On Tuesday afternoon, a homemade bomb was detonated next to the building that houses the local offices of the NAACP. [To my non-US readers: if you're not familiar with the NAACP, it's a national civil rights organization created to advance and advocate for the rights of African Americans, and it's been around for over a century.] The explosive device was apparently created from a pipe bomb, a flare, and a five-gallon can of gasoline. Thankfully, the explosion failed to ignite the gasoline, so the building and its occupants were spared; there is simply a large scorch mark on an exterior wall. There has been a great deal of speculation that this was a hate crime and an act of domestic terrorism. The FBI is now investigating the incident. To me it clearly appears to be a hate crime, and the thought just makes me sick. This occurred in a neighborhood that is not far from my house, just west of Prospect Lake and Memorial Park. Two blocks east of the NAACP building is an elementary school. In addition, the mother of one of my friends lives on the same block. I went yesterday to take a few pictures of the building, and all was calm. It was like any other day, but our city is very much in shock that something like this can happen here. We want answers. I hope the FBI moves quickly and arrests the criminal.
Just a few hours after the incident in Colorado Springs came the unthinkable attacks in Paris. It has been a terrible couple of days, I think. This kind of hate is unfathomable to me. To our friends in France: our hearts and thoughts are with you. We stand with you.
2 comments:
Horrible indeed.
Given the fact of the NAACP office being there, it's almost certain to be one. And there's no shortage of white supremacists out there who are by all definitions terrorists in their methods.
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