MACON, Ga. — Bibb County investigators are looking for a person who tagged hate speech near an African-American business in west Macon over the weekend. Two signs lay just a few hundred yards away from a Black-owned doctor’s office, and while the owners don't know if they were targeted specifically, the hatred message will still not stand.
Mercer Junction is normally a quiet road, but on Monday morning, Dr. Frederick Burton and his staff came across a message that was rather loud.
“I was just thinking that whoever did it were cowards,” Burton said.
A real estate sign was found tagged with the N-word written multiple times and a message that said, "All N-words go home." Just a few feet away, a stop sign was also found with the N-word sprawled across it. Burton wasn't impressed.
“There are so many other things and issues going on in this country that they had to concern themselves with that. Other than that I just didn't want to give them the satisfaction of knowing that that was there or that anything was going on,” Burton said.
Burton's practice Northridge Family Healthcare Center and a temple are the only businesses on Mercer Junction.
Drive by Mercer Junction now and the once two-fold sign has been ripped in half by BSO and the depression in the grass where the sign lay for most of Monday afternoon can still be seen.
The stop sign has since been painted over. Investigators aren't sure if this was targeted hate speech, which can now be a felony in Georgia, or teens with a poor attempt at humor.
“Vandalism has always been a serious crime, but if it's racially-biased, or gender biased or religiously discrimination, any of those things, the sentencing is now much more strict than it was before so if a teen thinks it's funny, it's not funny,” said Sergeant Richard Senter.
Burton agreed and said if he was targeted, he won't be intimidated.
“I'm not going to take it personally. I'm going to let it slide off. I'm not the one with the problem. Whoever wrote it, they're the ones with the problem,” he said.
Georgia's hate crime bill, House Bill 426, was signed into law by Governor Brian Kemp on June 26th. The bill allows judges to increase punishment against people who target victims based on certain factors such as race, religion, sexual orientation, gender or disability.
If the crime is a misdemeanor the judge can sentence the person for six to 12 months. If they are charged with a felony the sentence must be at least two years. The judge can also fine the person up to $5,000 in each case.
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