Friday, February 03, 2006

Imma Be Down

photo from "Jake Jekyll" myspace.com

Imma Be Down



About me:

“Jake Jekyll im an 18yo whiteboy, ImmA be down ImmA be down ImmA down till im dead in the ground. but im also proud of who i am!!14/88!! got something to say about it send me a message(SeveredTorso)”





In an absolutely nonsensical act, eighteen year old Jacob Robida wreaked havoc on the patrons of a bar in New Bedford, Massachusetts. No one claimed to see it coming. No one thought that Jacob was in trouble. No one believed that he could ever do such a thing. But Jacob was in trouble and Jacob did have it in him.



On Thursday, February 2, 2006, Jacob entered Puzzles Lounge, a gay bar. After showing a phony ID to the bartender Phillip Daggett, Robida asked if this was a gay bar. He drank a Captain Morgan rum on the rocks and ordered another. Dressed all in black, he proceeded toward the back of the room where several people were shooting pool. Alex Taylor had his back to Jacob as the young man pulled a hatchet from the inside of his hooded sweatshirt and buried it in Alex’s back. He then, held Taylor down and gave him another blow to the head.



Pandemonium descended upon the bar where approximately eighteen patrons were enjoying Mariah Carey on the jukebox and being together for a few rounds of brew and pool. As others tried to subdue Jacob, Robert Perry swung a pool stick at him only to have Robida snatch it away as he flailed at Perry hitting him in the back and face with the deadly hatchet. A few patrons tackled Jacob, but he pulled a 9mm and began shooting hitting Perry in the cheek and then in the head. As Luis Rosado came out of the bathroom, he was met with a bullet to the abdomen.



Several people had already called 911 as Jacob drew a bead on the bartender and pulled the trigger. An angel must have been riding on Daggett’s shoulder as all that happened was a “click.” Jacob fled the establishment leaving a trail of blood and trauma behind.


Jaocb Robida lives with his mother who is ill, and siblings. As the police entered his room they found what they termed “Nazi regalia,” as well as anti-Semitic writings on his wall. They had also found what appeared to be a Star of David with a pitchfork pointing to it on the outside wall of the bar.



Further investigation uncovered the fact that Jacob had dropped out of school a couple of years earlier but not before he graduated from the Junior Police Academy in 2001. It wasn’t too surprising that they also found that Jacob had a website at Myspace.com.



Using the name “Jake Jekyll,” Jacob had set up his web presence in slip-shod fashion. However, that presence told an all too familiar tale: “Seig Heil! You are a true comrade

Welcome brother or sister, you have seen the light and are a true comrade...Seig heil 14/88,” reads the welcome.




“Seeing the light,” must not be very illuminating because Jacob Robida failed to see the road he was traveling was one that would only lead to disaster. “Seeing the light,” really didn’t mean much as he wielded his hatchet and his gun. Jacob Robida is but another among so many young people who have been led into the futureless madness of hate and supremacy and now have nothing ahead of them.



Before the blood could dry upon the barroom floor, Bill White was exaggerating the events and saying, “Police are searching for Jacob D. Robida, 18, who is the latest normal American to violently reject the homosexual presence in his community.”



The racist right has never been accused of dealing with reality or a full deck. The many violent acts that have been perpetrated by those indoctrinated with the Nazi ideology are generally forgiven by the members and sometimes applauded. People like Bill White will attempt to explain away these acts of violence while soliciting others to come into the fold.



The real shame in all of this is that the victims and their families will suffer more than we can ever imagine. And young Jacob Robida’s life is over. When he wrote, “I am 75% Metal Head. I was born with the mark of the beast on my forehead and an axe in my arms. I am the god of all things metal! Now if only I could get my parents to give me back my car keys.....,” on his website, I wonder if he knew that the hatred in his heart would take away his future.



Our hearts and prayers go out to all those who have been maimed either physically or emotionally by Jacob’s hate. And our thoughts are with them and their families. When something like this happens we realize that no matter how much headway we make in fighting against this insidious evil, there is so much more to do.

9 comments:

  1. Jacob Robida is still at large.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Given the fact that this blog experienced technical difficulties last night and today, I am going to try to republish some of the comments to the appropriate places.

    This one came from Warren:

    Jake just wandered into the wrong place, the queer bar should've never served a minor.

    I never could've been served in a bar at his age so that concerns me because queer bars seem to be using alcohol to lure children inside. Of course the bar owners are going to say he had a fake ID, that's standard policy for a bar whenever police discover they're serving minors.

    Once Jacob looked around and figured out it was full of fags he asked if it was a gay bar. It's possible he was on his way out. We already know the queers stick together and will lie for one another. Somehow at that point the situation developed into violence involving multiple attackers trying to hold down a lone youth.

    If the Police had not found a swastika on his wall this would be a clear case of self-defense.

    All that has to happen is for an event to fit into your propaganda and all of a sudden it becomes the next big cause. I wonder how many news stations would cover this if it didn't have the swastika element involved. Maybe someone in that bar that illegally serves a minor liquor dropped something in his drink and he freaked out ? I know it's to difficult for you to explore other possibilities because it's so convenient to use this situation to attack whites in general.

    I know people will say if he's innocent he should turn himself in, but I can see already there's no way he would get a fair trial anymore. Even the mayor was out at some gay candle light vigil. I wish Jacob the best of luck and he's innocent until proven guilty in my book.

    Note to Jake : "5 Words, I have nothing to say."

    ReplyDelete
  3. This is from Stefan:
    Before the blood could dry upon the barroom floor, Bill White was exaggerating the events and saying, “Police are searching for Jacob D. Robida, 18, who is the latest normal American to violently reject the homosexual presence in his community.”
    ====

    I stopped by Overthrow the blog and skimmed Bill White’s article and I unearthed something very interesting: ‘The beheaded man is in critical condition.’

    Maybe Bill White made a careless error or tremendous medical advancements have been made. Either way Bill White should stick to Real Estate.

    ReplyDelete
  4. My comment vanished overnight, are you having difficulties with your Blog settings ?

    Here's my take on it, and I posted it to my Blog in case yours is messing up on you, ;)

    http://whitenation.blogspot.com/2006/02/queer-bar-fight-puzzles-police.html

    ReplyDelete
  5. Warren - yeah, all comments made last night and this morning simply did not show up. I'm trying to get as many as possible up now. Thanks.

    ReplyDelete
  6. This one came from Worst Weather Ever:

    found you in google blog search. almost nothing infuriates me like worthless kids like this trying to destory innocent people. disgusting.

    ReplyDelete
  7. This comment came in from Bob Merkin:

    As of Saturday midday the police still hadn't found Robida. They released to the media that in a search of his home, they found a scabbard without its knife; they've been describing him as armed, dangerous and possibly suicidal.

    People of his age who do mega-noisy public things like this typically have nowhere to run and no resources to successfully keep away from the police; most have never traveled very far from home and are even unfamiliar with the mechanics of going very far. He doesn't seem to have access to a car.

    Sadly, I suspect he's trying to commit "suicide by police" -- he wants to end his life, but he wants to lure some panicked, pumped, terrified police officers into actually doing it for him. They don't deserve this any more than the patrons at Puzzles deserved what they got.

    What leaks out as the news agencies try to learn every tiny detail about him on deadline is that he was spontaneously very well liked, even loved by his peers. But clearly he wasn't letting any of them get close enough to be able to see that he was experiencing a temporary hurricane of confusion, unhappiness and loneliness. At 18, panic about his sexual identity probably has a lot to do with the flavor of the way he's chosen to Act Out.

    My wish for him is that he can manage -- despite himself -- to live through the next day or two, and that after he's in custody, the district attorney takes some pity on him and doesn't rush to flush the rest of his life down a prison toilet.

    This was certainly a Hate Crime -- but it all just reeks of a confused boy caught up in an intense storm of Hating Himself. Storms blow over, if you live through them.

    ReplyDelete
  8. He was shot twice in the head - he may not make it. Even if he does, he may not be able to stand trial.

    My heart is very heavy over this tonight. I was going to respond to Warren, but I doubt that would be a very good idea right now.

    This is a tragedy no matter how you look at it. It's just so fucking unnecessary.

    ReplyDelete

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