Southern California family targeted by firebomb turned hate crime into something amazing

An African-American family in Manhattan Beach, California was the target of an act of hate, when someone threw a burning tire at their front door last year. But the family has turned the experience into something positive.

According to KCAL, the Clinton family sustained $20,000 in damage to their house and no arrests were ever made. But, the family thinks that they were targeted because they’re black.

While the charred door served as a hurtful reminder to them, they donated it to the Smithsonian African American Museum of History and Culture, which opens later this month.

“Take something that was really intended to harm us and to hurt us and to make something good out of it,” said Malissia Clinton.

The family received $35,000 in donations from the community seeking to help find those responsible. But instead, they have turned it around as a donation to the Manhattan Beach Education Foundation. The money will be used to help train teachers about hidden bias and privlege, and provide grants for social inclusion programs for teachers and students. They also fixed their door, installed a secure gate and security cameras.

“To take this personal incident and make it good for so many more is just so honorable, and so commendable,” said Hilary Mahan of the Manhattan Beach Education Foundation.

“We want students and teachers to think creatively about how you target the issue of race, without making someone feel uncomfortable,” said Clinton, “but really getting at the heart of the matter, which is that a lot of this is hidden within us. If you were the idiot who started this fire, look at what’s resulted from it.”

Check out the local news report below: