My experience with hate...true story watered down. Some of you know that a good part of my career was spent in nursing home administration. About 20 years ago give or take, this happened. I was administrator of a home just north of KC. It was 120 beds, full of the ill elderly and a staff of a lot of different races. One evening, as I arrived home, I received a phone call that the nursing home was on fire. I rushed back to find the home surrounded by fire trucks and police cars. Inside, the dining room and kitchen area were closed off by yellow police tape. I was asked by the police chief and fire chief if I was in charge, I was needed to identify something. They took me into the kitchen and wanted to know if writings on the wall had been there prior to the fire. All over the walls, written in huge letters over and over -Kill All The Niggers. Four fires had been set in the kitchen in an attempt to burn the place down. Thankfully staff had detected it before anyone was hurt. Because it was a civil rights violation, the FBI became involved. There were rounds and rounds of questioning. Police and FBI were constantly in the home. Most of the staff who were black were women who were the wives of military men stationed out of Fort Leavenworth. My activity director, maintenance man and housekeeping director were black males who I had recruited to work there as we had all worked together in previous jobs. For two weeks there was a solid FBI presence but there were no leads to the criminal who did this. I learned that that town was the home of the area KKK Grand Wizard and the KKK was suspected, but no evidence was found. Things began to die down, the FBI presence lessened. Then one early morning I received a call from the housekeeping supervisor. He was near hysteria. He told me he was leaving, along with the floor man. He told me when he arrived at work and unlocked his office he found the words All Niggers Will Die written in the same big letters in black marker all over the walls of his office. It all started again.. the FBI, the police in the building daily with more questioning. To this day the criminals were never found. I can not fathom the kind of hate that would set fires in a home full of infirm elderly people. I believe the FBI was sincere in wanting to catch the criminals. I was never sure about the police. This is why. My staff was stopped by the police for minor traffic violations, especially the males. My housekeeping supervisor was arrested and jailed because his license plate was expired ...I know that was the only violation becauseI bailed him out of jail. I went to the Mayor (a female) and complained about the treatment of my minority staff. I know that she followed thru because the Chief of Police (who I had come to know well) visited to discuss my concerns. The over zealous policing of my staff stopped. I have other stories of the bigotry I have observed close up and personal...lots really. Not many people I know (none really) have had the KKK perpetrate a crime against them. It is frightening, sickening and violent. They would kill strangers for no reason other than someones color, and that includes 120 old white people. Those of you who throw the KKK crap around because someone disagrees maybe should think again. Stirring hate and violence is wrong . It gets people killed and property destroyed. Hate doesnt work, believe me.
Posted on: Sun, 16 Nov 2014 23:34:46 +0000
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