Texas neighbors, cops want racist graffiti removed from victim's house 
Apparent hate crimes against an African-American couple in Arlington, TX have led to more open racial dialogue and possibly reconciliation within the community.
Roderick Gamble and his fiancee, Silk Littlejohn, have been slowly building their dream house in a largely white Arlington neighborhood over the last two years. The house is still under construction and remains unoccupied.
On December 19, Littlejohn was attacked by a neighbor, putting her in the hospital. According to Gamble, Grace Hood, who has been charged by police with assault, hit Littlejohn with a two-by-four. "She said, 'You effing n's are not going to move here,'" Gamble reported.
Two days later, somebody threw dead animals into their front yard and spray-painted "kill" and "die n*" on the garage door. Gamble, who blames Head for that incident as well, was still visibly upset when interviewed by a local news reporter.
"My neighbor next door ... he's caucausian male, he broke down crying," said Gamble. "I would never understand. ... But you know what? We're not going to be pushed out. We will not run. We will not hide. We're going to stand our ground. We're going to fight."
Two weeks later, Gamble had still not painted over the racial slurs. "I don't feel in my heart right now it's the time to take it down," he explained, saying he considered the graffiti a symbol of what he saw as an apathetic response by the community towards his problems.
However, many neighbors were annoyed. "Everyone gets the drift," said one. "It needs to be taken off."
Although the graffiti violated city code, police considered Gamble a victim and did not force him to remove them, but they said they did want them off. A radio show host even pledged raise money to replace the garage doors.
As the dispute dragged on, Arlington Mayor Robert Cluck finally decided to meet with the NAACP and then with a group of neighbors. So many people showed up for the meeting, held this past Thursday in a school cafeteria, that many were left standing outside in the cold.
Although Gamble had feared beforehand that the meeting would be a lynching, he discovered that the mayor, police chief, and many others were strongly supportive. "370,000 people had this crime committed against them," Mayor Cluck said.
Some at the meeting continued to complain about the graffiti, but the mayor made it clear that "this is different than high weeds." He was also emphatic that "as long as I'm mayor of the city of Arlington, we will help victims."
New garage doors, whose purchase was arranged by radio host Mike Gallagher, are due to be installed today, and a march is planned for Saturday to show community support. A march organizer, Bishop Reginald Jordan, explained, "We have to let the people know that whites, blacks, Hispanics and Asians are in solidarity on this issue."
These video clips are from CBS 11 News, broadcast December 19 through January 4, 2008.
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