It happened right there,” said the woman, pointing to a burned patch of grass in an unkempt plot of land in Arroyo Grande.
The burned grass, now faded after two months of spring storms, and a few bits of wood scattered around the yard are all that remain of a hate crime that shocked the community and might have triggered a series of copycat crimes reverberating through the area.
The woman, who lives close to where the crimes occurred, feared revealing her identity because she is scared of retribution. While walking by the lot on a recent weekday, she pointed at a piece of burned wood.
“That’s all that’s left of what happened, I guess,” she said.
The wood, which was rough hewn and looked a bit like an ax handle, was partially burned and smelled faintly of a petroleum product.
In the early morning hours of March 18, someone set fire to an 11-foot cross outside the window of an African-American woman. The cross was stolen weeks before from the parking lot of St. John’s Lutheran Church, where it had been used for Easter services.
Since the cross-burning incident, Arroyo Grande and the area surrounding the city have suffered a rash of hate and arson incidents.
On the weekend of April 1, vandals struck at Mesa Middle School south of Arroyo Grande, drawing swastikas on a gym door and on class whiteboards. Three minors were later arrested in connection with the incident.
On the evening of April 2, a small fire was lit against the back wall of the Arroyo Grande police station. No suspects had been arrested as of press time.
Two incidents of racially-charged graffiti occurred in late April and early June at Dunlap Elementary School in Orcutt. As of press time, no suspects had been arrested in that case, either.
An 80-year-old wooden Boy Scout Hall and former Japanese community center was burned down May 1. Two teenagers were arrested May 9 on suspicion of conspiracy, burglary, possession of stolen property, and arson in connection with the fire.
Police sources say it’s unlikely any of the incidents were committed by the same people, and it’s entirely possible they could be copycat incidents inspired by the initial cross burning.
The Sun asked SLO County Sheriff Ian Parkinson if he found it strange there seemed to be a succession of apparent hate incidents in the South County.
“You hit it on the head, there are a lot of weird things happening,” Parkinson said. “It’s strange to have them all happen all at once. The thing we don’t know is, and we’re trying to get to this … are they reading about this or are they hearing this in the news or is it word-of-mouth … or are they doing it because of the attention it gets? I don’t know.”
He said the SLO Sheriff’s Department is doing all it can to assist Arroyo Grande with its investigation of the cross burning. Arroyo Grande leaders faced a strong backlash from comments reported in a local newspaper the week after the incident that a police commander had said the cross burning might have been a “prank.” Such comments drew a stern response from the Santa Maria/Lompoc branch of the NAACP.
Soon after, community leaders and civil rights groups held a public forum on April 11 at St. John’s, the church from where the cross had been stolen. The event was sponsored by the Santa Maria/Lompoc NAACP and the Santa Barbara/Tri-Counties Anti Defamation League. More than 150 people showed up, and tolerance and diversity were the topics.
On May 10, the Arroyo Grande City Council unanimously approved a resolution “Honoring and Respecting Diversity” and forming a Five Cities Diversity Coalition and Diversity Effort. The proposed coalition and plan were created, according to a city staff report, to “prevent and respond to hate crimes and acts of hate in the future,” “educate and promote understanding and respect of each other’s differences,” and “celebrate and value how diversity enriches the community.”
The Diversity Coalition will have representatives from the NAACP, the Anti-Defamation League, the Latino Outreach Council, the Japanese Welfare Association, elected officials from the Five Cities and SLO County, and representatives from the faith community, school districts, and the area’s various chambers of commerce. A high school student pointed out that the proposal omitted any Gay, Lesbian, or Transgender representatives, an issue the City Council said would be corrected.
While the city government gathers its Diversity Coalition, the person or people who burned the cross remain at large.
“That’s nice they’re putting that together, but when are they going to catch the creeps who did this?” said the woman who lives near where the cross burning happened.
She said she has seen cars sometimes slow down and stop with their engines running in front of the lot where the cross was burned. She didn’t have any idea whether it’s crime scene tourists or someone worse. Whoever it was, they scared her.
In the two months since, Arroyo Grande Police say they are “following leads.” Police sources said soon after the incident that they were confident the perpetrators would soon
be found.
The cross was heavy—nearly 100 pounds of wood and strong enough to hold the full weight of a man—and was originally designed for a production of Jesus Christ Superstar. Police said they thought it likely would have taken more than one person to carry the cross—which was bolted into the ground—down from its perch and probably would have taken a pickup truck to move.
“You can’t keep an 11-foot cross in your truck and not have someone see something,” said a police official the week after the cross burning.
As of yet, however, the mystery remains. And some Arroyo Grande residents wonder why it’s taking so long.
“They need to get the people who did this,” said the woman. “We need to move on.”
Robert A. McDonald is a staff writer for the New Times, the Sun’s sister paper to the north. He can be reached at rmcdonald@newtimesslo.com.
This article appears in May 19-26, 2011.