Cross burning stirs call for action on North Side

Vandals who put a burning cross in the yard of an interracialhousehold on the North Side are "cowardly bullies" who must bestopped, the chairman of the Chicago Commission on Human Relationssaid Wednesday.

City officials called a meeting of neighborhood groups andchurches to help put an end to such incidents.

"Cross burning and any other racial action of violence orharassment cannot be tolerated," said Clarence N. Wood, who mobilizedthe commission's intergroup relations staff to work with thecommunities.

The wooden cross was found early Wednesday on the front lawn ofa two-story house where Tina Johnson and her relatives live in the2200 block of West Cullom. A rock was also thrown through afirst-floor window.

The Johnson family has lived in the house for three years andhas had no previous problems, said Officer William O'Brien of thepolice human relations unit. He said the Johnsons are well-liked bytheir neighbors.

Johnson is white, and her daughter and son-in-law, Tracy andSteven Johnson, are black, O'Brien said. Steven Johnson, 28, anaccountant in the suburbs, hosted a July 4 block party that wasattended by "99 percent of the people on the block," which is white,O'Brien added.

On the Northwest Side, a 20-year-old black man reported that hefound "white power" signs attached to the bumper and windshield ofhis parked auto Wednesday in the 2500 block of North Normandy, amostly white area where he has lived for a month.

Wood said such acts were "against the moral and legal right ofevery citizen of Chicago, and the commission will look into all thepossible avenues of action on this matter.

"The commission has moved quickly to meet with community leadersto ensure it will not happen again."

Wood, in a letter to pastors in the area, said Johnson's husband"works in the U.S. military and the mother has raised six children toadulthood, while also holding down a full-time job.

"These are hard-working, sober citizens who also happen to be amixed race couple. Now they have been singled out for terror in thenight by cowardly bullies who may even live in the same community,"the letter said.

Mildred Nowack, a neighbor of the Johnsons, said, "It justisn't fair. You couldn't ask for better neighbors." She said herhusband, Clifford, went over to the Johnson home to tell them it was"rotten" for somebody to do such a thing to a fine family.

O'Brien said a white couple living a block west of the Johnsonshad adopted three black children and have had no problems.