A central Oregon city community is grappling with an apparent racially motivated incident involving a public official, and a precocious child's outspokenness is holding representatives' feet to the fire, The Daily Beast reports.
Clifford Evelyn, the city of Redmond’s first Black council member, was the apparent target of a June 5 incident in which Mayor Ed Fitch found the corpse of a dead raccoon with a disturbing message attached to the front door of his law office.
Fitch told The Washington Post that the messages contained “intimidating language” targeting him and Evelyn but didn't specify what the note said.
According to The Associated Press, “Raccoon imagery has long been an insulting, anti-Black caricature in the United States. With roots in slavery, it’s among ‘the most blatantly degrading of all Black stereotypes,’ according to the Jim Crow Museum of Racist Imagery in Michigan.”
Evelyn, a retired law enforcement officer who was elected to the council in 2021, in a statement described the incident as a “cowardly act.”
“For those who do not support teaching accurate — and sometimes uncomfortable — American history in our schools, this is why it’s important to do so. Apparently, history repeats itself,” he said.
He said the incident demonstrates a “pattern of behavior with specific individuals” that follow a rise in racial incidents that have occurred in the community since he took office.
“Dog whistles and gestures will not deter me from my duties as city council,” he said.
The Beast reports that after Evelyn thanked community members for their support at a recent council meeting, 10-year-old Gavin “shook the room into unprecedented applause.”
“Why should us Black people suffer from racism when there are other races doing murders and [robberies] when us Black people are showing respect and [are] kind, but we still get treated like crap,” he said. “We should not have to get treated like this.”
The fourth-grader described traumatic incidents he himself has experienced, noting he’s been targeted with racial slurs depicting him as a racist caricature of Black people.
“One girl said to me, ‘I would hit you, but that’s called animal abuse,’” Gavin claimed.
“We should not get treated like this,” he added. “We should get treated equally. This is not fair to us Black people.”
Local authorities are investigating the incident as a potential second-degree bias crime, the report said.
“The Redmond Police Department has no tolerance for hate speech of any kind, against any person or group,” Police Chief Devin Lewis said in the statement.
“We will work swiftly to resolve this case and seek to hold those who did this to our community responsible.”
