"A white-rights group led by former Ku Klux Klansman David Duke has asked the FBI to investigate alleged civil rights violations against several college students attacked by black youths in the University of Virginia area.

Vincent Breeding, national director of the European-American Unity and Rights Organization, also suggested in a letter to FBI officials that Charlottesville police and city officials are trying to 'cover up these racially motivated crimes' and that black special interest groups may be interfering with the investigation. Three of the youths charged in the string of assaults told police they targeted only white people, authorities have said.

FBI spokesman Lawrence Barry, whose office received the letter Tuesday, said the bureau takes all claims of civil rights abuses seriously, and that agents would try to contact city police today and request basic information on the cases, then decide whether to investigate. But Barry dismissed Breeding's charge that city officials and police are conspiring with black leaders, saying there is no evidence to support it.

'We're trying to make sure that justice is done, and, if it's done at the state level, we're not going to get involved,' he said. 'On the other hand, if justice is not being served at the local level then we would certainly consider dealing with this at the federal level.'

City Police Chief Timothy J. Longo said that, if the FBI decides to investigate, 'we'll comply in any manner that we can.' Police have charged nine minors and an 18-year-old high school football star with various crimes ranging from misdemeanor assault to felony malicious wounding in six unprovoked attacks, mostly on University of Virginia students, between September and January.

Breeding said that members of the Mandeville, La.-based organization will hold a forum in Charlottesville by late next week if the 10 suspects accused in the attacks, one of which left a 20-year-old UVa student with a broken cheekbone, are not charged under Virginia's hate-crime provision.

That decision is up to Charlottesville Commonwealth's Attorney Dave Chapman, who did not return phone calls Monday or Tuesday.

The state's hate-crime provision extends the punishments for three different misdemeanors: simple assault, trespassing and assault and battery. Four of the suspects in the beatings have been charged with simple assault or assault and battery, but police have declined to say whether any of these four admitted targeting white people.

There is no federal hate-crime statute, but there are a handful of federal criminal civil rights discrimination laws. If the white-rights group's forum does not prompt hate-crime charges, Breeding said his organization will hold a protest in Charlottesville that he would describe only as 'very annoying.'

'Our main concern is, we do not want politics to be involved in the prosecution of violent criminals,' Breeding said. 'Where are the rights of victims in Virginia? Nobody's talking about this.'

The group already is contacting 'every civil rights group in the country,' Breeding said. At least one other organization, the European-American Issues Forum, has requested the FBI look into the matter.

The Rev. Alvin Edwards, a local black leader and former Charlottesville mayor, has led the creation of three committees to discuss problems surrounding the attacks. Edwards said he and others plan to start a defense fund for the assault suspects and try to prevent future violent attacks.

Edwards also expressed concern for the victims and their families.

'There shouldn't be any fighting to begin with,' he added. 'I just hope we can make a difference in the community, so people can get along - both black and white.'

Mayor Blake Caravati said Duke's organization should not meddle in Charlottesville's business.

'We're perfectly able to deal with this situation ourselves as a whole community,' Caravati said. 'They're outside agitators. They know nothing about our community.'

Barry, with the FBI, said the federal government prosecutes only 3 to 5 percent of all civil rights cases investigated by the bureau, and it is more difficult to prosecute minors in the federal criminal system. So, theoretically, the juvenile suspects in the UVa beatings could be charged under civil rights statutes only if the U.S. Attorney's Office first charges them as adults.

Barry also noted that, for someone to be charged under the standard civil rights criminal statutes, the discrimination must have occurred while the victim was involved in a specific federally protected activity, such as voting.

Walking down the street, as most of the local assault victims were when attacked, likely would not be protected, Barry said." (Reed Williams, The Daily Progress, February 20, 2002)