Black Man faces Hate Crime Charges for Stabbing Two Sisters Christmas Day

A man in New York City has been charged with attempted murder and assault as hate crimes after using an anti-white slur and then stabbing two teenage sisters at a restaurant in Grand Central Terminal on Christmas day, Ed Shanahan and Chelsia Rose Marcius report for the New York Times. Steven Hutcherson, also known as Esteban Esono-Asue, who is Black, entered the dining area of the restaurant and allegedly stated, “I don’t want to sit with the Black people, I want to sit with the crackers,” according to a criminal complaint. Shortly after Mr. Esono-Asue was seated and given water, the complaint says, an employee saw him stand up, approach a table where a family that appeared to be white was sitting, pull a knife from his pocket and stab one of the girls in the back. As the family tried to escape, he stabbed the second girl in the leg. The girls were taken to Bellevue Hospital, where the older sister was treated for a collapsed lung, but neither injury was life-threatening.