It was almost a week ago that a homemade explosive device was detonated and destroyed an exterior wall of the NAACP chapter in Colorado Springs, Colo. The blast also caused damage to a local barbershop.
No one was hurt but the chapter’s president, Henry Allen Jr., said, “The blast was strong enough to knock objects off the wall.”
The bomb was positioned near a gasoline can that did not burst, according to the FBI, but had the can exploded, the outcome of the blast would have been very different.
It is believed that the bomber targeted the chapter because it was supporting Michael Brown, the 18-year-old unarmed Black man who was shot and killed by a police officer in Ferguson, Mo., in August.
Colorado Springs police recently released a sketch of the suspect based on eyewitness accounts. The police say they're looking for a balding White man in his 40s. He is believed to drive an older model white truck.
Terry Willis, president of the NAACP Chapter in Claiborne Parish, said its no shock to see such animosity towards prominent civil rights group, particularly when racial tensions are high after such incidents as the Michael Brown case.
“This country and government is in denial when addressing racial problems," Willis said, explaining that the problem comes in when the police and the media try to hide such incidents from the country. But they are not seolely to blame for the problems the country is refusing to face, Willis said, citing the issue on black on black crime.
"How can anyone respect you when you say he's my brother and then you kill your brother, or when you say that he's my n**** and then you shoot, rob, kill and steal from your n****.”