BY NADINE EAGLES-HARVIE Michelle Lyon and Shayne Howe thought burning crosses was a practice long since abolished until one was set ablaze on their own front lawn.
The flames broke out moments after the bi-racial couple arrived at their Newport home late Saturday night. They heard shouts of, “Die, nigger, die” and other racial slurs. “I’m still in shock,” Lyon told the Hants Journal on Monday afternoon. “Never in a million years did I fathom this could happen in the 21st century. This is nothing less than a hate crime.”
Lyons’ 17-year-old daughter had alerted them to the fire. At first Lyon thought it must have been car on fire the flames were so high. “When we got home everything was fine until my daughter came running to say the lawn was on fire. They must have lit it just after we arrived home.” The couple has five children ranging in age from 17 to two years old.
The pair couldn’t say how many people were outside on the lawn. “There was one very clear voice, but it would have taken more than one person to move that cross, it was very heavy.”
They believe they were singled out and their home was scouted in advance. The cross was built to hook on to their well crock. “This was very well engineered,” she said.
The family has lived in the area for the past six years. Lyon grew up in Hants County and said she finds it hard to believe anyone from the area could do such a thing. Howe works at GTI Rafuse in New Minas; Lyon is a stay-at-home mom. Howe is the only black man living in that community. “If the people who did this lived in the area they could have done it at any time, why now?”
Lyon said her family now lives in fear. “My 14-year-old daughter was afraid to wait for the school bus, she’s afraid to be home alone. We’re still scared of retaliation. Scared of them coming back. What will happen next?”
The neighbours have been very supportive and are in awe of the situation. Lyon said even the Police were shocked. “They didn’t know what to say; it’s the first time they’ve witnessed something like that. No one can fathom it.”
Lyon says she hopes the individuals who did this to her family are caught quickly. “Justice will prevail and I hope they get the stiffest penalty there is. They’ve trespassed on my property and my family. I feel violated, and that hurts. We are quiet people.”
Vincent Upshaw of the Hants Cultural Enrichment Program and Black Education Association visited the family and said he was quite rattled by the news but doesn’t want to point fingers. “Until you find out where it’s coming from, you can’t put a label on it.” He adds the act was “pretty extreme”. “I hate to think this could happen at all. Obviously there are still issues that people have and as a society we need to take more steps to fully change things for all individuals.”
He said his heart goes out to the family, especially the children. “They must be so traumatized. I just hate to think of how they must feel. For any child to witness that is just wrong.” “We are a human race and all of us need to ban together. This shouldn’t have to happen to anyone.”
According to the RCMP report the individuals had fled the scene when the police arrived shortly after midnight Sunday morning. The Windsor District RCMP and General Investigative Services are investigating and asking for the publics’ assistance in identifying the perpetrators.
Media Relations Officer, Sgt. Brigdit Leger of the RCMP H Division has been called in to assist local RCMP with media inquiries. Leger said they believe it is an isolated incident that likely involved more than one person.
She said police are very disturbed by the incident. “I can’t imagine how they must have felt coming out the door to that.”
Leger adds police are looking at the incident as a possible hate crime.
Anyone with any information regarding this incident or any other
unsolved crime is asked to please contact any RCMP Detachment, local
Police or Nova Scotia Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477) or by
Secure Web Tips at www.crimestoppers.ns.ca . Calls to Crime Stoppers
are not taped or traced and if police lay charges based on a tip,
callers qualify for a cash award from $50 - $2000.
