What?! This Interracial Couple Is Being Punished After They Were the Targets of a Hate Crime

Instead of protecting a couple who were the victims of a hate crime, the city of Stamford, CT, is punishing them for criticizing an investigation into the crime.

Heather Lindsay and Lexene Charles, an interracial married couple, have refused to remove the N-word graffitied on their garage until authorities fully investigate the incident, which occurred on Jan. 14. The city's reaction? Fine them $100 a day until the offensive racial slur is removed.

Lindsay, a white woman who owns the home, told The Stamford Advocate that this was not the first time the couple had been harassed: their home has been vandalized several times and neighbors have also targeted Charles, Lindsay's black husband, with racial slurs. Official investigations have proved futile and have allegedly not been taken seriously.

Speaking to The Stamford Advocate, Lindsay said they had refused the city's offer to remove the graffiti for them. Lindsay maintained the graffiti would stay until they "do their job" and "not just cover it up and sweep it under the table as they have done in the past."

While the Stamford police department has maintained it's investigating the crime, the couple says they continue to feel unsafe in their home. Darnell Crosland, the state's legal counsel for the NAACP, reiterated the couple's concern at a news conference on Monday, Feb. 20. "What we want you do to is to go canvass this neighborhood and find out who did this," Crosland said. "What we want you to do is to put a patrol car out here and act like you give a damn, and make sure these people are protected."

Neighbors have complained that the graffiti's presence has disturbed an otherwise peaceful neighborhood. Authorities have also defended the fine because of the graffiti's jarring effect. However, as Crosland points out, removing the word without reprimand could make the couple a target once again.