Before a racially derogatory death threat taped to a piece of cinder block smashed through his mobile home window, Ellis Weatherspoon largely ignored efforts to intimidate him.
TURTLETOWN, Tenn. (AP) — Before a racially derogatory death threat taped to a piece of cinder block smashed through his mobile home window, Ellis Weatherspoon largely ignored efforts to intimidate him.
As a black man living with a white woman and their 3-year-old son in this rural East Tennessee community, the nighttime attack on their home Monday has the family sleeping in their truck, away from home.
Ellis Weatherspoon, 45, told the Chattanooga Times Free Press that he and his son, Elijah, were in the kitchen when the block crashed through a window near them. They were not hurt.
"Get out of town n __ or u die," read the note that was signed "KKK."
The newspaper story Thursday said a Polk County Sheriff’s Office incident report categorized the crime as an act of vandalism.
"If it is some kind of hate crime, then we will look into it and see if it needs to go that avenue," Sheriff Bill Davis said Wednesday.
Davis said an investigation was continuing and that a report on evidence sent to a crime lab would be returned in about a week. He said detectives were following up leads.
"It’s still ongoing, and hopefully we’ll find out who this person is," the sheriff said.
Weatherspoon lives with Jennifer Weatherspoon, 28, and their son. The couple has been together for seven years and consider themselves married.
"At first I thought a box fell because I was packing things. I thought, ‘Maybe a box fell and some of my things broke,’" Jennifer Weatherspoon told the newspaper. "When I turned the light on and actually looked, there was glass everywhere."
The Weatherspoons moved into the mobile home in February when they returned to the community where she grew up and has relatives nearby.
"When we first moved here, they said, ‘We going to burn you out,’ but we didn’t pay them any mind," Ellis Weatherspoon said.
He said there have been other incidents that he didn’t report because he didn’t take them seriously.
Weatherspoon said he had already been planning to move in hopes of finding work.
Drew Robinson, an assistant district attorney who prosecutes cases in Polk County, said the Weatherspoons "need to rest assured that we are doing something about it."
Robinson, who is black, said he has never personally experienced racism locally with the rare exception of defendants upset about prison sentences.
He said that if there is enough evidence and authorities apprehend a suspect, appropriate charges will be filed.
"We’re not going to let people get forced out of their homes or anything. We take that very seriously," Robinson said.
According to the 2010 census, of Polk County’s 16,825 residents, 50 are black and 215 are multiracial.
Some residents said it’s hard for some in the community to accept outsiders.
"A lot of them (locals) don’t like me because I’m from Vermont; I’m a Yankee," said Doug Miner, who has lived in the area since 1996.
While Miner said he has never heard any racist comments made toward black families in the community, he wouldn’t be particularly shocked if it happens.
"There’s some good ol’ boys around," he said. "A lot of them run the rebel flag."
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press.
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