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Cross burning terrifies Arroyo Grande family

March 18, 2011

By KAREN VELIE

A mother is terrified after finding a cross burning outside her 19-year-old African American daughter’s bedroom window in Arroyo Grande at about 12:30 a.m. on Friday.

Hearing banging and fearing someone was breaking into her car, the daughter went out onto the porch to look around. When she saw no one, she went back into her bedroom, got into her bed and turned out the light.

A few moments later, directly in view of her bed, she saw an 11-foot cross fully engulfed in flames.

The family, which has lived in the area for 10 years, is not being named to protect their privacy.

The cross had been stolen from St. John’s Lutheran Church in Arroyo Grande on March 1. The cross, originally hand made for a production of Jesus Christ Superstar, was bolted down in the church parking lot before it was stolen.

Police are investigating the incident as a hate crime.

Arroyo Grande Police Chief Steven Annibali personally went by the victims’ home providing his cell number for the victims to call, after 911, if another incident occurs.

Photo courtesy of KSBY

 


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This is completely unacceptable! The culprits of this act are complete idiots and need to be held accountable. I feel for this family.


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We cannot allow this kind of hateful behavior in our county. I am so sorry that this family (and indirectly every single African-American in the county) has been subjected to this ignorant act. It’s time for the people (especially the “white people”) of SLO County to stand up and be counted, and show everyone that we aren’t like that. All the churches, service clubs, and schools of this county should mobilize a campaign to push back against this hatred. I would suggest distributing yard signs and buttons that say something like “Crossburning is Ignorant and Hateful”. Then that family could see the solidarity of decent people in the county with them.


I am ashamed of us.


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Me……What? I agree with you this act was ignorant and hateful and whoever did it should pay for it.


What I don’t get is your “great white guilt”. I would hope the family is not as ignorant as you think they are and already know that all white people are not ignorant hateful cross-burning thugs.


Your comment “I am ashamed of us” is wierd. I am white, are you ashamed of me then becuase you assume a group of white people did this to this family? No white people I know personally would ever do anything like that. Hell, no black, hispanic or asian people I know would either.


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Hi slojo,


I’m afraid you misunderstood what I meant when I said I was ashamed of “us”. I wasn’t referring to white people, I was referring to SLO County. I live in SLO County, and this story could go nationwide, with other parts of the country getting a really bad opinion of us.


I am not ashamed of being white–it’s just a privilege in this culture.


And I’m not ashamed of you either.

:-)

Me


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Well, I am not ashamed of SLO County…..I’m not sure what you mean by that either. If you feel ashamed, it means you feel “guilt”. I don’t feel a bit guilty for something someone else does……..


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Interestingly, guilt and shame are two very different emotions with very different causes and responses. Guilt is imposed on you from the outside. You feel guilty when you do not meet the standards held for you by others. Feelings of guilt often leads to people lashing out defensively rather than trying to make a real change because deep down inside they may resent the imposition of the standards and don’t like being made to feel wrong. Shame is a much more important and healthy emotion because it comes from the inside. A person feels shame when they do not meet the standards they hold for themselves. Shame, when acknowledged, almost always leads to positive change because they person realizes they have to make the change to live with themselves, not for anyone else.


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This is the act of a group, not just one person. Someone out there knows and is feeling guilt. Come clean and tell, even if you do it anonymously. This has to be solved or it will be a unhealed wound for all of us.


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Wow. What could they have been thinking? Why target this girl and this family? And why vandalize a church on top of it all? Clearly some sickos, whoever they are. Gotta say, if they got caught (and I sure hope they do), they are “…in a heap of trouble, boy!” Vandalism, terrorist threat, hate crime enhancement…..


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Poor girl, must have been terrifying. There are some really scr@wed up people out there.


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Absolutely Ridicules!


Let’s hope that Arroyo Grande Police Chief Steven Annibali directs the full resources of his department to leave no lead unturned until these idiots are brought to justice and publicly exposed for all to know.


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It’s time for a lynching!! It’s time to find the assholes who did this and string them up!!!!! There is NO excuse for this kind of crap. What the hell. Did I go back to the 40’s-60’s?


I say leave no stone unturned till we find them. If someone knows them, turn them in.


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March 31st, 1886 was the date of the last hanging in Arroyo Grande. Once every 124 years might be an appropriate frequency.


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Theres a reason this is called…. SLO..county.


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WOW!!What century is this? That $hit went out with bellbottom pants. Very strange!!


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…. “bell bottom pants”…


This your comment on this horrific act?


YOU are very strange!


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Seems racism never goes out of style…


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