Newport man pleads guilty to smashing teen's face with bike lock because he was Black - Detroit Free Press

Newport man pleads guilty to smashing teen's face with bike lock because he was Black - Detroit Free Press
Download BLK: The Number One Dating App for Black Singles - Papermag
A group of Twin Cities Black men turn their passion for music into power - Minneapolis Star Tribune

Posted: 30 Mar 2021 05:21 PM PDT

Nine months after a Black teenager had his teeth smashed out at a beach, the man who pummeled his face with a bike chain admitted in federal court that his actions were about hate: he attacked the teen because of his race.

And before he pulled out the bike chain, court records show, he told the victim that Blacks weren't welcome at the beach and that Black lives don't matter.

Lee Mouat, 43, of Newport, now faces up to 10 years in prison after pleading guilty Tuesday to willfully causing bodily injury to an 18-year-old because of the teen's race. He entered his plea before U.S. District Judge Stephen J. Murphy, III. The incident happened last June at Sterling State Park in Monroe, where Mouat confronted a group of Black teenagers, including the victim, 18-year-old Devin Freelon Jr.

According to the plea agreement, court records, and police statements, here is what led to the attack:

It was about 7:45 p.m. on June 6 when Freelon heard an unfamiliar man yelling in the beach parking lot: "N----- don't belong on this beach."

Freelon was retrieving a portable speaker from a vehicle while Mouat yelled racial slurs at his two friends and then started walking toward Freelon, eventually pulling out a bike lock and striking him in the face with it.

According to multiple witnesses, Mouat was upset about the teens playing music, and was making racial comments about the teens as he walked toward the park with his family.

One witness said they heard Mouat say:

"I wish someone would say something to me so I can beat them."

Several minutes later, a commotion broke out in the parking lot, where Mouat allegedly told the group "Black Lives Don't Matter" before going to his van and retrieving his bike lock.

Another witness heard him say: "This is my beach, n-----!"

That witness was anticipating a fight and told Mouat: "We'll kick your ass."

But Mouat responded: "There are three of you ... that's not fair."

The witness responded: "I'll kick your ass alone."

At that point, Mouat walked away, commenting: "I've got something for you in my car."

The witness assumed Mouat was leaving with his family. Instead, Mouat returned with the bike chain, swung it at the 18-year-old's face, knocked him to the ground and then swung at the witness but missed.

In his plea agreement, Mouat admitted that he repeatedly hurled racial slurs at the group and said that Black people had no right to use the public beach. Then he struck the teen in the face with a bike lock, knocking out several of his teeth, cutting his face and mouth, and fracturing his jaw. He also admitted to trying to strike another Black teen with the bike lock, but missing.

"Hate-fueled incidents like this one have no place in a civilized society," Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division Pamela Karlan said in a statement Tuesday.

"The young victim in this case suffered tremendously from this vicious, racially motivated attack," said Acting U.S. Attorney Saima Mohsin for the Eastern District of Michigan. "Every individual citizen has the right to not live in fear of violence or attack based on the color of their skin."

Detroit's FBI chief Timothy Waters added: "Mouat's hateful and violent conduct, motivated by racial intolerance, was intended to physically harm the victim as well as create fear within the African-American community ... We encourage anyone who has been the victim of or witness to such a crime to report it to the FBI."

Mouat will be sentenced on June 24. He faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a fine of up to $250,000.

Tresa Baldas: tbaldas@freepress.com

Read or Share this story: https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2021/03/30/michigan-man-pleads-guilty-smashing-black-teens-face-lock/4812192001/

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Posted: 01 Mar 2021 12:00 AM PST

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A group of Twin Cities Black men turn their passion for music into power - Minneapolis Star Tribune

Posted: 30 Mar 2021 11:08 AM PDT

They met in the center of the room and bumped elbows like a basketball team ready to take the court. Except this was a music group, giving a virtual performance for an audience they couldn't even see.

One by one, each performer took off his COVID mask for a turn in front of the camera. The chill Detrell Melodies tried to fight back a smile while singing the hook. Young Light sounded fierce as he rapped, his eyes burning with controlled fire. The bespectacled Ju$$Lyfe spit out his words with abandon. Bayo threw down his bars with animation and confidence.

Then Young Light returned, singing the hook to "Looking to My Brother" — "Praying to the Lord, I'm trying to do right."

This is the Ujamaa Music Group (UMG). These men, ages 19 to 28, ended up together because of homelessness, addiction, unemployment and other issues — but also a shared love of music.

They came together at Ujamaa Place, a St. Paul social service agency for Black men. Their music therapy sessions evolved into recording a single and performing three tunes virtually last month for the Twin Cities chapter of the African American Leadership Forum.

Speaking days later via Zoom, Bayo couldn't hide the smile that frequently overtakes his face.

"We've all done music before. But to be doing it on a scale where we've got shows and we've got post-show interviews, that's so exciting," he said.

Bayo — short for Omobayonle Idowu — is kind of the unspoken leader of the group. Maybe because he's one of the older guys at 25. Maybe because he has been releasing music for years under his own name. Maybe because he sits at the front desk at Ujamaa, greeting everyone who comes in the door as his day job.

Growing up in Woodbury and Oakdale, he played football, basketball and baseball at East Ridge High School, then attended the University of North Dakota before drugs derailed him. After going through treatment more than once, he met Ujamaa's CEO, Otis Zanders, at church.

"I had a couple of rough years with family, legal troubles and addiction. Otis took me under his wing," recalled Bayo, who enrolled at Ujamaa Place in December 2016. "Music had always been a big passion of mine. It remained consistent through the addiction and the ups and downs. After my last treatment stint, I made a commitment that I wasn't going to let my talents go to waste."

Creating music wasn't one of the two dozen programs offered by Ujamaa, which was founded in 2009 and is based in the Griggs Midway Building at 1821 W. University Av. But an idea was hatched after the organization's film club worked an event at the Dakota club in Minneapolis.

There, Ujamaa officials met drummer/producer Kirk Johnson, one of Prince's longtime associates, and decided to create a music program with him.

"We've been talking about this for years. How do we make this thing happen?" said Stevenson Morgan, Ujamaa coach and employment coordinator.

"Music in our community has helped us numerous times. We think back to slavery days and out there humming and just trying to move forward and keep that positive spirit going. And I think that's what we've been able to craft with the Ujamaa Music Group."

Mentor was 'a little nervous'

When Johnson went to Ujamaa for the first time last August, he was "a little nervous because you don't know what you're going to get when you get five young Black men in a room."

On Wednesday afternoons, Johnson, who is Black, visits Ujamaa, where he helped set up a recording studio last fall. Some days, he invites behind-the-scenes speakers — an entertainment lawyer, a sound engineer, a publicist, a rep from a music pressing plant. Johnson, a consultant to the Prince estate, even arranged a private tour of Paisley Park for UMG. On Saturday afternoons, Johnson meets one-on-one with two UMG music makers in the studio.

"I'm teaching and motivating them to do something they wouldn't do by themselves and holding them accountable," said Johnson, who does a similar thing when he leads a cycling class twice a week at Life Time Fitness. "It motivates me at the same time."

He devotes up to 15 hours a week to UMG for minimal pay. While Johnson said he appreciates UMG's energy and talent, "we've had our moments: 'Why are you late and why didn't you tell me you were going to be late?'

"These types of moments will help you moving forward in other situations. 'Just because it's free, don't jack it up. Everybody's depending on you.' "

Morgan also sees the value in "making the effort to let these men know that, even though you may not get to the promised land of music, there's other areas if you use the same diligence and same confidence ... There will be other doors for you to be successful in."

UMG is about more than music, Johnson said. "We have these little discussions about life before we get to the music side — dating, jobs, what do you do after you leave Ujamaa, how's it going to help you moving forward.

"They're guys who went the wrong way in some cases, and we kind of get them back on their path."

Meeting Sheila E.

This winter, UMG had a news conference to announce their single, "On a Mission," and Johnson invited renowned percussionist/singer Sheila E. to join in from Oakland, Calif., via Zoom.

After she praised the new jam, each UMG member introduced himself and explained what music meant to him.

"Music is like the only way I can really be understood. Words don't do any good," said Sensae Da Waelaah (Sundiata Tongrit-Green, 19).

Responded Sheila E.: "That's life-changing."

"Music helps me out every day," said Ju$$Lyfe (Justin Langeslay, 25). "If I don't start my day off with music in the shower, it's just all off."

For Detrell Melodies (Devonne Tinsley, 24), "music has been my escape from everyday life. Times get hard sometimes, but when I go to the music I can get away from it."

"Music is powerful," Sheila E. declared. "Amen."

"Music means life to me," said Young Light (Kevin Berry, 28). "I love writing music and get my mind off things and inspire people to hopefully change their lives."

Bayo explained that he was introduced to music in church and started playing drums in first or second grade. "But later in life, I struggled with addiction and music was that refuge I found in treatment," he said. "God and music was what brought me back to myself. Music is everything to me. You can hear it, you can feel it."

Talking about music among themselves is one thing, but getting props from a veteran star like Sheila E.?

"Oh, man, that's just cool," Bayo said later. "Every person who presses play and listens to our music, it's absolute gratitude."

With help from musician pals like saxophonist Walter Chancellor Jr., Johnson brings beats and instrumental sounds to UMG. He even got guitarist Mike Scott, who has toured with Justin Timberlake and Sounds of Blackness, to play on the single.

But the members pen their own lyrics. "Be positive and keep it clean," Johnson encourages them. UMG has now completed three songs — "On a Mission," "Looking to My Brother" and "Let's Get It."

Since the group came together, Johnson has observed "growth and consistency. It's been worth every moment."

The next step is getting ready for a concert in front of an audience. "Maybe at the Minnesota State Fair," said Johnson.

Twitter: @JonBream • 612-673-1719

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