Sunday afternoon, November 22, was a relaxing day until I heard a rustling sound on my front porch. I shot up, looked out the window, and saw a white male on my porch. He was ripping the large banner my neighbor had hand-painted that read “Defund the Police. Invest in Black Communities.” I grabbed my phone and ran outside barefooted in the hope that I’d catch him on video, but he sped off on his moped. I stood on the sidewalk in shock, looked at the street, and saw our banner torn in two. I picked it up, and a Black woman who worked for Duke Transit said she’d seen what happened. She’d told him he shouldn’t have done that. He’d yelled back, “Fuck you, n*****,” as he rode away. Later that night, I found a stun gun in our yard, close to the porch. This summer, we watched the Black Lives Matter murals in downtown Durham get defaced with racist slurs.
Follow Staff Photographer Jade Wilson on Instagram or send an email to jwilson@indyweek.com.
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