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Joys over Barack Obama’s ascendance from community organizer to the office of the Presidency were stifled in many areas, due largely in part to pervasively negative undertones that underscored his entire journey. As Obama supporters celebrated, many Americans lamented, opting for violence over understanding. Staten Island, New York is a known democratic haven, home to many Obama supporters; many of whom found themselves at the right place in the wrong time.

A federal judge has sentenced four men to serve several years in prison. Witness reports place Ralph Nicoletti, Brian Carranza, Bryan Garaventa, and Michael Contreras behind several racially motivated crimes in the suburban New York community on election night. In court, the men admitted to viciously beating a 17-year old Muslim teenager and assaulting a mentally disabled man. They also assaulted Ronald Forte, a white man whom just happened to be in the predominately Black neighborhood that the four men chose to terrorize. Legal defense for the men used their dysfunctional upbringing to justify their actions; a ploy which failed. Judge Carol Amon, whom presided over the case, stated,

“The fact that someone may have had a difficult childhood does little to explain and nothing to excuse the vicious crimes here.”

Nicoletti was sentenced to nine years with Carranza receiving 70 months. Garaventa and Contreras were sentenced to five years and 55 months for their part in the crime respectively.