no time for anything but son's recovery.
In that sense, we were no different from any
other "grieving family." But we were different. Be¬
cause of the nature of the crime committed against
our son, media outlets called the hospital for daily
updates on his condition. Numerous requests for
interviews wee made. Our tdevision reporter
wrote, "How the Boyd family is bearing up un¬
der the strain of this...is important news to many
people. Toward the end of bringing people such
important news I respectfully request that you
grant [us] an interview."
This was precisely what wc did not want. Wc
saw no merit to such public display of our ordeal.
Wc could offer nothing new or newsworthy with
our tears or outrage. Wc could imagine the ques¬
tions How has this affected you? Arc you bitter?
Will you ever get over it?
Moreover, any focus on us would shift the
focus of reportage from where it ought to be - the
rising ride of organized racial violence.
What happened to Malcolm was not an iso¬
lated event. It is connected to white supremacist
gang activity both locally and nationally. Intelli¬
gence Report, a publication of the Southern Pov¬
erty Law Center states in its Winter 1997 issue
that the problem of Skinheads violence, "is espe¬
cially acute in California where skinheads have
been accused of crimes in virtually every pan of
the state, from suburban Los Angdes to rural
counties of the north."
On August 29, Fresno Police Chief Ed Win¬
chester announced that investigators had deter¬
mined that the beating of our son was radally
motivated. At the same time, he stated that ra¬
cially motivated violence was on the rise in Fresno.
From what wc have gathered from conversations
with any number of local residents, the same can
be said of Clovis, the home of Malcolm's alleged
assailant.
Wc bdieve that responsible journalism should
focus its energies on exposing and anah/zi ng these
please see Boyd statementback page