A Black Lives Matter protester who was charged with hate crimes against Asian Americans spent time in Seattle’s Capitol Hill Occupied Protest zone last summer.
Seattle Black Lives Matter activists said they remembered Christopher Hamner’s “creepy stares” when he protested with them last year, as well as actions they described as coming “out of left field.”
Hamner was arrested last month and charged with hate crimes for “violent, anti-Asian behavior” stemming from multiple occurrences.
One woman, Pamela Cole, said he threatened her and her children during a traffic incident.
BLACK LIVES MATTER SUPPORTER CHARGED FOR STRING OF SEATTLE-AREA ASIAN HATE CRIMES
“He just opens his door and starts yelling at me, ‘F’ you, you Asian ‘B.’ ‘F’ you,’ kind of thing,” Cole said. “And then he pulls in the parking lot and comes charging at us.”
Hamner frequently protested with Black Lives Matter last summer and had posts on social media showing him within Seattle’s CHOP zone, which was established as a police-free zone that saw multiple shootings, deaths, reports of sexual assault, vandalism, and theft.
“Of course, it strikes me as hypocritical, but I wasn’t surprised to be completely honest,” Cole said of his involvement with Black Lives Matter. “I wasn’t shocked about it.”
Cole added that she tried to contact Hamner’s employers at a VA hospital to get him help because she doesn’t believe jail time will set him on the right path.
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“At the end of the day, if he goes to jail, he still comes out as a racist full of hate,” Cole said. “Nothing’s changed. He didn’t learn anything. There was no rehab in it, so, to me, it’s pointless.”
Hamner is still in police custody and is expected to enter a plea on hate crime charges Thursday.
