Jewish Michigan State Student Brutally Beaten

What do you call it when two men walk up to a 19-year-old college student and beat him until he is unconscious?

Well, it’s called an assault, but . . .

It might be a hate crime, if they asked him if he was Jewish before the beat him and broke his jaw.

Or, it might be a hate crime, if they gave a Nazi salute and shouted “Heil Hitler” before they beat him.

Or, it might be a hate crime, if they pledged allegiance to a Southern hate group before they beat him.

Or, it might be a hate crime, if, after they had rendered him unconscious, they stapled his mouth shut by stapling his lips to his gums.

Or, it might not be a hate crime, if the police say it’s not.

The question is how could the police possibly not call it what it appears to be?

At least for the moment, that’s exactly what has happened.  Zach Tennen, a sophomore at Michigan State was approached by two men in the early morning hours on Sunday while at an off-campus party.  Events unfolded as we described above.

No one came to Zach’s aid.  No one called an ambulance.  No one has been willing to identify the attackers.  And the East Lansing Police Department has said that their preliminary investigation revealed nothing to indicate the incident was a hate crime.  Sergeant Jeff Murphy said “There’s a big difference between an assault and an assault that classifies as a hate crime.  We need to figure out what this one is so we can seek the appropriate charges on whoever did it.”

On the other hand, the Anti-Defamation League has become involved, working with local, state and federal employees.  Betsy Kellman, a spokesperson for the ADL Detroit region, said “I’ve been working at the ADL for 11 years, and this is one of the worst discrimination cases I’ve ever seen.”

Nevertheless, Sergeant Murphy said, “There’s a lot of unanswered questions and unsubstantiated statements that we are trying to figure out.”

It will be interesting to see what the police finally decide.  The frightening thing is that beatings like this have been written off in the past as nothing to be overly concerned about, but they have had an odd way of escalating unless they are dealt with seriously.

From where we stand, and with the information that we have, it sure looks like a hate crime.  We will continue to monitor and report the story as more information is made available.  One thing is for sure.  This was no accident.  Solomon said, “Strive not with a man without cause, if he has done thee no harm.” (Proverbs 3:30)  Pray with us for Zach and his family.  Pray for the East Lansing Police Department to do what is right.  Pray for the 3,000 plus Jewish students attending MSU.