The Moncton Times and Transcript
Front Page Tuesday, July 17, 2001 A1
Cross-burning shocks family
Police investigate racist symbol left on lawn of Moncton home

LEE OLIVER

Times & Transcript Staff

One of the most deplorable symbols of racism, the burning cross, lit up the night sky in front of the home of a black family in the affluent Kingswood neighbourhood of Moncton early Saturday morning.
And, says the homeowner, it took Codiac RCMP 25 minutes to respond to the call, and three days to begin canvassing the neighbourhood for witnesses. "When the police did arrive," says the homeowner, "the investigating officer seemed to try to pass this off as a teenage prank. I don't care if they were teenagers or not, this was no prank. It was a serious and deliberate act."
The woman, who lives in the obviously well-cared-for home with her husband and two daughters, agreed to speak on the condition of anonymity, fearing publishing her name and address might draw further unwanted attention.
The drama unfolded early Saturday morning when a passerby driving down the street at 1:10 a.m. noticed the flaming three-foot-tall cross. She pulled her car into the driveway of the home, and ran to the front porch, banging on the door and windows to alert the occupants. "I only know the family in passing," said the 17-year-old good Samaritan, "but I knew I had to help."
As the family awoke and immediately called police, the girl, who fears reprisal from the perpetrators of this act and has asked to have her identity protected, began pulling a garden hose from the side of the house to douse the flames.
At the same time another anonymous bystander approached a second flaming object on the lawn, a plastic gas can, and kicked it to the street. By then the father of the family was out of the house and using the garden hose to put out the flames.
Once extinguished, the family pulled the cross from the lawn. It was made of a three-foot length of one-inch-by-two-inch lumber cut to a point at the bottom. Across the top was a two-foot length tacked perpendicularly in place with two small nails. The cross was then wrapped in gauze and soaked in gasoline.
The woman yesterday said she was disgusted by the cowardly act. "I'm totally in shock that someone here would do this. I'm horrified." She also said she was disappointed that the RCMP didn't appear to take the crime as seriously as she felt they should.
"The police didn't ask any of my neighbours if they saw anything. They came, took the cross, and, after we pointed it out to them, the gas can, and left. They didn't even seem to want to consider this as racial," she said. "But there is no question about what a burning cross means to a black family."
Codiac RCMP officer in charge, Superintendent Mike Woods, agrees with the homeowner. "The act itself is repugnant, and totally intolerable. I don't care what the rationale was behind this, I want to see this cleared up as soon as possible."
He also said he agrees with the homeowner's discomfort over the apparent inertia of the investigation: "Personally, I'd like to have seen a more rapid response to this."
According to Cpl. Mark Gallagher, the RCMP is treating this crime seriously. "We consider this to be a grave hate crime and we want to catch the perpetrators as quickly as possible."
When asked why the neighbourhood wasn't canvassed until Monday night, rather than when the crime occurred, he said, "Without talking to the investigating officer, I can't say for sure. But quite often we find morepeople at home in the early evening of a weeknight, and that way we can get a better idea of what's going on in the neighbourhood."
Gallagher also pointed out that the cross burning appears to part of a night of vandalism. "Just around the corner from the cross, and just a few minutes later, someone threw a rock through the window of a house." Later that same night numerous gardens and hedges in the neighbourhood were also destroyed. "We think it's all connected," explains Gallagher, "and we're also certain that someone out there knows who did this. We really need to hear from the public on this."
Gallagher urges anyone who may have information to contact Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 (TIPS), or the Codiac RCMP at 857-2400.
The woman, who emigrated from Cameroon to Moncton 16 years ago to join her husband, says her family has lived in the neighbourhood since 1992 and have never been the recipients of such blatant and intimidating racism. "If somebody thinks they're going to scare me and my family away from my home by doing this, they are very, very wrong," she said. "But now I feel as though I have to look over my shoulder to see what's coming. I'm not going to stop doing things like taking walks at night, but I don't think I'm going to be as nonchalant as I used to be. This isn't going to change the way I act, but I think it's going to change the way I feel."
The woman also says she is worried about such a bitter introduction to racism for her children, ages nine and 15. "Before this they never really faced racism, never really knew for certain what it was. I'm not sure how they'll handle it," she says.
As soon as James "Skip" Talbot, president of the Multi-cultural Association of the Greater Moncton Area, learned about the cross burning, he and Ajit Gautam, the Atlantic Canada representative for the Canadian Race Relations Foundation, travelled to the house to offer their support. "We think the police were too slow in responding," said Gautum yesterday afternoon, "and we also think they may have started out not taking this seriously enough."
Talbot, who is also a member of the RCMP-run New Brunswick Visible Minority Policing Committee, laments the fact that he had to learn about the incident through a phone call from the media, seeking comment. "The police have to deal with these issues much more rapidly. There's nothing ambiguous about this," he said. "This was a racist act, loud and clear." But even as he surveys the scorched lawn, Talbot finds room for forgiveness: "While this is deplorable, I feel sorry for the people who did this -- they have close-minded ideas and opinions based on pure ignorance. Maybe if they knew how much damage this insult has done to these good people, they'd think twice before doing something so hurtful again," he mused.
"But that said, we can't sit back and live in fear because there are people out there who hate us because we're visible minorities. We're taking this crime seriously, and we encourage the RCMP to do the same." Talbot said. "Sometimes its just too easy to just say kids did this' and brush the seriousness of these things aside."
According to B'nai B'rith of Canada, whether it was kids or not, this sort of activity must be dealt with thoughtfully.
"Cross burning is a well known and recognized symbol of organized hate," says Amelia Golden, community relations co-ordinator for the human rights league of the B'nai B'rith, an international Jewish human rights organization. "And even if these perpetrators aren't part of an organized group, they've learned about this symbol through history or Internet hatesites, and they clearly wish to be affiliated with such groups."
Golden also sends a message to the officers investigating this incident: "We applaud the Codiac RCMP for treating this as a hate motivated crime, and encourage the people of Moncton to firmly denounce this type activity."
(c) 2001 Times & Transcript - Moncton. All rights reserved.
DOC. #: 20010717MT43588