It wasn’t just the nature of Brandon White’s videotaped beating, delivered by strangers amid a hail of anti-gay slurs, that captured the world’s attention this week. It was that the video, which went viral after it appeared on YouTube and other sites, was clearly created and perhaps even posted by one of the attackers.
But getting attention was the probably the whole point, according to experts on such crimes. And the video -- the fact that the whole world could view his brutalization -- was also what prompted White, who did not initially report the attack to police, to speak publicly for the first time Wednesday.
“At first I was embarrassed,” White, 20, said at a press conference, standing with community leaders from the Pittsburgh neighborhood in Southwest Atlanta. “But if they are willing to put it out there, I’m going to face it.
"I shouldn’t have to look over my shoulder just because I’m gay."
No one has yet been arrested in the attack, which occurred last Saturday in broad daylight outside a corner grocery store. The FBI, which is treating the incident as a possible hate crime, is working with the Atlanta Police Department to track down the suspects, whom they believe to be members of the the so-called 1029 Jack City Gang. Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed has issued a $10,000 reward for information leading to their arrest and prosecution.
The video shows one of the three attackers flashing a hand signal and speaking to the cameraman before White walks out of the store. Then another one flies into the frame, attacking White from behind and driving him to the ground. The others pile on, repeatedly punching and kicking White, a slender man of about 5-feet-five-inches, one even slamming an abandoned tire onto his head while he is down.
All the while, the camera operator chuckles and prompts the attackers as they repeatedly call White a derogatory name associated with gay men and tell him such people are not welcome in "Jack City."
At some point last weekend, the roughly 30-second video appeared on YouTube and went viral on TheSmokingGun before catching the attention of the Atlanta police. Another video, captured by a security camera outside the store, also documented the attack.
Jack Levin, a criminology professor at Northeastern University and an expert on hate crimes, said it's not unusual for attackers to post online videos of their misdeeds.
"It's difficult for most people to understand why the perpetrators would place their hate crime or their criminal behavior on YouTube, but what they don’t get is that they are proud of it," Levin said.
He characterized White's beating as a likely "thrill hate crime," a violent and sometimes random attack done by people desperate to seem powerful.
"It just takes one or two sadistic members of the group who are very concerned about maintaining or achieving a sense of power and dominance ... The more they bash their victim, the better they feel about themselves," Levin said. "And for teenagers who are very concerned about being cool, YouTube is the perfect medium for sharing their accomplishment with the world."
And a perfect medium for helping law enforcement, adds DeKalb County District Attorney Robert James.
"From an investigative perspective, you are thanking the person, because you have evidence and you have proof," said James, who is not handling this case as it occurred in Fulton County. "Obviously that makes our jobs a lot easier."
Speaking to reporters Wednesday, White said he was still shaken by the assault that thrust him into the national spotlight and made him a symbol of crimes against gay men and women.
He wouldn't describe his injuries or elaborate on what happened leading up to the attack, but he said he went home, packed and left the Pittsburgh home where he'd lived with friends for eight months.
He wasn't planning to report the beating to police until he learned that it was online, he said. And he expressed some concern for his safety.
“Who’s to say they won’t try to come after me again? Who can say they won’t try to kill me?”
Levin said White's initial reticence to report the crime is not unusual. Often victims feel ashamed, fear retaliation, have a distrust of authorities or worry for the safety of witnesses, he said.
"There is a vast underestimate of hate crimes, in part due to the reluctance of victims to report them," he said. "You can understand why a victim may decide to kind of fade into the woodwork, rather than come forward and turn in a group of peers."
Atlanta authorities have vowed that the crime and others like it will not go unpunished.
“The actions depicted in the video are appalling and unacceptable in our community,” U.S. Attorney Sally Quillian Yates said Monday in a statement.
Devin Barrington-Ward, an activist with the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights advocacy organization Change Atlanta, said Georgia needs to enact hate crime laws to prevent this sort of violence.
“Unfortunately, we need a teachable moment like this to enact legislation,” Barrington-Ward said.
The store where the attack took place -- known in the neighborhood as the “pink” store -– has been the site of 30 fights since the beginning of 2011, according to police records obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Police have initiated nearly 230 patrols of the location in the same period.
On the window of the store are scrawls of gang graffiti that read “1029 Da Jungle,” “Jack City” and "YJC da Crew.”
Store operator Juan Vasquez said he has held the lease on the business for just three months. He acknowledged that although a security camera filmed Saturday's attack, no one called police. But he said he cannot control what goes on outside the store.
“I cannot control the Jungle Boys,” Vasquez said of the gang members.
White said he hopes his attackers are prosecuted for a hate crime. "It's clearly stated in the video why they did it," he said.
He said he was emboldened by the chance to deliver a message to others who have been or might be accosted for their sexual orientation.
"I'm the brave one," he said, as he directed his words to other victims or would-be victims. "Don't wait until it's too late to report it. Don't hide it."
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