The Huffington Post is reporting that a Florida man who was trying to stop his wife from divorcing him placed a burning cross in their yard and depicted it as a threat to stay put from the Ku Klux Klan.
The man, L.B. Williams, 50, of Panama City, was charged with domestic violence stalking and exhibits that intimidate, the Newsherald.com reports.
Williams, a 50-year-old black man, and his wife Donna, who is white, found a cross burning in their driveway Nov. 4 outside their Florida home. Donna Williams said the family was shaken by the incident.
"When I saw that cross burning, I was scared to death," she told the Panama City News Herald. "I was terrified … we all were."
After the couple reported the incident, police began a hate crime investigation. But the issue was far from being resolved.
Two days later, Donna said she received a note taped to the front door that was signed "KKK." The note said she was being watched and that she "better not leave that [N-word]," a warning that struck Donna as odd.
"When did the KKK start supporting black and white, interracial marriages," she wondered.
On Monday, LB Williams admitted to setting the fire and posting the note in an effort to keep his wife of seven years from filing for divorce. He was arrested and later released from Bay County Jail Nov. 15 without bond. As a condition of the domestic violence charge, he is not allowed to go home.
Clearly Williams was desperate to hold on to his wife if he resorted to using a symbol of hate and invoking the name of the Ku Klux Klan. He should be ashamed. He is old enough to recall the horrors that the Ku Klux Klan actually inflicted upon the black community with cross burnings.
We hope he can develop better coping skills so that he does not turn to symbols of hate to win affection in the future. He hurts not only himself but the entire African-American community by dredging up bad memories for his own personal gain.
Read more at Huffington Post Black Voices.
In other news: DNA Evidence Frees 4 Black Men.
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