Violence Against Black Women: Death Threats, Trump Bullies


Heather Smith, of New Jersey, received  gruesome death threats in her Facebook inbox this past Tuesday. The man  responsible has not been named. He hasn’t been charged with a crime. His Facebook post shows he resides in Cypress, Texas and is a 24-year-old white male.

Smith shared with Click2Houston that she doesn’t know who the man is, but she has an idea why she was targeted. She said:

“I speak a lot on Black Lives Matter, on racism, and I have friends who share my post, and that’s most likely how he saw my page and decided to target me.”

Smith has filed a police report with her local agency, and told Fox 2, ” I feel like my life is in danger.”

She has every right to feel threatened and hunted, the inbox messages started off with:

“Let me tell you how I want to kill you.”  

He taunts further, writing:

“I’ll burn your a** hole shut.”

Father Makes Light Of Son’s Death Threat Emails

Channel 2 reports that when they went to the Cypress address listed for the man on social media, his father answered the door. The father shared that he has spoken to son about his posts, and that:

“He’s a kid. He wasn’t thinking what he was saying.”

The Harris County Sheriff’s Office says it’s up to New Jersey Law law enforcement agencies to decide whether to investigate first, and to follow up with (if there is) a case with Harris County cybercrimes investigators.

Death Threats Should Be Taken Seriously

The graphic nature in which the torturous murder of Smith would be carried out is demonic. She’s done her part by reporting the crime.  The police don’t seem to be taking the threats seriously. The bureaucratic process is slow, but can we at least get the ball rolling?  The father is not condemning the acts of his adult son. Neither is adulting properly.

Mental Health Issues, Or Pure Hatred?

Smith deserves justice from New Jersey, Houston… whomever. Someone needs to see that this is handled. The man responsible for the hate speech and death threats does not get to be a computer warrior/terrorist.  He called Smith, the “n” word, and every degrading, derogatory word he could think of. It’s not okay. It’s sickening. A mental health assessment should be a top priority for him, followed by whatever is necessary–to get help for someone capable of such insidious thoughts and deeds.

Too Many Vanished Black Women To Ignore

The threat has been made. He laid out detailed plans where he would kidnap and kill Smith. NewsOne reports that there are over 64,000 black women missing in the U.S. They’re just gone, like the wind. When I read the email Smith received, I thought of the women who never got the chance to speak out about being targeted.

What’s Up With All The Hate? Death Threats!


This is the second incident of violence against black women to go viral this week. Also on Tuesday, University of Louisville student, Shiya Nwanguma, was verbally assaulted, and pushed back and forth by a mob frenzied white supremacist crowd. She was attending a Trump Rally, in Kentucky. This was the same rally that Liberal America writer/editor  Carissa House-Dunphy attended (read her first hand account, here.) Both Nwanguma and Smith deserve better. They deserve to live their lives without having to fear, this type of  un-American,  anti-Black, anti-Black Women -behavior. Where are:  #allslivesmatter, #feminist. Right, #BlackWomensLivesMatter?

Featured Image: Gerry Louzon Flickr  CC

 

 

 

C. Imani Williams is a human rights and social justice activist. She writes to empower and give voice to those silenced through systematic oppression. Her work has appeared in Between the Lines, Michigan Citizen, Tucson Weekly, Harlem Times, Dope Magazine and various news and popular culture blogs. Follow the unapologetically black political culture critique @ https://twitter.com/Imaniwms and https://www.facebook.com/You-Have-The-Right-540358412796352/?fref=ts