Terry Turner, an African-American woman, is dealing with intense acts of racism in her community in Limestone, Alabama. According to WHNT 19-News , one of her white neighbors hurled large rocks into her home, breaking several of her windows. And most disturbing, the hooligans viciously scrawled racist graffiti on her beautiful home with spray paint, including the N-word. As of this date, the case has received very little media attention nationally.
The incident happened on the night of New Year’s Eve, while Terry Turner was enjoying a night of celebration with her granddaughter. What should have been a celebratory experience ringing in the New Year, turned out to be one of the most frightening experiences of their lives.
According to Turner, she was in her home with her granddaughter when she heard a loud noise at the front of the home. Fearing for their lives and believing that the intruders were inside her home, Terry Turner and her granddaughter climbed out of a back window leading to the backyard for safety.
At some point, Terry Turner managed to call 911 to report the incident. When police arrived at the home, they found three broken windows and huge stones. They also found the words: Move Nig**r Now” spray painted in black letters on her neatly-painted white garage door, but found little clues that revealed solid leads.
Terry Turner stated that she had received an icy reception when she moved in to the neighborhood eight years ago, and has continued to endure shouts of racial slurs from white residents driving by the front of the home.
As a black woman going through such a harrowing experience, Terry Turner told WHNT that she has no hate in her heart for the people who committed the acts.
“I don’t hate whoever did this. I just don’t understand it. Racism is something that’s taught. When you get two babies in a room, a black baby and a white baby in a room, they don’t know nothing about that until they’re taught.”
According to AL.com , many people were so outraged by the despicable acts that a GoFundMe page was created in order to assist the victim in repairing her home. The fund was started by Hillary Katz Gould, a white woman who was shocked and horrified by what she read. The site has collected the 32 donations and hopes to raise $1,000. According to Gould, she and Terry Turner are now Facebook friends, and that Terry Turner is happy and moved by the display of compassion that she has received.
Some who have made contributions offer suggestions on the GoFundMe page.
“Please consider using some of the funds to get her a video security system. It would be great to catch these creeps on camera and deter future incidents.”
“If you can take the time to set up this account, certainly you can take the time to MEET the family you are attempting to aid. Introduce yourself, ask her how she would like to be helped, if she would like to be helped… Please understand that, although your intentions are clearly ‘good’, actual human contact, reaching out to the victim, building community, and offering meaningful help, which the victim is best suited to describe for herself, are more valuable than blindly tossing money at a problem.”
Police are still looking for the suspects, and are asking the public to contact the Limestone County Sheriff’s Office at 256-232-0111 with tips. For further reading, the Inquisitr recently reported on the suspicious death of Lennon Lacy, a black teen who was found hanging from a swing set in rural North Carolina. It is speculated that he was killed by his white neighbors for dating a white woman.