'March For Unity' supports Hardwick hate crime victims

'March For Unity' supports Hardwick hate crime victims
by Jacqueline Lindsay/Warren Reporter
Wednesday November 19, 2008, 3:20 PM

HARDWICK -- Township residents banned together for a "March For Unity" Saturday, Nov. 15 to rally around a Hardwick family targeted in a hate crime, which is being attributed to the family's support of President-elect Barack Obama.
On the eve of Election Day after Barack Obama was declared winner of the presidential election, Alina and Gary Grewal and their eight-year-old daughter made a large cloth banner declaring "President Obama Victory '08," and strung it proudly across the front lawn of their Hardwick home. The next evening the couple was dismayed to find the banner had been stolen. But, they were even more horrified when they awoke the following day to find a six-foot tall wooden cross erected on their lawn, which had been burned with the banner. The three-foot wide cross was made with two-by-fours and attached to a metal frame.
"My first thought was that I had been hit in the stomach. I couldn't believe in 2008 that somebody would think of doing something like this," Gary said. "My eight-year-old daughter saw this (burned cross). I will never forget it and I will not let these people live this down."
Gary said they could have simply thrown the cross away and buried the incident, but the couple decided they couldn't let it go. Instead, they reported the crime to the Hope State Police and the incident is currently under investigation by the State Police and Federal Bureau of Investigation, Gary reported. "If they did this today and we don't bring them to justice, what will they do tomorrow?" Gary questioned. "I don't think this is an act of a teenage kid. Somebody took a lot of time thinking about doing this."Community members gathered at the Hardwick Municipal Building for Saturday's march. They marched to the Grewal's home on Millbrook Road for a rally where several officials and other people spoke, and then proceeded back to the municipal building for refreshments. Information put out by the group said they held the march to "support civil rights and free speech" and it was a "non-partisan effort to engage the community in the politics of inclusion and tolerance." "Some people have been unable to accept the fact that Barack Obama has been elected President, and have expressed their anger in racist and hateful ways, as we have seen on the lawn of Alina and Gary Grewal," said a release issued by the group. "Please do your part in showing that political expression will not be silenced and acts of intimidation and hate will not be ignored." The Grewals said the incident was picked up by several local and national television networks and newspapers, which aired stories. Since then the family has received hundreds of e-mails, letters and voice messages from people around New Jersey and New York."They can't believe this would happen in Hardwick, New Jersey," Gary said. "It gives me a lot of strength. It tells me that even though we have some bad elements in our community, the vast majority of people are good people."

Source:

http://www.nj.com/warrenreporter/index.ssf/2008/11/march_for_unity_supports_hardw.html