Commission looks to combat racism
The Humboldt County Human Rights Commission on Thursday considered how to respond to multiple recent incidents of spray-painted racist language in Eureka, as well as a photo of a man wearing a T-shirt promoting racist ideology that went viral on the internet.
The commission, a government body appointed by the county’s board of supervisors, acknowledged the local incidents, but didn’t come to a consensus on how to respond. One commissioner, Lelehnia Du Bois, suggested doubling down on a “#humboldtkindness” social media campaign.
“Acts of kindness stop these things from happening,” Du Bois offered, saying that engaging one another from a “place of welcoming” would reduce anger surrounding such incidents.
Other commissioners weren’t sure if the approach was concrete.
“Is what you’re talking about — examples of showing kindness — a direct enough response that it’s unmistakable what we won’t stand for in the community?” asked Jim Glover, who chairs the commission.
The commissioners resolved that pushing the board of supervisors to adopt a proclamation to make clear what values should be embodied by businesses that carry the name “Humboldt.”
Among the recent, wellpublicized incidents of racism is a viral internet image of a man wearing a T-shirt carrying a “white power, white pride” logo around a Christian cross. A now-deleted Facebook photo of the man, posted by a local business owner, garnered hundreds of reactions.
A screenshot of the post made it to a community page on the website Reddit that is dedicated to criticizing acts of meanness. The Reddit post received over 76,000 upvotes.
Earlier this week, photos of spray paint depicting racist ideology surfaced online — one instance of graffiti on a structure at Highland Park in Eureka and the other on a fence near the corner of Fairfield and Henderson Streets.
Both incidents of graffiti have since been removed by police.