Racism And Bigotry Breeds Unwarranted Conflict

By James Donahue

My home stands in the midst of what might be described as a microcosm of all of the trouble raging throughout the world. The root of just about every war, every physical conflict, every litigation and every angry word spoken over a neighborhood fence can nearly always be traced to one of three issues; materialism, racism and bigotry.

The issue of materialism is a problem that can be resolved once we fix the other two. Instead of fighting with people of other colors and creeds over the remaining natural resources in a dying world, we would be better off working collectively, sharing these resources, and finding ways to escape our dilemma. The major world conflicts, throughout history, have always been caused by intolerance for other religions and people of other ethnic groups and skin colors. That is called racism and bigotry.

As stated above, the events occurring in my neighborhood since we moved into our home about five years ago have been a perfect and localized example of the unwarranted hatred generated by religiosity, just as it is occurring on a major scale in the Middle East.

We selected a large Victorian house, built by my great great grandfather in the late 19th Century, to restore. It is located in a small Midwestern U.S. city of just under 5,000 people. The price was right since it had been rented as a duplex for years and was allowed to fall into disrepair by its former owner. Fortunately the house was so well built it remains structurally sound and well worth the price, is located in a neighborhood filled with lines of fine, well-kept Victorians, all of them on a hill overlooking a waterfront.

What we learned at the time we bought the house was that the structure had been cited by the city building department for  minor violations but was within weeks of possible demolition. What we learned after the purchase was that a car dealer living directly across the street, the father of several teen-aged children who all drove personal cars, had his eye on the site as a future parking lot for not only his family, but others in the neighborhood. It seems that because of narrow streets, large houses located on small platted lots, and heavy winter snow events, parking space is at a premium for everyone. Thus our purchase of the house ruined the plans of a few of our neighbors.

Imagine the eyesore that would have created in such a neighborhood as this, if they had gotten away with it. There would be a perpetual parking lot full of cars in the middle of a block of beautiful, stately Victorian homes on a hill looking out over water. It would have been like a missing tooth on the face of a beautiful woman.

The vandalism began before we moved in. Someone broke into the house and caused extensive damage. This and some harsh and un-provoked confrontations with our neighbors (Uhhh...You ain't from around here are ya?. I suppose ya think yore better than us?) led to a sense that we were considered "outsiders" and thus had moved into a hornet's nest.

Experiences with other people in our community have been much better and, in fact, friendly. So we cannot condemn the entire town. In fact, in talks with local cab drivers and other folks we have befriended, we learned that this particular neighborhood has had a reputation as an "uppity" bunch who think they are the upper class part of town.

It was after our son, Aaron C. Donahue, began posting his concepts on the UMMO web site, made several radio appearances and eventually started his own Internet radio broadcasting network, that people in the community decided we were "of the devil." Aaron's declaration that Lucifer was an alien and the father of the human race, our hanging of Santa Claus in effigy from an upper front window one Christmas season, and later his proclamation that Allah is the true God and that Jesus was a homosexual, stirred the local fires. It didn't take long before the bigotry emerged.

We have had people shoot bullets into the side of our house, obviously missing the windows. At least four windows have been broken. A rock with the misspelled name "wich" went through one of our front porch windows. We also have had our house struck by eggs.and this year, on the night before Halloween, we observed a boy from our neighborhood use a paint ball gun to pepper the front of our newly painted house with bright florescent yellow splatters of paint.

One of the shots broke yet another window.

Obviously we have had many encounters with the local police. They know our house well. And they have done very little to help our cause. When we pointed out the culprit on the Halloween caper the officers who responded said they would question the boy later. They said they did not wish to disturb the family in the middle of the night.

It should be noted that the boy who did this act is the son of a sociology professor at a local automotive supported "college" that turns out corporate whores. This "professor," a German man who speaks with a harsh accent and appears to know little about the mores or values of a standard American community, has clearly joined in the neighborhood campaign to drive us out of town.

Indeed, the paint ball incident happened at about 2 a.m. We knew the boy involved was awake and watching from the front upstairs window. The light in that part of the house was on even as we talked to the police.

The following day when I called the Chief of Police, I was told that the officers said there was nothing they could do because nobody saw anybody firing the paint gun. That was a lie. Two people in our house witnessed the crime and the police refused to do anything about it. We are still fighting that one, and we are going to attempt to force the police to make an arrest and force that family to pay for a new window and a new paint job on the front of our house.

I should note that when I was asking the Police Chief questions about the damage to our house, and asking why there was no arrest, he interjected that his department is not prejudiced, and treats everybody the same, no matter what they believe.

Now why would he have said such a thing? I didn't even bring up the subject. Obviously this police department has heard stories that we are practicing some kind of evil religious cult, and because we don't buy the Christian lie, they want us to get out of town. They think we don't belong here with "born-again" liars, vandals and sexual deviates.

One night we were visited by two strangers posing as wayward travelers who said they came to join Aaron's "cult." They also said they wanted to smoke some marijuana with us. We advised them they were in the wrong place, that we were not a cult and we obeyed the laws of the land, and did not use drugs. Aaron, a natural psychic, saw right through their poorly devised disguise. In fact, a surveillance camera operating in a dark corner caught one of these men attempting to plant a package of some unidentified substance in a box of trash that had been left on our front porch. The two were driven off before they got this package planted, but we strongly believe it was marijuana. We realized it was a set-up when we called the police, and the responding car suddenly turned on its headlights while parked less than a block away. The police were attempting to plant an illegal substance in our house, then arrest us, using the Rico Act laws to take away our home.

The police also began harassing us by ticketing my car for being parked over the sidewalk. If you saw the layout of our neighborhood, you would see that the driveways are so short, and the lots so small, that many vehicles are parking on sidewalks all over the community. It can't be helped. In response, we took pictures of about 20 other cars, also parked on the sidewalk, and I took them to the Police Chief and the City Manager. Only my car was being ticketed. I demanded that the tickets be erased and that the police either stop harassing me, or that everybody else get parking tickets too. The tickets were torn up.

My complaints have been carried often not only to the Police Chief, but to the City Manager's office. We are continuing to fight by causing general havoc with our neighbors every time they pull another stupid act.

When I called this week, the Police Chief also mentioned the provocative stories posted on my web site, so I am sure he will be reading this story. He needs to know that we are not going to give up and leave town that easily. In fact, we are appearing this very evening before the City Council with a plan to rejuvenate the town and make it a showpiece for the nation. This small-town chief and city manager may be quite surprised at just who they have been dealing with, and some of the people already getting behind Aaron's plan for saving the town.

We are making this offer because our family roots go deep, not only in this community, but in the United States. As I stated above, my great great grandfather, John Donahue, built this house. Also we have traced our ancestry on both my side of the family, and on that of my wife, back to the very origins of our nation. My wife's family came here from Europe while we were still operating under the English crown. My French ancestry came here with General Lafayette to help George Washington in the American Revolutionary War.

Thus everyone in our family are entitled to belong to the Sons and Daughters of the American Revolution. That is how deep our roots go. And our patriotism for this nation is just as solid. For all of its current faults we still believe the United States has the capability of being the hope of the world and we do not want to see it founder.

But we are not fools either. The Irish name should be taken seriously by all who encounter us. We will stand our ground and fight for what is morally right, both in the world, in our capital, and on the home front.

If the council, and the people of our town choose to hang onto their bigotry and turn their backs on our proposal, we have an alternative proposition. They can all pool their money and buy our house, demolish it, and build their parking lot, for all the good it will do when the local economy hits bottom.

Our price is $666,000.