Vol. 71/No. 38      October 15, 2007

Stephen Barrett, a freshman at Florida International University, was on a boat coming back from the party that he attended with two friends, Christopher Eden and Daniel Cabezas. When the captain told passengers the boat was overloaded, several young men told Barrett to get off. Bystanders said one of the youths told Barrett, “Get off the boat, nigger.”

Barrett and his two friends got off and waited for the next boat, but when they arrived on shore the youths who had verbally attacked Barrett were waiting, armed with baseball bats, and attacked them.

Barrett was taken to the hospital and released later in the day.

Police arrested five young men—Miguel Aranda, Jose Osorio, Gilberto Maakaroun, Nicholas Checa, and Marino Biondini. All but Osorio were charged with assault and “prejudice while committing a crime.” Osorio was charged with aggravated battery. Aranda and Maakaroun are also charged with attempted felony murder.

Cabezas told the Miami Herald that Aranda and Osorio were not involved in the attack. He said another teen who helped lead the attack remains at large.

A coalition of Black ministers held a September 27 press conference in Overtown, one of Miami’s Black communities, denouncing the attack as part of a “wave of social hatred” and tying it to the case of the Jena Six.

“My biggest concern was that the behavior in Jena would not be mirrored in my community,” said Carl Johnson, minister at the 93rd Street Baptist Church, who joined in the September 20 protest in Jena, Louisiana. “My biggest fear has become a reality.”
 
 
Related articles:
‘We all live in Jena’
Mychal Bell released on bail, faces new trial
Actions demanding justice for Jena 6 continue
Forum in Chicago protests racist vandalism
Mobilize to fight racist attacks  
 
 
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