Safety and security
Americans increasingly represent a wide variety of races, colors and religions. However, there are those among us who cannot accept this fact and may act out accordingly.
Last Friday, a cross was burned in front of a black teenager’s home in Arroyo Grande. The Arroyo Grande Police Department has said that it takes this case very seriously and is conducting an extensive investigation. We commend the police department for this. Burning crosses, swastikas on synagogue walls, and hateful words on mosque doors are not pranks. They are hate crimes meant to frighten and intimidate. They should have no place in this beautiful county, but they do sometimes happen here. When they do, they cannot be tolerated or laughed off as “just a joke.”
We, the members of the San Luis Obispo Ministerial Association, ask everyone to join us in working to increase understanding and kindness among all our fellow humans. San Luis Obispo County cannot really be the happiest place in America until and unless all people can feel safe and secure in their homes and in their lives.
Rev. Stephanie Raphael
Interfaith Ministry and president of the San Luis Obispo Ministerial Association (SLOMA)
Rev. Rich Kurrasch
Disciples of Christ (retired), SLOMA and Central Coast Clergy and Laity for Justice
Rev. Steven Mabry
Plymouth Congregational Church United Church of Christ of Paso Robles & SLOMA
Rev. Loire Adoff
California Men’s Colony
Rev. Sean Parker Dennison
Unitarian Universalist Fellowship
Richard and Lois Allen
Unitarian Universalist Fellowship
Rev. Nancy Ballinger
Awakening Interfaith Spiritual Community
Mark Bloodgood
Zen Center of Los Angeles
Rev. Susan Brecht
United Church of Christ of Atascadero
Spiritual Director Janise Rennie
Native American Spirituality
Rabbi Janise Mehring
Congregation Ohr Tzafon
Richard Carsel
Congregation Ohr Tzafon
Rabbi Scott Corngold
Congregation Beth David
Cantor Ricki Weintraub
Congregation Beth David
Dr. Faysal Kolkailah
Islamic Center of the Central Coast
Dr. Nisha Abdul-Cader
Bishop Olivia Doko
FCM and Roman Catholic Women Priests
Pastor Stephen Eastwood
Seventh Day Adventist Church
Rev. Marjorie Funk-Phil
Mt. Carmel Lutheran Church
Rev. Jana Schofield
Mt. Carmel Lutheran Church
Rev. Jane Voigts
United Methodist Church SLO
Rev. Paula Hulet
Estero Bay United Methodist Church
Rev. Berkeley Johnson
St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church
Rev. Curt Miner
United Church of Christ, San Luis Obispo
Rev. Jim Nielsen (retired)
Presbyterian Church
Rev. Andrew McComb (retired)
Presbyterian Church
Patrick Ruth
Central Coast Friends
Bob Sachs
Tibetan Buddhist Teacher
Rev. Luanne Griguoli (retired)
Nipomo Presbyterian Church
Rev. David Smiley (retired)
Christian Community
Rabbi Jayne Simon
Hospice Partners of the Central Coast
Rabbi Norman Mendel (retired)
Congregation Beth David
Rabbi Lon Moskowitz
California Men’s Colony
Rev. Doug Graham
New Thought Spiritual Center
Deacon Chuck Roeder
Old Mission Church of San Luis Obispo
Isolated authorities
I found it somewhat curious the statements of persons in authority at the city of Arroyo Grande: such as the police commander who referred to this cross burning as possibly a “prank,” and the mayor who was concerned it not be portrayed as a “hate crime.”
Could these authorities be isolated from the realities and historical significance of cross burning? They should contact the Southern Poverty Law Center or its website. At least they say they are investigating it as a hate crime.
It is generally understood that cross burning has long been associated with the Ku Klux Klan’s method of intimidating blacks, Catholics and Jews.
Here a cross is burnt outside the bedroom of a young black girl. Her mother is obviously concerned and scared. The young girl was terrified. Was this done with the intent to intimidate? No great leap in logic here. Yet the authorities seem to downplay this.
Wonder what they would say if L.A. gang graffiti was spray painted on the police station or city hall? “This may be a prank, let’s be careful not to think this is gang activity.”
J. Jude Basile
Cambria
Filled with horror
We began picketing against racial segregation in Oklahoma in 1958, five years before the horrors of the bridge in Selma.
The atmosphere of hate was like wading through a neck-high lake of molasses.
The ordinary-looking people who cursed us and threw things at us surprised me. I had naively thought that everyone else felt as I did; that is, that racial discrimination was an obviously and self-evidently wrong thing.
Boy, was I surprised.
Frat rats threw bricks and other things at us. One hit me with a brick. I was permanently removed from the picket line for not being a pacifist — I threw it back, missing my target by about 25 feet (profound embarrassment).
I became the behind-the-scenes sign painter thereafter.
I was amazed and gratified to see the election of Barack Obama only 50 years later, in 2008. After our hostile reception in 1958, I never imagined that it could happen.
The cross burning in Arroyo Grande fills me with horror and revulsion. How can this still be happening?
This disgusting and unacceptable act should be crushed by the full force of the police power of the state. I advocate the death penalty for the perpetrators of this despicable act.
Don Grant
San Luis Obispo
Go after bigots
I searched on Google for “cross burning on a black family’s lawn.” Nowhere could I find it called a “prank.” Racist, yes. Hate crime, yes. The police commander for Arroyo Grande called it possibly a prank, and the mayor was hesitant to categorize it as a hate crime.
Is it the 1960s all over again? We marched for equality during that time to make sure things like this don’t ever happen again.
If those in power don’t go after these bigots to the fullest extent of the law, we should elect those that would. Or maybe they know who did this evil deed and are trying to sweep it under the ashes.
Terry Speizer
Pismo Beach
Not who we are
To the family who woke up to the burning cross, I apologize on behalf of the people who live in and work in Arroyo Grande. What was done to you does not represent who we are.
I am embarrassed that city officials can’t figure out that this is a “hate crime”! Please, admit it, find out who did it, and help these people live in peace.
Susan Campbell
Arroyo Grande
