Black Lives Matter Activist Hubert Roberts awoke in the morning to his neighbors informing him his car had been vandalized. A truck which features decals reading “Black Lives Matters” & “Black Panther”, were now covered with racist slurs, swastikas with the tires slashed outside of his home in Clio, Mi.
According to the Detroit Free Press, Roberts community outreach plans for the day were canceled after being the target of a grammatically challenged hate crime . Here are more details courtesy of The Root.
His black 2011 Chevrolet Silverado had been spray-painted with swastikas. The word “Nigger” was spray-painted on one side of the vehicle, and “Wite Pride” was painted on the other side. (I just want to know how you’re beating your chest about white superiority and white pride, but can’t even spell “white,” but whatever.) The truck’s tires were slashed.
Roberts also said that red shoelaces were hung from both of his rearview mirrors, a tactic that the Ku Klux Klan often used for intimidation and initiation. “I’m black,” he added, according to MLive. “I’m in a predominantly white community. I’m very angry. I’m disappointed with us as a community.”
Roberts told the Free Press that the incident left him in disbelief. That disbelief turned into anger and then, ultimately, disappointment, he said. The activist, who also volunteers in Flint, Mich., told the Free Press that he could not think of any recent encounters that could have prompted someone to vandalize his vehicle, other than his normal confrontations while he was protesting, which often come with people spitting on him and hurling slurs his way. His truck also had decals that read “Black Lives Matter” and “Black Panthers.”
“I’m just really disappointed in human beings, how we just want to continue to devalue each other,” Roberts told ABC 12. “We don’t bother anybody, we don’t hurt anybody, we’re not looking for trouble, just looking to be valued and treated equally, and so [that’s] what’s going through my mind. I’m hurt. I’m very disappointed. I don’t want to sound like a victim,” he told MLive. “I would really hope this could be picked up by the national media because this is another example of hatred toward a person for nothing more than being black.”
Being a generous-hearted community leader is negated by your skin tone in Trump’s America. The Genesee County Sheriff’s Office is looking into the vandalism, however they are refusing to label the incident as a hate crime.
Flip the pages for photos of the vandalized truck.