"We need to call for a special prosecutor! They won't give Blacks on Staten Island justice until we take a stand, take it to the streets!"

That was the call from the audience at what was supposed to be a political forum, which turned into a rally against racial injustice, Tuesday night [October 23] on Staten Island. The Staten Island branch of the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) held its annual political forum at the Christian Life Center, located in the village of Stapelton.

But before the forum could be adjourned, there were angry protestations from a chorus of those who had attended specifically to hear from District Attorney Dan Donovan. He proved a no show, opting to send his Black chief of staff, Quentin Smith instead.

"The district attorney said there was a scheduling conflict," announced the forum moderator, Edward Josey, NAACP Staten Island chapter president.

Well, if he (Donovan) won't come to us, we're going to picket his office became the theme of the packed house audience. Donovan, a Republican, is up for re-election in two weeks.

After much discussion, a coalition has been formed to hold a rally outside the DA’s office on November 2, at 4 pm.

The call for the community rally comes a week after the Rev. Al Sharpton told a packed house at his National Action Network headquarters in Harlem that he was ready to march on Staten Island.

"New York is becoming worse than Louisiana, we're going to Staten Island, Jena and Washington, and we're going to bring out numbers like you've never seen before," Sharpton said.

The activist minister appeared in Atlanta, Georgia on October 23, with Martin Luther King III, and others, to announce a march on Washington, D.C. slated for Nov. 16. Its aim is to demand that federal authorities intervene in the "huge outbreak" of hate crimes nation wide.

According to Rachel Noerdlinger, Sharpton's press representative, a date hasn’t been set for the march on Staten Island.

"No one is against Sharpton's call for a march, it will be supported, but time is of the essence," Josey explained to the AmNews, the day after the forum. "The perception is building up in the community again that Staten Island is a racist borough."

The hot-button issue that has angered so many Blacks on the Island, is Donovan's handling of what many have termed a "bias case," involving five white men and a 20-year-old Black man.

On October 16, in the Mariners Harbor section, Skylar McCormick had his jaw broken in two places by the white men, all because he allegedly sat on the car of one of them.

Two days later, headlines in the local papers on the Island and the N.Y. Daily News, stated that McCormick was beaten with a baseball bat by his white assailants while they hurled racial epithets at him.

Daniel Avissato, 24, and Mark Vincent Maleto, 21, were arrested and originally charged with "assault as a hate crime, second-degree gang assault, second-degree assault, aggravated harassment as a hate crime and criminal possession of a weapon."

However, when the two were arraigned on October 19, they were only charged with second-degree gang assault and aggravated harassment. The hate crimes charge was dropped and no bat was mentioned during the proceedings.

"At this point, I believe the evidence provided to my office by the police is legally insufficient to support hate-crime charges," stated Donovan in a press release.

Sharpton was so angry with Donovan’s response he broke out in psalm during the rally: "If using 'n----r', and only beating the Black out of three people, if that isn't a hate crime, then what is a hate crime?" Police reports state that McCormick was with three white friends at the time of the incident.

"Rev. Sharpton is entitled to his opinion, we make prosecutorial decisions based on the facts and on the law, not on rhetoric," stated Donovan's spokesman William Smith. "Any suggestion by Rev. Sharpton that this office is hesitant to charge hate crimes is ill-informed to say the least," he added.

"We aren't seeing it any other way," argued Helen Settles, a member of the NAACP and a long-time political activist in Staten Island. She also raised the question of why there was no bail set for the two. "If that was five Blacks attacking a white boy, the Blacks go to jail and a high bail would be set," she said angrily.

'Added Josey, “I explained to Donovan during our recent meeting that Blacks on the Island perceive this as a hate crime because the 'n' word was used." Josey said the DA’s response was he wasn't ruling out the possibility of filing hate crime charges at a later date depending on what evidence is uncovered as they continue their investigation.

But, activists attending the forum weren't in the mood for waiting; nor were they in the mood for giving the DA the benefit of the doubt. "He is afraid to call it a hate crime because of the election," someone in the crowd yelled.

"Blacks on this Island feel disenfranchised, and with that, time for discussion is over," Bro. Baruti [Tucker] told the AmNews. Baruti, an activist/artist, who also runs a mentoring program called Brother To Brother, said it was time to unite all the various organizations into a proactive coalition. "This rally will bring a lot of people out," stated Marge Garvin of People On The Move.

A week before the beating, the 'n' word was scrawled on the bench of the Wadleigh Harlem Hellfighters football team. The players were there to play S.I. Tech.

"The rally will open peoples' eyes to just what is happening on Staten Island," stated Joseph Gumbs, a member of the S.I. Democratic County Committee.

Attorney Michael Hardy has become the spokesman for McCormick and his parents, Minister Walter Taylor and Jessica Taylor. He told the AmNews that the family is waiting to see just what the prosecutors will finally come up with before talking about what their next step will be.

"Certainly it is the family's belief that this attack was racially motivated," Hardy said.

"Staten Island stands at a crossroads, a racial abyss of sorts, either take action now or risk missing the opportunity to do something to turn the tide before it can't be turned aside," warned Stevie Lacy-Pendleton, a Black columnist writing in the S.I. Advance.