As the sun seared through a cool haze over the fields and roads, about 300 elected officials, police, clergy and neighbors gathered Saturday morning in Wonder Lake to show their support for an interracial couple who were the targets of a cross burning earlier in the week.
“This makes me want to live here even more,” Tami Donaldson said. She and her husband, Damon, were the victims of the incident.
A stream of neighbors and strangers have left food, gifts and cards at the Donaldson home. One group of neighbors bought the Donaldsons a tree and left it on their front lawn.
“Neighbors who don’t even know us have stopped by. They say, `This is not the way of this community.’ That makes you feel good,” Damon Donaldson said at the rally.
Bruce Peters, a Wonder Lake resident, said he thought the turnout exceeded the number of people who lined the streets for the 4th of July parade.
“This truly is a great thing,” Peters said. “I guess that one sign the one person was carrying said it best: `Racism is a sin.’ “
The Donaldsons, of unincorporated McHenry County just outside Wonder Lake, were awakened early Tuesday by a flowerpot smashing against their home. They looked out a window and saw a cross burning on their front lawn.
Within hours, four Wonder Lake youths, ages 15 to 19, were arrested and charged with committing a hate crime.
The incident left residents puzzled and community activists concerned that the fastest-growing county in the state might be seeing an increase in hate crimes.
In April, Naoki Kamijima, who had immigrated to the U.S. from Japan, was gunned down inside his Crystal Lake convenience store because of his ethnicity, according to police.
“I just think you have growing problems when you’re growing at the rate we are,” said state Rep. Jack Franks (D-Woodstock), who attended Saturday’s rally.
Another official said newcomers should not be blamed for the hate crimes.
“We are not seeing the hate from people who are moving in,” said Gail Howard of the McHenry County Human Relations Council. Growth, and the resulting diversity, “are shaking the foundation of people who believed they escaped the city to be out here,” Howard said.
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Jonathan Kriske, 19; Kyle Brockett, 17; David Moran, 18; and a 15-year-old boy have been charged with mob action, hate crime, conspiracy to commit a hate crime and disorderly conduct, police said.
The 15-year-old is being held in a juvenile detention facility. The others are being held in McHenry County Jail.
Tami Donaldson said the turnout for Saturday’s rally convinces her that she and her husband live among neighbors who not only are tolerant, but care about them.
Pat Buhrman, chairwoman of the Human Relations Council, said she organized Saturday’s silent vigil as a way to quickly denounce the cross burning.
“It just shows,” she said, “that we’re all good neighbors.”