‘ROMEO ROCK’ MAY BE MOVED AFTER SLUR
Owners of property where message board resides incensed at racist language used
The boulder in Washington Township known as the Romeo Rock likely will be moved to a different location following the profanity and a racial slur that were painted on it recently during the Black Lives Matter movement.
Township Supervisor Dan O’Leary said Tuesday the owners of the private property on the west side of Van Dyke, north of 30 Mile Road where the boulder has been an iconic messaging board for decades, were preparing to move it. The Kassab family that operates the real estate development company that owns the vacant commercial parcel along with neighboring ones, brought in a bulldozer Monday to have it moved because they are incensed by the disturbing message.
“They’ve allowed it to be used for decades. For them it was a shock. They don’t want to allow that kind of negativity,” O’Leary said. “It’s not the back and forth (painting), it’s the bigotry. It’s not who they are.”
O’Leary said brothers and development firm owners Damian and Stephen Kassab are also concerned they may carry some liability risk if an injury occurred on their land. Although a bulldozer was brought in Monday to move the boulder out of easy public view, Leary said he convinced the brothers to postpone having the Romeo Rock immediately moved until he finds another suitable location – on public property – where it can be placed.
The profanity and racial slur has caused some residents of the area to guard the Romeo Rock this week and protect it from being painted with words of racial hatred.
In recent weeks, the rock has been used to convey messages
celebrating birthdays, the graduating class of 2020 and urge the reopening of Michigan from restrictions of the COVID-19 pandemic. Sometimes, the rock is repainted multiple times in one day.
On Monday morning, the community found the Black Lives Matter slogan on the rock had been defaced to include the words, “F—- BLM N———”.
“At the very least, it’s certainly denigrating to the community. It’s not acceptable,” the township supervisor said.
By late Monday morning, the obscenities had been painted over.
According to Clarence Womble, an AfricanAmerican community activist who lives in Romeo, someone painted a Black Lives Matter slogan on the rock Friday in the wake of the death of George Floyd on May 25. According to a Facebook post by Cortland Prall of Almont, two women painted the rock with the BLM slogan Saturday morning.
Both Woble and Prall said sometime later on Saturday, June 6, someone covered the slogan with black paint but didn’t include any new message. By Saturday night, Prall said on Facebook he and his mother had repainted Black Lives Matter over the black paint, and that if anyone paints over it again, he
would come back and paint the BLM slogan again.
Alyssa King, a member of the Romeo/Washington/ Neighbors Diversity and Inclusion Club on Facebook, said someone then drew a blue line through the word “Lives.” Following that, another person repainted the rock to say “All Lives Matter,” with a peace sign. King said one of her friends repainted the rock after 9 p.m. Sunday night with “Black Lives Matter.”
By Monday morning, the racist response had been painted on the rock. By late Monday morning, someone painted “Romeo Won’t Stand 4 Racism” on the side that faces Van Dyke. That’s how it has remained, as some local residents have guarded it from being defaced again.
“Like most people, I was outraged and disappointed by the racist message on the rock and the social media posts spreading throughout the community,” said Brandy Lee. Lee said approximately 30 people were at the boulder when she arrived there at approximately 8 p.m. Monday. She said about 10 people stayed most of the night and that a couple people remained as she and her daughter left at 8 a.m. Tuesday.
“My disappointment grew when people were driving by giving my 14-year-old daughter the middle finger for holding a Black Lives Matter sign. The message on the rock at the time said, ‘Romeo won’t stand 4 racism,’ and
we won’t.
“That rock has held positive messages for decades and more attention should be given to how Romeo residents will not tolerate, nor stand for racism. That’s when I decided to guard the rock,” Lee said.
She said her daughter counted negative reaction from 15 passing motorists but most honked in support.
The Macomb County Sheriff’s Office is investigating the painting of the racial slur on the boulder.
“I know it sounds silly, but for this town, it’s an icon,” O’Leary said of the Romeo Rock, which isn’t located in the Village of Romeo but has carried that name for generations. “You can’t take an icon and paint that kind of nonsense on it.”
Womble said Monday he has mulled starting a northern branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, but will move forward with that idea.
Meantime, a public march is scheduled to be held 3-5 p.m. Friday in Romeo to honor the memory of Floyd and to protest police brutality and racial injustice and discrimination.
It will be among the latest public rallies held in the last nine days in Macomb County as part of the growing Black Lives Matter movement. Other ones in Macomb County include those held in Eastpointe, Warren, New Haven, Fraser and on June 6 along Hall Road.