Yeah, that's been told in a few places. This is what La Toya wrote in her book:
"Trouble seemed to stalk him. Ironically, my brother's most terrifying encounter was with someone who didn't even know who he was. He and Mother were visiting her mother and stepfather in Alabama, accompanied by Bill Bray. Michael and Bill went driving one afternoon, and stopped at a gas station. While Bill used the restroom, Michael browsed in a small shop next door. When Bill came out, he was surprised to find Michael gone. "Where are you, Joker?" he called out, using his pet name for my brother.
Suddenly he heard "Help! Help!" It was Michael, yelling from inside the store. Bursting through the door, Bill saw my brother curled up on the floor and a white man kicking him viciously in the head and stomach, screaming with blood-curdling venom, "I hate all of you! I hate you!" Over and over and he called Michael a ni**er.
Bill, a tall, middle-aged black, subdued the attacker and helped up Michael, who was crying and bleeding from several deep cuts. "What's going on?" he demanded.
"He tried to steal a candy bar!" the man claimed, pointing at my brother. "I saw him put something in his pocket!"
"No I didn't!" Michael protestd.
"Yes you did."
"Wait a minute," Bill said skeptically. "He doesn't even like candy, and he doesn't steal. Why would he steal a candy bar?"
It was obvious then that Michael's attacker had no idea who he was. As far as he was concerned, this was just another black person- another ni**er- to abuse. Bill rushed Michael to a local hospital to have his cuts and bruises tended to.
Mother called us from Alabama to tell us what had happened, and we all creid in anger and sadness. How could this kind of thing still happen? If Bill hadn't been with Michael, he might have been killed. Jermaine was livid, threatening to fly to Alabama and take the law into his own hands. It took some time to persuade him that vigilantism was no way to handle the matter.
Instead, a lawsuit was filed against the store owner. Two girls standing outside had witnessed the beating, and one offered to testify on Michael's behalf. We felt very strongly that racial violence must be stopped, but, unfortunately, justice did not prevail in this case. The racist harbored no regrest. In fact, discovering that the black man he'd assaulted was a celebrity only inflamed his hatred. Now he threated to kill Michael. Bill convinced us that this person was mad, that the threat was quite serious, and that it was better for everyone to drop the action. None of us was happy about this, but there really was no other choice."
