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■ continued from 1Asaid.Four women living upstairs were moved out by their families, costing the commission about $2,000 in rent payments per month, Reid said. Added to the loss was the cost of hiring private security to guard the premises on City Avenue.Curiously, two broken crosses inside a circle — the recognized peace symbol of the anti-war movement in the 1960s — were included in the graffiti smeared on two doors.Racial messages were penned on the doors.Near the base of one section of the door was scrawled this warning:“I have put a bomb around the (sentence unfinished),” and then, “It will be there tomorrow,” followed by the words, “Bomb, bomb, bomb.”The bomb threat added a new dimension to a wave of racial epithets that started last summer, when similar slogans were spray-painted on vans at the commission’s former location on Vance Drive. A few nights later, Temple Beth El, a Jewish house of worship, was victimized with a large, black swastika.“There hasn’t been any trouble since then, until today,” Reid said.Reid said she doubted the latest outbreak was the work of youths engaged in pranks but rather was performed by racists.“I have a lot of visibility,” she said. “They know that I amblack. It’s a racial matter, period. Some of the staff are real concerned.”Reid said neither she nor any of her staff has received any threats. The director said the city police should have sent in a bomb unit to scour the building.Pack said the city does not have a bomb squad, but a uniformed officer searched the premises and found no sign of an explosive device.“Regardless of what this is, it’s causing us concern,” the detective said. “Of course, we hope it’s just some kid pulling a prank, something stupid. At the least, it’s destruction of property, and it’s stupid.“We hope, like you say, that it’s not a hate crime, something that is organized. But that’s always a possibility until it’s investigated and proven otherwise. We try to investigate for the worst and hope for the best.” Reid vowed that the commission would stay open as usual but planned on “some drastic security measures.” She declined to elaborate.“I’m concerned, but I’m not afraid,” she said. “Eighty-five percent of my staff is white. They don’t understand it, but they don’t want to be intimidated, either.“The thing that gets me is that I know people are not born hating other people. They are taught to hate... It’s amazing to me how people can sit back and teach their children to hate others because of their skin color.”
Newspaper Details
Beckley Register Herald
Beckley, West Virginia, US
Wed, Jan 12, 1994
Page 10
Full Page
Clipped by
Elizabeth G.
AL, USA 29 Jan 2024
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