A fence defaced by the N-word near Dallas may get replaced thanks to giving neighbors
Evidence of a possible hate crime was removed from a North Texas fence just hours after people knew it occurred.
A homeowner’s daughters had drawn BLM, which stands for Black Lives Matter, on their fence in chalk on the side facing Central Park in Lewisville. The symbols were there to replace a larger message supporting Black people that had been washed off by the rain, said Shane Kislack, the property owner.
Kislack said he has two high school age daughters, one 16 and the other 17, and he calls them his “little social justice warriors.” The family is a coupling of white and Hispanic. No one in the family is Black, Kislack said.
On Tuesday, a passerby saw the N-word partially painted over the Black Lives Matter symbol, followed by big blue X’s painted over the remainder of the chalk drawing.
The police were called soon after, according to Matt Martucci, Lewisville public information coordinator.
A police officer arrived and awakened Kislack to inform him of what had happened, and soon after, the city’s paint abatement team was called. The BLM message had been painted on the fence about four days earlier, Kislack said.
The officer and the neighborhood sprang into action before the city’s abatement team could get to work, Martucci said.
The police officer spray-painted over the offensive language and after that, a neighbor came over with a power washer and wiped all the messaging from the fence, Martucci said.
“For us it’s just a fence,” Kislack said. “But for people who are Black it’s something they have to live with every day. While we’re able to power wash the message off and be done with it, others do not have that opportunity.”
Kislack said he shared what had happened on Facebook as a way of asking what type of people are passing through the community. He received a ton of supportive replies, Kislack said.
But he also received a smattering of negative messaging accented by a pinch of conspiracy theories, such as “you just posted this to get attention” and “maybe some person of color painted this on your fence to stir up trouble.”
But the majority of the interactions concerning the fence were life-affirming, Kislack explained.
The police officer who came out to investigate had a can of spray paint with him to cover up the offensive language, Kislack said. But before the paint could dry a neighbor Kislack said he didn’t even know offered to come out and power wash the fence.
“It was a good thing for our daughters to see,” Kislack said. “The officer that came out was a sweetheart. It was good for our daughters to see that because police are getting so much negative attention these days.”
Kislack said he had explained to his daughters beforehand that there was a possibility that something like this could happen and that someone of ill-will could target their message because it was counter to their beliefs.
“There could be consequences,” Kislack said.
His daughters felt very strongly about renewing their message of inclusion, and on balance, the community response has been uplifting, Kislack said.
The city has not had any reports of this type of racist graffiti in this area or anywhere in the city in recent memory, Martucci said.
“We were as surprised about it as everyone else was,” he said.
But the homeowner’s neighbors were not finished yet. A GoFundMe page was created later on Tuesday with a goal of $5,000 to replace the fence.
By late Wednesday, the page had reached its goal and had ceased soliciting donations by Thursday.
Police do not have any suspects or leads, nor do they have any video footage of the crime being committed, Martucci said.
“No one has said they saw anything,” Martucci said.
When the neighbor who organized the GoFundMe page suggested a new fence, Kislack said he initially believed that she was joking.
“Before I knew it she had raised the $5,000 and wanted my email address so GoFundMe could transfer the money,” Kislack said.
At first Kislack said he felt guilty about taking the money, that he did not want to profit from the incident, and that while he needed a new fence, there are others with more pressing needs.
Kislack mentioned again that no one in his family is Black.
But Black friends he discussed the incident with universally told him that the donations were the community’s way of saying that they were behind him and that the were not going to tolerate this type of behavior.
Kislack said he was told that the donations were the community’s way of sending a message. He said he has an appointment with a contractor Friday.
“Neighbors, thank you,” Kislack said. “I have a lump in my throat because of your kindness. I will rebuild the fence with the knowledge that we are not backing down and to show that we will come back stronger as a community.”
Kislack said he also wanted to credit his daughters for helping him and others understand a little bit about what is happening in other communities.
His daughters told him that it was important that they continue to communicate their message, Kislack said.
“This newer generation coming up, they are not taking this kind of thing,” Kislack said. “They will not ignore it. We’re promoting love and we will not be bullied into being apathetic and into not speaking up.”
This story was originally published September 3, 2020 at 5:25 PM.
