{"id":1034922,"date":"2024-06-06T18:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-06-06T18:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/?p=1034922"},"modified":"2024-06-07T16:23:28","modified_gmt":"2024-06-07T16:23:28","slug":"icymi-thegrio-rfk-jr-blasted-for-continuing-to-accuse-black-and-brown-men-of-murder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/icymi-thegrio-rfk-jr-blasted-for-continuing-to-accuse-black-and-brown-men-of-murder\/","title":{"rendered":"ICYMI: TheGrio: RFK Jr. blasted for continuing to accuse Black and brown men of murder"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1500\" height=\"500\" src=\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/War-Room-Master-Image.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1031397\" srcset=\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/War-Room-Master-Image.png 1500w, https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/War-Room-Master-Image.png?resize=300,100 300w, https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/War-Room-Master-Image.png?resize=768,256 768w, https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/War-Room-Master-Image.png?resize=1024,341 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1500px) 100vw, 1500px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><em>As RFK Jr. attempts to lean on his family\u2019s civil rights legacy and pitch himself as the continuation of that record, he is finding it hard to hide from his past.&nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Reporting today from TheGrio examines how RFK Jr. falsely accused two innocent men of color of the murder of a white woman to exonerate his white cousin who was convicted of the crime. Just like Donald Trump and the Central Park Five, RFK Jr. tried to ruin these men\u2019s lives. In the process, RFK Jr. raked in money from book and TV deals while peddling racist stereotypes.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/thegrio.com\/2024\/06\/06\/rfk-jr-blasted-for-continuing-to-accuse-black-and-brown-men-of-murder\/\"><strong>The Grio<\/strong><\/a><strong>: RFK Jr. blasted for continuing to accuse Black and brown men of murder<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>By: Gerren Keith Gaynor&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>As presidential hopeful Robert F. Kennedy Jr. runs on a platform championing criminal justice reform in his efforts to court Black voters, critics point out that for years, the independent<strong> <em><mark style=\"background-color:#fcb900\" class=\"has-inline-color\">candidate accused two Black and brown men of committing a murder his white cousin was convicted of <\/mark><\/em><\/strong>despite the claims being dismissed in court.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><mark style=\"background-color:#fcb900\" class=\"has-inline-color\"><strong><em>\u201cHe\u2019s much like many of the other racist white people who have decided that it is more convenient to choose vulnerable people to be the scapegoat for their crimes,\u201d<\/em><\/strong> <\/mark>said activist Tamika Mallory, the founder of the social justice nonprofit Until Freedom. <strong><em><mark style=\"background-color:#fcb900\" class=\"has-inline-color\">\u201cBlack and brown men are the easiest targets because the system, in most cases, will automatically deem those individuals guilty until proven innocent.\u201d<\/mark><\/em><\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>\u201cThis is not a difference in ideology. This is falsely accusing a Black man and a mixed-race gentleman of a very serious crime that they did not commit,\u201d she said. \u201cI don\u2019t know what is worse than someone who is running for president who tries to appeal to the frustration of our community, and he\u2019s actually directly harmed Black people in this instance. It\u2019s very dangerous.\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Mallory of Until Freedom said Kennedy\u2019s continued accusations should <mark style=\"background-color:#fcb900\" class=\"has-inline-color\"><strong><em>\u201cdisqualify\u201d him from having the support of the Black community<\/em><\/strong>.<\/mark><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>In 2016, Kennedy published a book titled \u201cFramed\u201d in which he makes the case for why he believes his cousin Michael Skakel was innocent after being convicted of the Oct. 30, 1975, murder of 15-year-old Martha Moxley in Greenwich, Connecticut.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>In his book, Kennedy echoes the accusations of Skakel\u2019s friend Gitano \u201cTony\u201d Bryant, the cousin of NBA star Kobe Bryant, who claimed two of his friends from the Bronx, Adolph Hasbrouck and Burton Tinsley, were responsible for Moxley\u2019s murder. <strong><em><mark style=\"background-color:#fcb900\" class=\"has-inline-color\">Hasbrouck is Black<\/mark><\/em><\/strong>, and Tinsley is described in news reports as being of mixed race and of Asian descent.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Lawrence Schoenbach, an attorney who represented Hasbrouck at the time of the public accusations Kennedy and Bryant made, told theGrio that Kennedy\u2019s <strong><em><mark style=\"background-color:#fcb900\" class=\"has-inline-color\">\u201cridiculous belief\u201d <\/mark>that his former client was involved in Moxley\u2019s murder is a <mark style=\"background-color:#fcb900\" class=\"has-inline-color\">\u201cfarce.\u201d<\/mark><\/em><\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>In a court document obtained by theGrio of Kennedy\u2019s testimony in a retrial proceeding based on Bryant\u2019s claims about Hasbrouck and Tinsley, Kennedy admitted that he was unable to identify an eyewitness who could corroborate Bryant\u2019s claim or saw the two men of color in the exclusively white neighborhood of Belle Haven on the night of the murder. <\/strong>During his testimony, Kennedy recalled one neighbor telling him, \u201cNo black person could have ever visited their house because \u2026 he would have stuck out like a sore thumb, and everybody in Belle Haven would have known about it.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>According to the 2007 court document of his testimony,<strong><em> <mark style=\"background-color:#fcb900\" class=\"has-inline-color\">Kennedy said Hasbrouck and Tinsley would \u201cprobably live short lives\u201d and end up in prison.<\/mark><\/em><\/strong>\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Schoenbach said Hasbrouck was \u201canything but the typical South Bronx kid that Kennedy assumed he was,\u201d highlighting that he obtained his bachelor\u2019s degree, joined the Army, was honorably discharged, and worked for ABC for 30 years.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>While promoting his book \u201cFramed,\u201d Kennedy, who obtained his law degree from the University of Virginia Law School, <strong><em><mark style=\"background-color:#fcb900\" class=\"has-inline-color\">dismissed concerns about Hasbrouck or Tinsley suing him for defamation. He dared them to, telling a radio station, \u201cI hope they file a lawsuit \u2026 if they are innocent, they will file a lawsuit against me.\u201d<\/mark><\/em><\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Schoenbach said Kennedy was <strong><em><mark style=\"background-color:#fcb900\" class=\"has-inline-color\">\u201cdesperate\u201d<\/mark><\/em><\/strong> to have Hasbrouck, who is known as Al, \u201csay something so that Al will be forced to testify.\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Schoenbach similarly told theGrio, \u201cHow dare this guy hold himself out to be the savior of criminal justice for Black people, I assume particularly Black men. Are you kidding?\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>U.S. Rep. Nikema Williams, D-Ga., a Biden-Harris campaign surrogate, told theGrio, <strong><em><mark style=\"background-color:#fcb900\" class=\"has-inline-color\">\u201cIt just goes back to why RFK Jr. is in this race in the first place, and that is to help get this convicted felon Donald Trump elected president again.\u201d<\/mark><\/em><\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Williams said Trump similarly falsely accused five Black and brown teen boys, known as the Central Park Five, of a violent crime against a white woman.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>She added, <strong>\u201cThey were innocent Black men, and they\u2019re now the Exonerated Five. But yet he said they should be executed, and people act as if they\u2019ve forgotten.\u201d<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As RFK Jr. attempts to lean on his family\u2019s civil rights legacy and pitch himself as the continuation of that record, he is finding it hard to hide from his past.&nbsp; Reporting today from TheGrio examines how RFK Jr. falsely accused two innocent men of color of the murder of a white woman to exonerate [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":263,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1034922","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-press-release"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>ICYMI: TheGrio: RFK Jr. blasted for continuing to accuse Black and brown men of murder - Democrats<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/icymi-thegrio-rfk-jr-blasted-for-continuing-to-accuse-black-and-brown-men-of-murder\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Democrats\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-06-06T18:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-06-07T16:23:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/War-Room-Master-Image.png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Claire DePree\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Claire DePree\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/icymi-thegrio-rfk-jr-blasted-for-continuing-to-accuse-black-and-brown-men-of-murder\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/icymi-thegrio-rfk-jr-blasted-for-continuing-to-accuse-black-and-brown-men-of-murder\/\",\"name\":\"ICYMI: TheGrio: RFK Jr. blasted for continuing to accuse Black and brown men of murder - Democrats\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/icymi-thegrio-rfk-jr-blasted-for-continuing-to-accuse-black-and-brown-men-of-murder\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/icymi-thegrio-rfk-jr-blasted-for-continuing-to-accuse-black-and-brown-men-of-murder\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/War-Room-Master-Image.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-06-06T18:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-06-07T16:23:28+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/#\/schema\/person\/c31239f43161314a03057960c56c0564\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/icymi-thegrio-rfk-jr-blasted-for-continuing-to-accuse-black-and-brown-men-of-murder\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/icymi-thegrio-rfk-jr-blasted-for-continuing-to-accuse-black-and-brown-men-of-murder\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/icymi-thegrio-rfk-jr-blasted-for-continuing-to-accuse-black-and-brown-men-of-murder\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/War-Room-Master-Image.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/War-Room-Master-Image.png\",\"width\":1500,\"height\":500},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/icymi-thegrio-rfk-jr-blasted-for-continuing-to-accuse-black-and-brown-men-of-murder\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"ICYMI: TheGrio: RFK Jr. blasted for continuing to accuse Black and brown men of murder\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/\",\"name\":\"Democrats\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/#\/schema\/person\/c31239f43161314a03057960c56c0564\",\"name\":\"Claire DePree\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/262c0b3f1914330fe3241c699fd21798ee92a8504fc6296028e8fa17334d1151?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/262c0b3f1914330fe3241c699fd21798ee92a8504fc6296028e8fa17334d1151?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Claire DePree\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/author\/depreec\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"ICYMI: TheGrio: RFK Jr. blasted for continuing to accuse Black and brown men of murder - Democrats","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/icymi-thegrio-rfk-jr-blasted-for-continuing-to-accuse-black-and-brown-men-of-murder\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_site_name":"Democrats","article_published_time":"2024-06-06T18:00:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-06-07T16:23:28+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/War-Room-Master-Image.png","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Claire DePree","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Claire DePree","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/icymi-thegrio-rfk-jr-blasted-for-continuing-to-accuse-black-and-brown-men-of-murder\/","url":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/icymi-thegrio-rfk-jr-blasted-for-continuing-to-accuse-black-and-brown-men-of-murder\/","name":"ICYMI: TheGrio: RFK Jr. blasted for continuing to accuse Black and brown men of murder - Democrats","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/icymi-thegrio-rfk-jr-blasted-for-continuing-to-accuse-black-and-brown-men-of-murder\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/icymi-thegrio-rfk-jr-blasted-for-continuing-to-accuse-black-and-brown-men-of-murder\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/War-Room-Master-Image.png","datePublished":"2024-06-06T18:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2024-06-07T16:23:28+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/#\/schema\/person\/c31239f43161314a03057960c56c0564"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/icymi-thegrio-rfk-jr-blasted-for-continuing-to-accuse-black-and-brown-men-of-murder\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/icymi-thegrio-rfk-jr-blasted-for-continuing-to-accuse-black-and-brown-men-of-murder\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/icymi-thegrio-rfk-jr-blasted-for-continuing-to-accuse-black-and-brown-men-of-murder\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/War-Room-Master-Image.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/War-Room-Master-Image.png","width":1500,"height":500},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/icymi-thegrio-rfk-jr-blasted-for-continuing-to-accuse-black-and-brown-men-of-murder\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"ICYMI: TheGrio: RFK Jr. blasted for continuing to accuse Black and brown men of murder"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/#website","url":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/","name":"Democrats","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/#\/schema\/person\/c31239f43161314a03057960c56c0564","name":"Claire DePree","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/262c0b3f1914330fe3241c699fd21798ee92a8504fc6296028e8fa17334d1151?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/262c0b3f1914330fe3241c699fd21798ee92a8504fc6296028e8fa17334d1151?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Claire DePree"},"url":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/author\/depreec\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1034922","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/263"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1034922"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1034922\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1034932,"href":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1034922\/revisions\/1034932"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1034922"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1034922"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1034922"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}