White man gets prison sentence for ethnic intimidation after years of harassing Black neighbors

May 27, 2018

After years of living in fear and dealing with harassment in Bethlehem Township Pennsylvania from a white neighbor, Antonio and Biafra Baker, who are Black, are finally some justice.

On Friday, a judge sentenced Robert T. Kujawa to two to four years in state prison for stalking, harassment and ethnic intimidation, reports The Morning Call.

“Over the course of many years, Mr. Kujawa robbed this family of their peace,” Judge Jennifer Sletvold said. For years, the Bakers family didn’t feel safe; Kujawa fired a pellet gun at their outdoor lights, fence and patio furniture, as well as displayed Confederate flags facing their home. But it gets worse: Kujawa once hurled racial slurs against Biafra Baker and her eldest son, calling them the n-word.

“I remember they were holding hands,” Biafra Baker told Lehigh Valley Live. “And they said, ‘Mommy what’s going on? Mommy I’m scared.’ …These are things that came from my children.”

Despite installing a security system, the married couple still feared for the safety of their sons and didn’t allow them to play in the yard.

“We just wanted to raise our children,” Biafra Baker said. “We didn’t ask for any of this.”

Kujawa has denied using the n-word and said he has plans to leave Pennsylvania in a couple years following his home’s foreclosure.

“I never intended for it go to this extent,” he said. “I’m really remorseful. I’m really sorry that it got to this point.”

Morning Call reports that only 22 adults were convicted under the ethnic intimidation law in 2014 and 2015, according to data from the Pennsylvania Commission on Sentencing.

Outside of court Friday, Antonio Baker said the past few years have “been hell,” adding that “it has been rough for me and my family to endure this through no fault of our own.”