Hundreds gather for a prayer vigil at Roxboro Road near Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway, the scene of one of Wednesday night's cross burnings. (The Herald-Sun/Bernard Thomas)
Kate and I attended two of the vigils last night in response to the
cross burnings in our town.
We first swung by the site of the one that occurred closest to our house, at
South Roxboro near Martin Luther King, Jr. Pkwy. around 8:30 PM.
There was a stream of cars and people lining the sidewalk near the area where the cross was placed. It was a ballsy location; right on an open construction site within a subdivision.
Kate snapped these shots of the crowd in south Durham.
After that, we drove to the vigil for the burning at St. Luke's, which was held at Oval Park, nestled between two progressive neighborhoods,
Old West Durham and
Watts-Hillandale. I used to live in OWD, and I met up with some of my former neighbors, including
John Schelp, president of the neighborhood association, and organizer of this vigil. About 250 people participated here.
John Schelp; folks that gathered at Oval Park
I also ran into
JOyODurham (below), a Daily Kos diarist that
posted on the vigils; she brought a sign (below). My DKos diary is
here.
One completely baffling aspect of some of the reporting about this that I came across, both in a report in the afternoon on public radio, and below in today's
Durham Herald-Sun story, is a struggle by both the reporters and those interviewed to find a racial, teen prank, or local school board politics connection to the placement of these crosses -- really just about anything else except a possible message of intolerance toward gays. In neither case do they
even mention the
Westboro Baptist Church members'
recent visit to picket the Durham School of the Arts production of
The Laramie Project and several gay-accepting churches in the area,
including St. Luke's Episcopal -- where a burning cross was actually found. I'm no Sherlock Holmes, but come on people, at least the
first Herald-Sun story by Eric Olsen had quotes from Bill Gutknecht, senior warden at St. Luke's, who brought up this possibility.
While burning a cross has a direct historical racial and religious intimidation connection, I think it's safe to say that given the tense politics about the marriage amendment in the state, and no historical highly recognizable symbolic way to get the public's attention about intolerance to gays, a cross burning is an easy way to get your point about an objection to
diversity of all types across. The fliers left at one site don't give much of a clue; they seem to have some reference to gang activity and the KKK, but don't make much sense either, given the locations of the burning crosses. (
Herald-Sun):
...Durham residents were shaken by the news that three flaming crosses were found in the Bull City on Wednesday night. Almost 600 gathered at three vigils Thursday night to protest the burnings.
Although authorities have not pinpointed a motive for the burnings, many residents see them as an attack on the diversity they say attracts them to the city. Community and religious leaders swiftly organized the three candlelight vigils to demonstrate they would not be intimidated by the symbols that some called "domestic terrorism."
Nearly 100 people gathered downtown and planted a crape myrtle tree at the site where one 7-foot cross burned the night before. "We feel like we were victims" said the Rev. Ryon Price, a white 28-year-old who attended the vigil with his black wife, Irie. "Regardless of motive, we feel we are victims of a hateful act."
In southwestern Durham, about 225 people gathered at a construction site on South Roxboro Street, just north of Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway, where a cross was extinguished by firefighters the night before. Some of them prayed and others spoke about what the incidents meant to them.
"We are here together as a community and we will not let someone tear us apart with hatred," said Donna Kornegay, who brought her two young daughters to teach them what race means to some people. "I will not relinquish my power to those who hate me."
The city Human Relations Department is planning a larger communitywide unity rally for next week. Yvonne Peña, who heads the department, said it's important to coordinate an event catering to all backgrounds. "The message is, 'We will not accept this kind of activity whatsoever,' " said Peña, who canceled her vacation after hearing about the incident so she could be involved in the investigation. "We're a diverse community and we're striving to overcome racial barriers."
On Thursday, the Durham Human Relations Commission met to brainstorm on whom to contact to help organize the citywide rally. The plan is to bring community leaders together Sunday to decide where to hold the rally and how to get the word out to black residents who were offended by the incidents. Most of the people who attended the vigils were white. "You're going to have to do it in a place that is not in an entity that is threatening to anyone," advised Jackie Wagstaff, a black Durham school board member who attended a meeting of the Religious Coalition for a Nonviolent Durham with Peña.
The flaming 7-foot crosses found Wednesday have left Durham residents speculating why they were put up. Some black residents have suggested the burning crosses are a result of a proposal to change the way school board members are elected -- though fliers left at the site of one cross burning mention Durham gangs and say "gangbangers ? will answer" to the KKK.
The election proposal -- being pushed by a group called Concerned Citizens for Accountable Government and the Durham Regional Association of Realtors -- would change the current setup, which ensures minority representation on the seven-member board by setting aside three areas with black majorities. The change calls for letting all registered voters cast ballots for every seat on the school board. It's a change that opponents say could diminish black representation. "The whole idea of changing the school board and the way it's been proposed creates a space for people to be saying 'white power,' " said Theresa El-Amin, director of the Southern Anti-Racism Network.
She said she cried when she was told about the cross burnings and said she hoped it was "some kind of cruel and little silly joke." Civil Rights investigator Stella Adams, who heads the N.C. Fair Housing Center, said<font color=red> there is no evidence the flaming crosses were planted in response to the proposed changes, even though "that's what the African-American community feels."
Although the cross lit at Peachtree Place and Holloway Street was relatively near the Durham Public Schools headquarters, Adams said the two other crosses appeared to have no relationship to the school system.
Others have suggested high schools students may have set the crosses ablaze as part of a graduation prank. It's a suggestion that Jordan High School's senior class president Kristin Cunningham doesn't believe. "I think the younger generation is generally better about respecting each other's differences anyhow," Cunningham said a few minutes before walking into her graduation ceremony Thursday night at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
City Manager Patrick Baker said the incidents do not help the city's reputation, but that he did not want "to read anything into the event. "I don't think this is a reflection of the values of the community," Baker said. "Durham has always embraced the diversity of this community and I think this is sort of an anomaly."
Despite the fliers' reference to the KKK, the national director of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan said Thursday that his organization did not have a hand in the incidents. "I'm confident they'll find this was either perpetrated by some small kid or, most likely, by some kind of minority who is trying to create sympathy for whatever cause he may feel like he had," said Thomas Robb, who is based out of Harrison, Ark.
News and Observer coverage of the vigils is
here (it doesn't mention the gay hate crime possibility either).
*I didn't see it, but I heard that
Mayor Bill Bell was interviewed on
MSNBC's Countdown with Keith Olbermann. The story did
make the Countdown list last night, but the
transcript isn't up yet.
The knuckle-dragging beasts of Freeperland have plenty to say about Durham and the cross-burning, most of it is ignorant or just plain wrong. Here, you wade in the filth...
Actual Freeper Quotes™
"These burnt crosses smell like hoax."
"When I read "Durham" and "cross-burnings" I thought a hoax might be afoot too. I have a lot of relatives in Durham - second cousins and whatnot - but I'm glad my grandfather decided to buy a farm out in Nash County so many years ago."
"Who of us is to judge who isn't on the scene?"
"These burnt crosses smell like hoax. Based on recent history (and by recent, I mean the past 15 or 20 years) that's the only informed conclusion to draw until proven otherwise. I'm sure we'll be told that the perpatrators, when caught, "Just wanted to call attention to the racism that already exists in the area.""
"If they are a hoax, what should be done with the people who did it? If they aren't a hoax, what should be done with the people who did it?"
"Being that 99 out of 100 "hate crimes" reported on the news and in the paper later turn out to be hoaxes, the odds are heavily in favor of this one being a hoax as well."
""At the same time, callers to 911 reported another cross burning near Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. and South Roxboro Street.""
"I find it somewhat difficult to believe that some white guys could pull off something like this on any MLK without being thoroughly thrashed in the process. They also left KKK literature? For whom? The (probably) black residents? Either this was the balsiest retarted stunt in history or a hoax."
"There are a lot of people out there with outright rabid hatred towards Christians these days. They seem everywhere these days. You know. Islamofascists. Atheists. ACLU types. And of course skin head types, too. Differing in opinions or approaches perhaps, but all essentially heading to the same place where there will be plenty of fire alright but no crosses for sure. Just my hunch."
"You're definitely right about that. It's just that when you hear one of these text book type hate crimes (burning cross, "Nickel" scrawled on a door, etc.) that so many times it turns out to be a fake. The Christian college in Illinois a couple of weeks ago, the army barracks, the lesbians burning their own home down..."
"Possibly perpetuated by the wholly corrupt and unredemable Durham government itself to deflect attention."
"Durham is a cesspool of black racism and cronyism. Will be interesting to see how this plays out...."
"Well yes but it was at a time when blacks were intimidated by whites. Now a days if a bunch of yahoos in a pickup showed up in a black neighborhood to burn a cross I think the local black residents would have a field day with their sorry butts."
"I smell something rotten in Durham too. Sure, I agree, be good to get the facts. And the facts might, par usual, show up three weeks down the road on newsprint page C-15 in an obscure corner. What has happened most recently in Durham. Three minority youths shooting and killing a Pakistani convenience clerk during what appears to be a gang-initiation. Black Leadership demanding more money for black youth programs. Taxpayer dollars. What's big in Durham: gangs and drug activity. My gut reaction to the news was twofold: Which of the gangs is fighting for turf; and who is trying to "unite" the gangs under a "minority" flag. No matter who did this, whatever their reasons or their ethnicity, my response is: To hell with 'em."
"There is a problem in NC with black subculture. You can see it all the time in print and news: mostly black inmate gangs working alongside the highways. Most black-on-black crime mugshots shown on the news. There is A definite problem in NC. Screaming "white racism" is not a productive answer. The problems and causes are far more complex. Bill Cosby is trying to address this; the Drug Task Force is trying to address this; Anti-Gang task forces are trying to address this; Homeland security is trying to address this; Clergy are trying to address this; local leaders are too. But shrieking "racism" is just tomfoolery. It perpetuates fears and problems, resolving NOTHING."
"NAACP donations must be down...."
"Let's imagine: a dozen or so pickup trucks pull up on Martin Luther King Boulevard in Harlem and thirty sheeted rednecks pile out, haul the wooden cross out of the back of one, soak it with gasoline, stand it up, form a neat little circle and light it...How long would this go on? How far would this ceremony get? That's essentially what they're claiming happened in Durham."
"Absoloutely, but primarily in somewhat rural areas and mostly many years ago, pre-Civil Rights era. I'm just saying that for a group of white racists to go downtown to MLK, in a relatively densely poplated urban area to do this, was to take their lives in their own hands. I was born and raised in the South and still live here. I'm not sure I would be safe walking down our MLK, much less planting a burning cross there."
"Speaking of hate crimes and NC. What ever happened with the "hate crime" of the gay male who supposedly got beat up for being gay on Franklin Street in Chapel Hill fairly recently? After the initial report I have not heard a single thing."
"I'm not saying it wasn't the KKK(pretty much non-existant these days) but it seems a stretch for me. Either way, it's a heinous crime whose perpetrators should be punished to the full extent of the law, whatever their race."
"With the exception of the one downtown, these are fairly upscale neighborhoods (both by country clubs, too). They are all suspiciously close to Duke University and hospital. That and the fact they lit one by the news studio leads me to believe this is some kind of college activist stunt."
"FWIW, MLK and Roxboro is fairly close to, but not in, a black section of Durham. Its acutally on the north edge of the Woodcroft area, which is a huge upper-middle class section of Durham. Its not like the perps were doing this in downtown Harlem. Also, they weren't that proximate to Duke or the hospital. 3-4 miles at the closest, and Durham isn't all that big. Bottom line, this wasn't the KKK."
"Yeah, it's almost directly in front of the city work's yard (where the city workers park all their shovels when they're not leaning on them) and also the city pumps where all the police come to refuel their cars. The local talk show host is speculating that in light of all the corruption stories involving city officials, this might be astaged event to draw heat away from them."
"Thanks for the locale info. I agree with the above statement. I have been doing some reasearch on them today and they really do barely exist. The Spice Girls are a more cohesive group than the KKK. Their recruiters (all 5 of them) have hotmail and yahoo email address. Members are shunned and mostly unemployed and even the Grand Wizard has to keep a day job because they have zero funds. They are more of a joke now than at any time in history."
"Also happens to whites that sell homes to blacks, etc. in white neighborhoods. I know. It happened to my family when I was a kid. We sold a house to a Muslim family and when we moved into our new house not a week went by before we had a cross burning in the front yard."
"It figures that the mudslums would burn a cross in their own front yard upon their arrival to the civilized world. The police shouldn't even respond to these hoaxes. It is a waste of taxpayer money."
My original DKos post: Crosses burned in Durham, NC.
(Cross-posted at Pam's House Blend and Big Brass Blog)