A black student from Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville in Edwardsville, Illinois, is facing criminal charges for reporting racist notes to the police that she allegedly knew were not sent to her from an unknown perpetrator. Two white students who were falsely accused of placing notes on her dorm room door reading “BLACK PEOPLE DON’T BELONG” and “DIE BITCH” have been cleared following an investigation into the incident.
Illinois law enforcement announced on Friday that Kaliyeha Clark-Mabins, a black college student, will be charged with three counts of disorderly conduct for filing a false police report late last month.
According to the charging documents, Clark-Mabins reported to the police on January 23 that “she was the victim of a Hate Crime, in that she reported that two notes were posted on her dormitory room door — saying “BLACK PEOPLE DON’T BELONG” and “DIE BITCH.”
“Kaliyeha Clark-Mabins knew that at the time of this transmission there was no reasonable ground for believing that such an offense had been committed,” the charging documents add.
The investigation included not just the campus police, but the “Madison County State’s Attorney’s Office and the U.S. Secret Service,” according to an email obtained by the College Fix. The Secret Service’s involvement in the investigation has not been explained.
Two white students who were falsely accused of involvement have also reportedly been cleared. Moreover, a Change.org petition that garnered 1,817 supporters called for the expulsion of the initial suspects.
“A black teen and her sister has had their lives threatened by some white teens on campus and have had no justice,” read the petition, created by a user called “Justice for Us.”
The petition continued:
THREATENING TO MURDER SOMEONE IS A CRIME yet, they are trying to turn that crime into a cold case. BUT WE WONT LET THEM. In no world should someone be able to say “I will lynch you and your sister” and be protected afterwards as of it was not their fault. The two black sisters were left unprotected and hung to dry while the white girl had more escorts than jay-z. This is what being black in American is but we aren’t letting it happen anymore.
Protests at Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville then ensued, as students rallied for the expulsion of the alleged perpetrators, according to according to a report by KSDK.
“They say it’s under investigation but I feel like she shouldn’t be on campus period. Because you threatened to lynch students on this campus,” David Daniel, vice president of the university’s Black Student Union, told KSDK.
Hoax hate crimes are increasingly frequent occurrences on college campuses.
In 2020, University of La Verne student Dominguez Peña was arrested for allegedly sending ten racist threats against herself, and claiming that she had “found a smoking backpack” in her car before being “assaulted by a masked man” on campus.
In 2018, Ohio University student Anna Ayers told police that she had received homophobic death threats. The student ended up being charged with three counts of “making false alarms” after it was discovered by police that she had sent the death threats to herself.
That same year, a black freshman at Kansas State tweeted an image of a racist note attached to his apartment door. In his tweet, the student stated that this “blatant racism” should serve as a reminder that “everyone needs to get out and vote.” The student later deleted the tweet and admitted to police that he had created and posted the note to his own door.
Also that year, several racist notes surfaced at Drake University, which spurred an investigation, protests, and campus-wide concern for nearly a month. Kissie Ram, a student who had received one of the notes later admitted to being the one who sent the notes to herself and others.
You can follow Alana Mastrangelo on Facebook and Twitter at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.
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