Local news outlets in Colorado Springs received a shocking email in late April of last year: A photo and video of a burning cross and a campaign sign of mayoral candidate Yemi Mobolade, a native of Nigeria, defaced with the N-word in red spray paint.
“What has this city come to?!” read the email, signed only by “Citizens of Colorado Springs.” This, according to the email, was “another one of their tactics to keep Yemi out.”
The writer then opined on who was likely behind the racist message: supporters of Mobolade’s opponent, center-right Republican Wayne Williams. “Candidate Wayne Williams is pushing hard to win this candidacy and I’m completely appalled by how his following and members are carrying out this nonsense.”
Local TV news ran with the story the next day. “Some of the video in this story may be difficult to watch,” one anchor warned viewers.
“What’s going on in Colorado Springs?” asked a Rocky Mountain NAACP spokesman. “Why is an African American who is running for mayor receiving these types of threats. It’s 2023.”
The Colorado Springs NAACP president said she viewed the racist messaging as an attempt to intimidate voters. “We don’t take this as a hoax,” she told a local Fox reporter.
It was a hoax, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, which charged three local activists this week with using instruments of interstate commerce to convey false information and “to intimidate someone by means of fire,” according to charging documents.
This latest alleged hate-crime hoax was perpetrated just four years after former Empire star Jussie Smollett famously staged a hate crime against himself, claiming in January 2019 that he was attacked by two men in Chicago who used racist and homophobic slurs and declared the deep-blue Windy City to be “MAGA country.”
In Colorado Springs, Derrick Bernard Jr. (aka Phoenixx Ugrilla), 35; Ashley Danielle Blackcloud, 40; and Deanna Crystal West (aka Vital Sweetz and Sage West), 38, are accused of conspiring to stage the phony hate crime and then alerting the media to prop up Mobolade’s ultimately successful campaign. Bernard, who communicated with Mobolade several times before and after the election, also seemed to expect to benefit from the effort, texting Blackcloud on the day of the runoff election to apply for a city job because, he wrote, “I want favors quicker than later.”
According to the indictment, Bernard, Blackcloud, and West were all affiliated with a nonprofit multi-media outlet, Family Flavors the Slide World Broadcast Network, which is dedicated to “Activism, Community, & FAMILY!!” according to an online profile.
The indictment indicates that Bernard hatched the plan to stage the hoax hate crime the day after the April 4, 2023 mayoral election, which sent Mobolade and Williams to a runoff. He texted Blackcloud, saying he wanted to talk “in person” and that “Ima just talk to you bout a few plans.”
He would later tell Blackcloud in Facebook messages that Mobolade “really won already” and that the runoff was only being held “bc they ain’t tryna let an African win.”
“I can’t let the klan retake the city,” he wrote, according to the indictment.
In mid-April, Bernard also sent Mobolade a Facebook message: “I know it’s crunch time sir but look … I spoke with some of my friends in other places and theirs [sic] a plot amidst … I’m mobilizing my squadron in defense and for the final push. Black ops style big brother. The klan cannot be allowed to run this city again.”
Between 2:30 a.m. and 3:30 a.m. on April 23, 2023, Bernard, Blackcloud, and West worked together to deface the campaign sign with red spray paint, set the cross on fire, and film it on an iPhone 13, according to the indictment. Authorities later found a red spray paint can in the passenger compartment of Blackcloud’s car, the indictment says.
Around 7:30 p.m. that night, Bernard texted Mobolade “I guarantee the finish.” A little over an hour later, Blackcloud and West drove to the parking lot of a large retail store, used the store’s wi-fi, and created a new Gmail account. That account was then used to email a photo and video of the defaced sign and burning cross to local media, nonprofits, government officials, Mobolade’s campaign, and to their own media group.
At about 10:55 p.m. that night, Bernard spoke with Mobolade on the phone for about five minutes, according to the indictment.
In a statement at the time to local media, Mobolade said he didn’t know if the images were real or “staged/created.” “Either way, it’s reprehensible.”
On May 16, 2023, Mobolade, a businessman, pastor, and political independent, won the election with 57 percent of the vote, routing Williams, a city councilman and former secretary of state. Bernard texted him that day, congratulating him, adding that “we got you through it all brother” and “Another time though, we’ll handle business.”
In a prepared statement to National Review, Mobolade denied knowledge or involvement in the alleged crime.
“That incident during my campaign led to a very traumatic time for my family, my campaign team, and our community,” he wrote. “My knowledge and interaction with Bernard was as a local media personality, and I was not aware at the time that he was suspected of this crime. I appreciate local and federal law enforcement’s work in pursuing justice and sending a message that we will not tolerate such reprehensible behavior.”
Williams told the Denver Post that the phony hate crime “illustrates how far some will go to spread election disinformation.”
Court records indicate that, if convicted, Bernard, Blackcloud, and West could face up to ten years in prison and fines of up to $250,000.
But even if Bernard isn’t convicted for his involvement in staging the hate crime, it appears unlikely that he’ll be a free man again any time soon.
Last week he was convicted of three counts of murder for ordering an accomplice to kill a local rapper in 2019, according to the Colorado Springs Gazette. Bernard, who represented himself in court was sentenced to life in prison.
Bernard was in prison at the time of the killing on weapons convictions. Prosecutors had jailhouse phone calls of him plotting the killing with his accomplice and discussing the aftermath, according to the Gazette.
The Family Flavors the Slide media company, which Bernard founded, has called him a First Amendment hero and said he was framed.
“This is a retaliation for his uncensored and unapologetic, journalism and broadcasting in this city, exposing corrupt public officials and standing up for the people,” an October Facebook post said. “The real evil WILL BE EXPOSED.”