The mayor of a small Oregon city believes someone has threatened him and a Black politician with a racially charged symbol of hate.
The person reportedly left a dead raccoon with a hideous message of hate at Redmond Mayor Ed Fitch’s law office’s front door.
The Redmond Police Department and City Manager Keith Witcosky were contacted immediately after the raccoon was discovered, prompting the police to start investigating the Monday, June 5 incident, possibly as a hate crime.
The note with the dead animal left outside Fitch’s office named both him and Councilor Clifford Evelyn and contained a message that the mayor called “racially hateful” and ‘Intimidating.’
“It was clearly in my mind a hate message, mostly towards Councilor Evelyn,” Fitch said.
An image of the sign was circulated in a press release but was intentionally blurred “to maintain the integrity of the investigation,” said city spokeswoman Heather Cassaro.
The mayor, who is white, did not go into details about the sign but said he felt bad for the councilperson.
“It seems there’s some people in town that can’t accept the fact that Clifford is Black and is on the City Council,” he said in an interview with The Bulletin.
Evelyn, a retired police officer, was elected to office in 2021 with a promise to be a voice for the people of Redmond.
As a voice that represents “character, integrity, and transparency,” Evelyn is not afraid to talk about his views on Critical Race Theory.
He believes the community, including educators, churches and families, all have a responsibility to teach American history honestly. He believes the only way to do so is to present it void of perspectives that promote hate-filled conversations of racism, which he believes is destructive to society.
There are people whom he represents who demonstrate the need for better race relations in the town.
In 2021, a Black teenager from the town similarly received…
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