this is "nightline." >> tonight, an 8-year-old leaving the house to play, later rushed to the hospital with scars around his neck. >> i never would have thought that it would have come to my son being lynched. >> strangled by a rope, tied to a tree. why his mother says this was a racial attack. but the other parents say it was child's play gone horribly wrong. the police response adding to the outrage. plus candidate cowboy. the gun-toting, horse-riding, ten commandment-hanging outsider. judge roy moore scoring a win in the alabama senate primary that saw a party at war with itself. >> they think you're a pack of morons. they think you're nothing but rubes. >> steve bannon siding against a trump-backed candidate.

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good evening. thanks for joining us. tonight a small new hampshire community is reeling after a disturbing incident. an 8-year-old boy who's biracial

injured in what his family is calling an attempted lynching. was it an accident? reckless teens playing with a rope? or was it, as the boy's family suspects, a racially motivated attack? abc's linsey davis takes us inside this "american flash point." >> reporter: with that signature smile and boundless energy, this is how cassandra likes to picture her son. now when she clothes her eyes she has nightmares. >> i never in a million years would have thought it would come to my son nearly being lynched. >> reporter: she says the unthinkable happened to her biracial son at the hands of neighborhood kids last month. >> it's always been attempted murder in my eyes. >> reporter: these photos show the deep wounds the rope left on her child's throat. they went viral, outraging the public and bringing national attention to little quincy's case. he was only 8 years old at the time. how would you describe how you feel about it? >> very shocked. it's a pretty intense thing to try to swallow as a mom.

>> reporter: especially now, in 2017. several hundred miles north of the mason-dixon line. in an industrial hamlet in the western part of new hampshire called clairmont. quincy lives in this house here. the incident happened two doors down at this house on the corner. cassandra didn't want her son to be interviewed yet so we sit on the steps where she tells us the story she says he told her. it happened at the end of august, right before school started. she says her son was playing with some neighborhood boys and his older sister iana. she says they were horsing around, then the older boys started playing with the rope from a tire swing. >> they continued to pretend like they were hanging themselves. then they told quincy it was his turn to get up on the table and told him to tie the rope around his neck. he tied it around his neck, one of the older boys came from behind and pushed him off the picnic table. my daughter started screaming. quincy was kicking his feet and grabbing his neck, she said. >> reporter: eventually he was

able to swing his legs back onto the picnic table and free himself. he was airlifted to dartmouth hitch mock medical center where he was treated for injuries. cassandra says she's certain the incident was racially motivated. >> they've called him the "n" word at one point in time. made remarks about how he should be white. >> how did the police respond? >> at first they told me quincy's story matched up with the boys' stories, that maybe it was an accident. >> reporter: she didn't think police were doing enough, so three weeks after the incident, cassandra took to facebook. >> racism is still so alive, that things like this happen in a little old mill town in new hampshire. >> reporter: her 20-minute facebook live ignited a firestorm on social media. #clamemont trending, with people calling for the police and town officials to act faster. police chief mark chase says the criticism wasn't justified. >> any time we respond to an initial call, our preliminary goal is to figure out what

happened, immediately becomes an investigation. >> you said of the juvenile suspects, these people need to be protected, mistakes they made as young children should not have to follow them for the rest of their life. would you change that, take it back? >> i've maintained with any media that i have spoken to that i wouldn't speak about the facts of the case, other than confirming the injury. everything in the juvenile justice system is set up to hopefully protect those juveniles that are involved in the juvenile system from ever being in the adult system. >> reporter: but he adds the victim is always his primary concern. now the new hampshire department of justice has join the investigation into whether a hate crime occurred. but quincy's grandmother, laurie slattery, has come to her own conclusions. >> i'm going to get my grandchildren through this. >> reporter: now more than a month later, she's still so distraught about what happened to quincy and his sister, she's barely able to get the words out. >> they're not well. at all.

i don't know what to say, i'm sorry. >> reporter: in an interview with "newsweek" magazine, the parents of one of the boys allegedly involved say that what happened to quincy was child's play gone horribly wrong. that their son never pushed him. so my son jumped onto this bench and then my son went grr and the boy jumped, they claim their son tried to help quincy and he's been so upset he's having night terrors. they're adamant that racism had nothing to do with it, noting they have black people in their immediate family. i've never heard him say anything about race at all. abc news reached out to the family but they declined to comment further. but there's no doubt this incident has struck a chord. people traveled to clamemont from all over new england gathering for a rally and condemning hate. >> you see a young person of color with a rope around their neck, you can't help but be reminded of all the tactics that were used to try to control and intimidate the african-american community. ♪ black bodies swinging >> reporter: it's been nearly 80

years since billie holiday famously sang the protest song -- ♪ strange fruit hanging >> reporter: strange fruit, a metaphor about how commonplace it was to lynch blacks in the south in the 1960s as african-americans fought for civil rights. groups like the ku klux klan went on fiery rampages. they burned crosses and hanging was often their method of choice. today advocacy groups like the anti-defamation league say there's been a surge of hate crimes around new england and across the country, especially since the election. >> this is what wakefield high school students arrived to on campus, a black teddy bear hanging by a noose. >> reporter: according to the southern poverty law center, there were nearly 1,900 bias incidents from november to march, nearly 16% of which are anti-black motivated and often carried out with a noose. what about for young people today, in 2017? where would they even get the idea to do something like this? >> even though a young person

may not be cognizant necessarily of the fill historical context, they may have stumbled across on the internet or among friends images or language that hearken back to those days. we need to be really careful about this because just dismissing this as kids being kids i think is a little naive. >> are you scared for your children's safety? >> now i am. i don't even let them go out anymore. >> reporter: cassandra says quincy, though physically better, is still traumatized by what he experienced. >> he's saying, what's different about me? i try to explain, it's not you, it's that some people are clearly rather ignorant. >> i believe this event happened in new england because racism exists across our country. >> reporter: dr. middleton goodwin is the school superintendent. while he says the boy who allegedly pushed quincy isn't in the same district, he says the issue is still his responsibility. >> we as society have some

choices to make. do we turn our back on it because it doesn't happen a lot? or do we acknowledge that perhaps this is the tip of the iceberg? >> reporter: that night across town goodwin and other community members gathered for a conversation about racial justice. >> this is about how do we come together as a community? >> reporter: coming to grips with a lingering prejudice that some thought no longer exists. >> history was taught to me as if we were the good guys, the north won, and anything below the mason-dixon line were the bad guise. and it's just not that cut and cry. >> reporter: for amy cousins and her biracial children, the news only confirms their unfortunate reality. >> this is nothing new to us. >> reporter: 10-year-old adia says she saw herself in quincy. >> i got really scared and i want to feel safe but sometimes i just can't. it doesn't make me feel free even though america is a free place. >> reporter: for cassandra, a white mom with brown kids, this is her new normal. one she's still grappling with.

she hopes the kids involved in the incident with her son get help. >> i do feel like counseling is one of my biggest things for that child. i do feel like maybe some time in juvenile detention center. >> how you're staying so calm in all of this. >> i don't have a choice. most days i want to break down and just kind of let it all go. but i can't because i have to keep fighting the fight for them. >> reporter: but with the support of a big community, they're starting to heal. a go fund me for the family raised more than $50,000 nationwide. and they've been invited to visit quincy's favorite football team. >> he's so excited. so excited. they'd offered to fly us out there for a game. and they sent quincy a big package in the mail with a bunch of stuff for him tort game. >> reporter: a small salve for a child whose scars might stay with him forever. linsey davis in new hampshire. meet the newest candidate for senate and the horse he rode

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but don't wait, it ends soon.

it seemed all eyes were on alabama yesterday as the cowboy candidate roy moore claimed victory. even without the support of president trump. now could this gun-toting, horse-riding conservative favorite be on his way to the senate? here's abc's david wright. >> reporter: the man who hopes to become alabama's next u.s. senator, judge roy moore, rode to victory tuesday. his white stetson hat straight out of central casting. >> i believe in the second

amendment. >> reporter: the righteous cowboy. ready for a day of reckoning. >> we've got to go back to god. we've got to go back to a moral base. >> reporter: some of president trump's most ardent supporters see moore as their type of guy. >> a vote for judge roy moore is a vote for donald j. trump. >> reporter: donald trump himself, not so much. he endorsed the other guy. >> on tuesday, we're going to send a real fighter and a real good guy from alabama to the united states senate. >> reporter: moore first made national headlines back in the early 2000s when he installed this giant statue of the ten commandments in the rotunda of the alabama state supreme courthouse. >> i have acknowledged god as the moral foundation of our law. it's my duty. >> reporter: a decision that ran afoul of a series of federal courts. >> we've allowed the

acknowledgement of god to be taken from us because three lawyers walked in this building and are offended in looking at god's word. >> reporter: "nightline" follow the issue for years. >> after the case went all the way to the u.s. supreme court, the monument was finally removed and justice moore was ultimately fired. >> reporter: moore later was re-elected to the state supreme court. but he defied the federal courts again on the issue of same-sex marriage. he'd use hoview homosexuality a sinful. >> it is immoral, defined by the law as detestable, against the law in most states before the supreme court in texas said it wasn't -- >> reporter: a c-span2 all places. that led to this spirited debate. >> where in the constitution do you find any support for your position that you can outlaw certain kinds of sexual activity which you don't approve of. >> i find no support in the

constitution to authorize sodomy in our law. >> roy moore operates on the fringes of american politics. even in the trump era he is out there with views far more conservative than most of his potential colleagues in the senate, far to the right of even people in alabama. >> reporter: moore's opponent, luther strange, a former washington lobbyist seen by some of the president's own supporters as a creature from the swamp trump promised to drain. i spoke with abc news political director rick kline. why did he back luther strange? >> two theories circulating. one is trump just wanted to do it. he felt this guy's been loyal to him, why not, got pressure from mitch mcconnell. the other is he was thinking about governing for a change, wasn't just thinking about politics. saying, who is going to go in there and vote for the things that i want done? >> reporter: to the many who rallied behind the trump train -- >> this isn't a campaign, this is a movement. >> reporter: the choice here was obvious. they did not want to go with the candidate anointed by the establishment in washington.

>> they have no interest at all in what you have to say, what you have to think, or what you want to do. >> reporter: in fact, both republicans claim to be trump's heirs. >> the problem is, president trump's being cut off in his office. he's being redirected by people like mcconnell. who do not support his agenda. >> reporter: today in the aftermath of this political setback, the president started deleting his tweets for luther strange. trump sought to spin moore's victory as great news. >> well, we have a man who's going to be a great senator. and i -- i'm very happy with that. >> reporter: the results left luther strange politely scratching his head. >> i'm telling you. the seas, the political seas, the political winds in this country are very hard to navigate. >> there's a theory that says this is going to work well for donald trump because he never really wanted to build up the republican party, he had no interest in keeping the establishment intact, he wants to blow things up. >> reporter: judge moore made it

clear there's no hard feelings on his side. >> together we can make america great. we can support the president. >> reporter: he pledged to support the president's agenda. but added a potentially significant caveat. >> as long as it's constitutional. but we have to return the knowledge of god and the constitution of the united states to the united states congress. >> roy moore is going to have considerable sway as someone that is a thought leader on the conservative side and someone who controls a critical vote. >> he doesn't have the job just yet. come december, judge moore will face democrat doug jones, a contest that's sure to be a showdown. i'm david wright for "nightline" in new york. up next, remembering the ultimate playboy. hugh hefner, dead at 91. hey, are you taking the tissue test?

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finally tonight, the passing of a cultural icon. hugh hefner, the founder of "playboy" magazine, reshaped american sexual mores. hefner died today at age 91 of natural causes. hugh hefner was the ultimate playboy, hosting wild parties at his mansion, in his trademark robe and pajamas, surrounded by a harem of young women, celebrities, and always the aura of sex. >> they throw a good party. >> reporter: for hefner the partied started in 1953 in chicago with the first issue of "playboy" magazine. it featured a nude photo of marilyn monroe and was an instant success. hefner saw himself as the pamphleteer of the sexual revolution, its host. >> hello, there. glad you could join us this evening. >> reporter: the magazine led to tv shows and an entire playboy

empire. key clubs featuring waitresses wearing revealing bunny costumes. in the '70s head of they was attacked by feminists for exploiting women. >> playboy exploits sex like "sports illustrated" exploits sports. >> reporter: moods changed. profits dropped. by 1988 hefner closed the last club, turned over control of the still-profitable magazine to daughter christie. a year later he seeped ready to change his bachelor ways. >> i, hugh hefner -- >> reporter: hefner's marriage to a former playmate resulted in two sons. after eight years it ended. in the mid 70s touting viagra, hefner took on seven girlfriends, all in their 20s. several starring in a reality tv show. ♪ i'm gonna give you candy >> reporter: in 2012, at 86, hefner settled down again, marrying 26-year-old crystal harris. >> my age has changed. the women i'm attracted to have

not changed. >> reporter: hefner has been immortalized in wax. and in the pages of his magazine. asked once what he was most proud of, he said that he changed america's attitude toward sex. he will no doubt be missed. thanks for watching abc news. as always, we're online at abcnews.com and our "nightline" facebook page. good night, america. >> there are a few ways you can get your hands on $1 million these days: rob a bank, win the lottery, or you can come on this show and crush it. are you ready? it's time to play "who wants to be a millionaire." [dramatic music] ♪ [cheers and applause] welcome. you guys ready to play "who wants to be a millionaire"? [cheers and applause]

so is this guy, our returning contestant, a chemistry teacher from new york, new york. please welcome back rich templeton. good to have you. >> all right. great to see you, man. great to see you. >> last we saw you in a different shirt, you were at $7,000. >> yes. yes. >> that is in the bank. you are eight questions away from $1 million. you still have two lifelines remaining, "ask the audience" and your "50/50." are you ready to continue your game? >> i'm ready to go, chris. >> good luck to you. >> thank you. >> let's play "who wants to be a millionaire." [dramatic musical flourish] ♪ right away, the chance to get to five figures. $10,000 question is on the board. in 1967, when carl stokes became the first black mayor of a major u.s. city, "the plain dealer" called what the most "sophisticated city on the face of the earth"?