San Jose freshmen charged with hate crime for harassing black student

Three college freshmen at the San Jose State University were charged with misdemeanor hate crime and battery on November 20 for repeatedly harassing their black roommate with racial taunts and physical abuse.

Colin Warren, Joseph Bomgardner, and Logan Beaschler are accused of calling their roommate "three-fifths" and "fraction" - apparent references to how black slaves were counted for representation in Congress before the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution gave them full citizenship. The three men were also accused of trying to intimidate the black student by hanging a Confederate flag in their dorm room, writing the N-word on a whiteboard and putting a U-shaped bike lock around his neck and pretending they lost the key.

The black student, who has not been publicly named, gave a short statement: