By: J. Kam

I recently became aware of a horrific crime which occurred in January 2007 in Knoxville, Tennessee. I live in another state and was told about this by my husband who read an article online. The crime to which I refer to is the brutal torture and rape of a young couple by four assailants. Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom were a young couple in their twenties out on a date when they were approached at gunpoint while walking toward their vehicle. They were both bound and blindfolded and taken to a rental home by two of the assailants where they were then met by two or three other assailants already at the house. Both Channon and Christopher were repeatedly raped and beaten and eventually killed. According to reports, Christopher was beaten, raped, and finally shot, then burned and dumped by some nearby railroad tracks. Channon was raped vaginally, orally and anally. After having a cleaning solution poured into her mouth in an attempt to destroy DNA evidence, she was then put into a trash bag and suffocated to death. Her body was later found in the home with the trash bag still around her head. After reading about this crime on various websites, it has haunted me. The horror those two young people came face to face with is unimaginable and a heartbreak their families have to live with for the rest of their lives.

Fortunately, the assailants were caught and arrested. Knoxnews.com continues to update information and sentencing of the perpetrators. They claim their motivation for their crime was car-jacking?? If a crime is found to be a crime of hate, then the sentencing is much more severe.

I believe this qualifies as an extraordinary hate crime and I hope this is something we will seldom hear about happening. What’s striking about this is I never really did hear about it and neither did anyone else that I’ve talked with. Why is that? Is this particular crime being kept under wraps so as not to frighten people or cause racial tensions? I am curious as to why this particular and extraordinary crime did not sweep across the nation through the mainstream media. Could it be because the victims were white and the assailants were black? Hate crimes against whites exist too, or would we just rather not talk about that?

If there is ever any sense of equality and justice between races, then we cannot be afraid to show that hate and racism is two-sided. We are all responsible in some way. The time has come to move beyond past injustices and prejudices and begin anew. This war has raged on way too long. We are all individuals, not separate groups of people. Until we start believing that, nothing will change and the time for change is long overdue.

My heart goes out to all victims of hate crimes and their families.