Police Must Release Details About Near Lynching of 8-Year-Old Biracial Boy

In Claremont, New Hampshire, an eight-year-old biracial boy was hung from a tree by one or more white teenagers. This is America 2017.

According to reports, the little boy and the teenage boys were playing in the same yard when the teenagers started calling the boy racial epithets and throwing sticks and rocks at him. Eventually, some of the teens climbed onto a picnic table and started playing with rope from a nearby tire swing.

Eventually, they put the rope around the little boy’s neck, and flung him off the table. He swung a few times before managing to break free. None of the teens came to his aid.

Following the incident, the boy was flown to Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center. The boy’s mother posted an image of her son’s neck on Facebook, and the image is both heartbreaking and disturbing. Thankfully, the boy is going to be alright, at least physically.

Claremont Police Chief Mark Chase has not commented on the case since those involved are juveniles. He has only said that the case is being investigated, but that the kids being investigated should be “protected” so that this “mistake” would not follow them around for their whole lives.

What about protecting the boy who was almost killed by the teenagers’ “mistake”?

Claremont police do not have to identify the minors involved in this case, but the public does deserve to know that this case is being seriously investigated and that the teenagers will be held accountable for their despicable actions. This was a race-based crime that nearly cost an eight-year-old his life, not just a matter of “kids being kids.”

Please sign this petition demanding that Claremont Police Chief Mark Chase be more forthcoming about details of the investigation so that we know that this crime is being treated as seriously as it deserves to be.