My husband and I are appalled by the treatment of African Americans in this country. We want to do our part and contribute to the efforts to correct racial inequality in our society. We recently donated to a charity and purchased “Black Lives Matter” yard signs, which we put in our yard and the yards of a few equally concerned friends. Since putting the signs up, a number of people have tried to steal or damage them. A young boy tried to steal the sign from our yard and a neighbor’s yard in front of me. The next day, a friend had their sign stolen. On the same day, another friend had their sign run over by an ATV. I often see people pointing from their vehicles as they drive by. I’d like to think they are making a positive comment, but I’m not very confident that they are. A neighbor commented that they “didn’t like our sign, either” when it was almost stolen. Local comment threads on Facebook are filled with ignorant messages about there “not being black people around here, anyway” (and worse).

I pray people in this community educate themselves. Issues of poverty, drug abuse and systemic economic hardship affect this community, too. There is plenty of common ground.

Please, take some of the time you spend watching Fox News and instead self-reflect, research the actual issues and take some positive action. In the meantime, my sign will stay. Whether you like it or not, BLACK LIVES MATTER.