Not In Our Town released a statement lamenting the treatment of Art and Camille Taylor by neighbors and Bloomington Police.
Here’s a first-person account by John Boch, who was one of the two neighbors accused of racism in the incident.
But first, some background. Over seven days in June, Boch’s neighbors and his family had been subjected to four incidents of political yard sign thefts and destruction. In response, Boch crafted a sign, in part with the remains of one of the destroyed signs.
It read,
AS YOU CAN SEE
THUGS TRASH SIGNS
HARD AS THEY TRY
FREEDOM WON’T DIE
With that, the sign vandalism stopped.
LISTEN TO THE FIRST HAND REPORT BY JOHN BOCH
ACCORDING TO JOHN BOCH:
“Then, this past weekend, a newer silver sedan – either a Hyundai or a Ford – parked in front of my residence with the windows open. The occupants blared profane, anti-Trump “music” at maximum volume. This happened in our neighborhood where children as young as toddlers routinely play outdoors. Indeed, not only did we hear fragments of the “F… Trump” music within our home, but our neighbors’ 10-year-old boy was subjected to the crude and profane tune for the better part of six minutes while playing outdoors just a few yards away.
When the boy’s mother came out to investigate, the occupants of the car saw her and drove away.
Minutes later in a nearby cul-de-sac, the boy’s father found a car that matched the image of the suspect’s car to a proverbial “T.” The color, body style, the rims, the license plate format of three digits then four more. Not only that, but the rear windows were still down, as were the windows in the suspect vehicle blaring profane “music” minutes before. Furthermore, anti-Trump signs adorned the yard.
Given all of the similarities to the suspect vehicle in the video, he snapped a photo of the license plate and called police. He told them the dispatcher that he had located a possible suspect vehicle in the neighborhood.
Police arrived, heard our side of the story of what happened, and the officer went to talk with the registered owner at the nearby address which turned out to be Mr. Taylor.
Nearly a half-hour later, the officer returned with Mr. Taylor. Obviously agitated, Mr. Taylor approached and although tense, everything went fine until moments later he claimed that the police came to his house because he was black.
The property owner rejected the notion that race was involved. When Mr. Taylor persisted in asserting that our racism was the real reason police were called, the homeowner asked Mr. Taylor to step out of his yard.
Mr. Taylor claimed he was the only black family in the neighborhood, when in fact there are a number of black families in the neighborhood. Tensions rose as Mr. Taylor kept circling back around to his assertion that we sent police to his door because he was black. This despite the fact we didn’t even know that the car belonged to him and his wife. Or anything else about the vehicle’s owner or possible occupants other than the occupants appeared to be white teens or early 20s from the mom’s description.
After further insinuations were made, the homeowner asked the officer to remove Mr. Taylor from his yard. When the officer did nothing despite more than one request, the homeowner began to do it himself when the officer finally interceded and Mr. Taylor retreated to the sidewalk.
My wife and I engaged Mr. Taylor on the sidewalk, along with the wife of the homeowner who called police. We had what I thought was a marginally productive conversation. In my opinion, it spent far too much time talking about race and not enough time dispassionately discussing the merits of why police were called in the first place. But aside from that, we talked and exchanged viewpoints. Isn’t that what open lines of communications is supposed to be all about?
I learned Mr. Taylor was more worried about someone calling police on his 15-year-old grandson riding his bike in Bloomington (as a strange black teen) compared to him playing on the violent streets on the South Side of Chicago.
I also learned that he was appointed to the local police review board. Interestingly, I too applied for a position on that same board but believe my political persuasion had a bigger reason for Mayor Renner passing me over, rather than my skin color. But who knows. I moved on with life.
After our discussions this weekend, I thought the matter was behind us. I felt a little irritated that a man who didn’t know me from Adam suggested I had a role in sending police to his house because of the color of his skin, as opposed to significant circumstantial evidence tied to that vehicle, but again, I moved on with life.
Mr. Taylor apparently did not. And now “Not in Our Town” is publishing pieces making not-so-subtle racial bigotry allegations against our families. If this is what passes for hard-work advocacy on the part of NIOT, then maybe they’re more about creating divisiveness and name-calling instead of solving real problems. Or maybe there isn’t as much racism in our community as they would have us believe.
The fact that Mr. Taylor believes race was the reason police knocked on his door suggests to me that a certain prejudice exists in our town and in our neighborhood. Dictionary.com’s top three definitions of prejudice:
1. an unfavorable opinion or feeling formed beforehand or without knowledge, thought, or reason.
2. any preconceived opinion or feeling, either favorable or unfavorable.
3. unreasonable feelings, opinions, or attitudes, especially of a hostile nature, regarding an ethnic, racial, social, or religious group.
I believe Mr. Taylor is a good and decent man, as are most upstanding, law-abiding citizens.
However, casting aspersions as NIOT has done based upon prejudice does not make for a warm and welcoming neighborhood or community though.”