Jan 3, 2008 4:41 pm US/Central
Arlington In Uproar Over Racially Motivated Crimes
ARLINGTON (CBS 11 / TXA 21) ―
Silk Littlejohn and her fiancé Broderick Gamble are in the process of building a home in Arlington's Timberview housing addition. Their home is on Ross Trail.
"We want to build with the community. That's one reason we moved over here, to be a part of the community," said Gamble.
But on December 19, police say Silk Littlejohn was attacked by her soon-to-be neighbor, Grace Head. The 66-year-old was arrested for assault and charged with a hate crime. She was also arrested for jumping on the couple's car and throwing trash in their yard.
Prosecutors are expected to ask for enhanced hate crime penalties against Head.
Two days later, a racial slur along with the words "kill" and "die" were spray-painted in large red letters on the couple's garage doors. Police have yet to arrest anyone for the crime.
The couple decided to leave up the graffiti. They said paint alone would not remove the words from the doors, and they plan on replacing them.
"Why would they want to cover it up when the reminder is there? People can come out and see what's going on in the world," said Tina Allen, Arlington resident.
Thursday morning, City of Arlington officials and the Arlington branch of the NAACP addressed local media about the incidents.
City leaders said this type of crime will not be tolerated. "This crime against Mr. Gamble and Miss Littlejohn was also against every person in Arlington; 370,000 people had this crime committed against them," said Arlington Mayor Robert Cluck.
Officials from the City of Arlington and the police department held a town hall meeting at W. Ross Wimbish Elementary School Thursday night.
"Here's a lady that was hit by a two-by-four across the face. This is different than high weeds. This is different than routine graffiti in our city, and as long as I'm mayor in the City of Arlington, we will help victims," Mayor Cluck said at the meeting.
"The city should've given him a citation," said one neighborhood resident. While many other residents may have agreed, their shoots were met by a crowd of others who were there to support the couple.
Also at the meeting, a radio personality announced that he was able to raise enough money to get a new set of garage doors for the home.
Gamble said he is ready to move on and learn from the experience.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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